Denver Kirkland (born March 6, 1994) is a former American football offensive guard. He played

college football College football (french: Football universitaire) refers to gridiron football played by teams of student athletes. It was through college football play that American football rules first gained popularity in the United States. Unlike most ...

at Arkansas and was signed by the

Oakland Raiders The Oakland Raiders were a professional American football team that played in Oakland from its founding in 1960 to 1981 and again from 1995 to 2019 before relocating to the Las Vegas metropolitan area where they now play as the Las Vegas Raide ...

as an undrafted free agent in 2016.

High school career

Kirkland attended Booker T. Washington High School in Miami, Florida. As a junior, he was named first-team All-State, after helping his team average 41.7 points and 44.9 total yards-per-game. As a

senior Senior (shortened as Sr.) means "the elder" in Latin and is often used as a suffix for the elder of two or more people in the same family with the same given name, usually a parent or grandparent. It may also refer to: * Senior (name), a surname ...

, he was named first-team All-State after helping his team average 53.5 points and 431.2 yards of total offense-per-game. He was ranked as the fifth best offensive guard in the nation by Scout.com and the 13th best by 247Sports.com. He was named by ESPN as the 12th best

offensive tackle Offensive may refer to: * Offensive, the former name of the Dutch political party Socialist Alternative * Offensive (military), an attack * Offensive language ** Fighting words or insulting language, words that by their very utterance inflict inj ...

in the nation and the 20th overall prospect in Florida. Rivals.com named him the 13th best offensive tackle in the nation and 19th best player overall in Florida. He was selected to play in the Under Armour All-America Game.

College career

Kirkland then attended University of Arkansas where he majored in communications. As a freshman in

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he appeared in all 12 games with eight starts, at guard. The offensive line broke the school's single-season record by only allowing eight sacks. For the season, he was named a freshman All-American and an SEC All-Freshman team after helping Alex Collins become the second freshman in school history and 10th true freshman in conference history to rush for 1,000 yards. As a sophomore in

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, he started all 13 games at right guard. He averaged an offensive line grade of 79%. He allowed only one sack for the season and was penalized only three times. He helped block for running backs Collins and Jonathan Williams, where were the only FBS teammates to rush for 1,000 yards each that season. He also helped to protect quarterback Brandon Allen, only giving 14 sacks among the entire offensive line. In

2015 File:2015 Events Collage new.png, From top left, clockwise: Civil service in remembrance of November 2015 Paris attacks; Germanwings Flight 9525 was purposely crashed into the French Alps; the rubble of residences in Kathmandu following the Apri ...

as a junior, Kirkland moved from right guard to left tackle where he started all 13 games, extending his consecutive start streak to 34 games over three seasons. He helped block for running back Alex Collins, helping him rush for over 1,500 yards and become the third player in conference history with three consecutive 1,000-yard season to start their career. Collins also tied for the conference lead with 10 100-yard rushing games, tying the school single-season record held by Darren McFadden. For the season Kirkland was named third-team All-SEC by Phil Steele. On January 4, 2016, he announced he would be forgoing his senior season to enter the NFL Draft.

Professional career

Oakland Raiders

After going unselected in the

2016 NFL Draft The 2016 NFL Draft was the 81st annual meeting of National Football League (NFL) franchises to select newly eligible American football players. As in 2015, the draft took place at the Auditorium Theatre and Grant Park in Chicago. The draft beg ...

, Kirkland signed with the

on May 12, 2016. He was released by the Raiders on September 3, 2016 and was signed to the practice squad the next day. He was promoted to the active roster on September 28, 2016, playing in six games with four starts for the Raiders. On September 5, 2017, Kirkland was placed on injured reserve. On September 1, 2018, Kirkland was waived by the Raiders and was re-signed to the practice squad. He was promoted to the active roster on October 23, 2018. He was waived on December 1, 2018.

Arizona Cardinals

On December 5, 2018, Kirkland was signed to the

Arizona Cardinals The Arizona Cardinals are a professional American football team based in the Phoenix metropolitan area. The Cardinals compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) West division, and play t ...

practice squad.

Oakland Raiders (second stint)

On December 11, 2018, Kirkland was signed by the Oakland Raiders off the Cardinals practice squad. He was waived on August 31, 2019.

Personal life

Kirkland is the son of Demetrica Roker.

References

External links

Arkansas Razorbacks bio

Oakland Raiders bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kirkland, Denver 1994 births Living people Players of American football from Miami American football offensive tackles American football offensive guards Arkansas Razorbacks football players Oakland Raiders players Arizona Cardinals players