Devon Still
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Devon Joshua Still (born July 11, 1989) is a former
American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team with ...
defensive end Defensive end (DE) is a defensive position in the sport of gridiron football. This position has designated the players at each end of the defensive line, but changes in formation (American football), formations over the years have substantially ...
. He was drafted by the
Cincinnati Bengals The Cincinnati Bengals are a professional American football team based in Cincinnati. The Bengals compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) AFC North, North division. The c ...
in the second round of the
2012 NFL Draft The 2012 NFL draft was the 77th annual meeting of National Football League (NFL) franchises to select newly eligible American football players for their rosters. The draft, which is officially called the "NFL Player Selection Meeting", was held ...
. 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
Penn State #Redirect Pennsylvania State University The Pennsylvania State University (Penn State or PSU) is a Public university, public Commonwealth System of Higher Education, state-related Land-grant university, land-grant research university with campu ...
, where he earned consensus All-American honors. He was also a member of the
Houston Texans The Houston Texans are a professional American football team based in Houston. The Texans compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC South, South division, and play their home ga ...
and
New York Jets The New York Jets are a professional American football team based in the New York metropolitan area. The Jets compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) East division. The J ...
.


Early years

Still was born in
Camden, New Jersey Camden is a city in and the county seat of Camden County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. Camden is part of the Delaware Valley metropolitan area and is located directly across the Delaware River from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. At the 2020 ...
. He attended
Howard High School of Technology Howard High School of Technology is a vocational-technical high school in Wilmington, Delaware and is the oldest of four high schools within the New Castle County Vocational-Technical School District, which includes Delcastle Technical High School ...
in
Wilmington, Delaware Wilmington ( Lenape: ''Paxahakink /'' ''Pakehakink)'' is the largest city in the U.S. state of Delaware. The city was built on the site of Fort Christina, the first Swedish settlement in North America. It lies at the confluence of the Christina ...
, where he was a standout lineman for the Howard Wildcats high school football team. Still was a team captain during his senior season, recorded 59 tackles, 18 of them for a loss, and was recognized as the Lineman of the Year by the Delaware Interscholastic Coaches Association. He also was a member of the Howard Wildcats basketball and track and field teams.GoPSUsports.com, Football History, 2011 Roster
Devon Still
Retrieved April 29, 2012.


College career

Still attended Penn State, where he played for coach
Joe Paterno Joseph Vincent Paterno (; December 21, 1926 – January 22, 2012), sometimes referred to as JoePa, was an American college football player, athletic director, and coach. He was the head coach of the Penn State Nittany Lions football, Penn ...
's
Penn State Nittany Lions football The Penn State Nittany Lions team represents the Pennsylvania State University in college football. The Nittany Lions compete in the NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision as a member of the Big Ten Conference, which they joined in 1993 afte ...
team from 2008 to 2011. He was named the 2011
Big Ten The Big Ten Conference (stylized B1G, formerly the Western Conference and the Big Nine Conference) is the oldest Division I collegiate athletic conference in the United States. Founded as the Intercollegiate Conference of Faculty Representati ...
Defensive Player of the Year, becoming only the second defensive tackle to win the award (along with former teammate
Jared Odrick Jared Taylor Odrick (born December 31, 1987) is a former American football defensive end. He was drafted by the Miami Dolphins in the first round of the 2010 NFL Draft. He also played for the Jacksonville Jaguars. He played college football ...
). He was also named Big Ten Defensive Lineman of the Year, consensus All-Big Ten, and to 10 first-team All-American teams. He was a finalist for both the Outland and Bednarik awards. Still was elected a
team captain In team sport, captain is a title given to a member of the team. The title is frequently honorary, but in some cases the captain may have significant responsibility for strategy and teamwork while the game is in progress on the field. In eithe ...
for the Nittany Lions as a senior in
2011 File:2011 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: a protester partaking in Occupy Wall Street heralds the beginning of the Occupy movement; protests against Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi, who was killed that October; a young man celebrate ...
. He is a charter member of the Eta Alpha chapter of
Iota Phi Theta Iota Phi Theta Fraternity, Inc. () is a historically African American fraternity. It was founded on September 19, 1963, at Morgan State University (then Morgan State College) in Baltimore, Maryland, and is currently the 5th largest Black Greek Le ...
fraternity. He graduated with a degree in Criminal Law and Justice. The Delaware Sportswriters and Broadcasters Association named him Delaware's Outstanding Athlete of 2011.


Professional career


Cincinnati Bengals

At the
2012 NFL Draft The 2012 NFL draft was the 77th annual meeting of National Football League (NFL) franchises to select newly eligible American football players for their rosters. The draft, which is officially called the "NFL Player Selection Meeting", was held ...
, Still was selected in the second round by the
Cincinnati Bengals The Cincinnati Bengals are a professional American football team based in Cincinnati. The Bengals compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) AFC North, North division. The c ...
, with the 53rd overall selection. He played two seasons with the team before being cut in late August 2014, prior to the start of the season. The following day, the Bengals re-signed Still to the practice squad to help him pay for his daughter's cancer treatment. In addition to his daughter Leah's diagnosis, Still was also attempting to heal from a hamstring injury. He admitted that the injury was holding him back from his full ability and he could not give his best effort to his team. Consequently, Still did not make the Cincinnati Bengals' 53-man roster. Still said: "I completely understand where they were coming from...."I can't give football 100 percent right now. In the business aspect they want guys to solely focus on football, which is understandable. We are here to win this city a Super Bowl and right now I am not in a position where I can give football 100 percent of everything I have." Head coach
Marvin Lewis Marvin Ronald Lewis (born September 23, 1958) is an American football coach who is the special advisor to the head coach at Arizona State. Previously, Lewis was the head coach of the Cincinnati Bengals in the National Football League (NFL) for 1 ...
offered Still a position on the practice squad so that he could continue to pay for his daughter's cancer treatments. As a member of the practice squad, Still did not have to travel with the team on road trips. On September 10, 2014, it was announced that Still would be moved to the active roster. In the game that followed, the Bengals' second of the season, he recorded three tackles against the
Atlanta Falcons The Atlanta Falcons are a professional American football team based in Atlanta. The Falcons compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) South division. The Falcons joined th ...
. On September 5, 2015, Still was waived by the Bengals.


Houston Texans

On January 6, 2016, the Houston Texans signed Still to a reserve future contract. He was placed on injured reserve on October 5, 2016.


New York Jets

On August 4, 2017, Still signed with the
New York Jets The New York Jets are a professional American football team based in the New York metropolitan area. The Jets compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) East division. The J ...
. He was waived on August 28, 2017. On December 23, 2017, Still announced his retirement from the NFL.


Personal life

In June 2014, his daughter, Leah Sari Still, was diagnosed with
Neuroblastoma Neuroblastoma (NB) is a type of cancer that forms in certain types of nerve tissue. It most frequently starts from one of the adrenal glands but can also develop in the neck, chest, abdomen, or spine. Symptoms may include bone pain, a lump in the ...
stage 4 cancer. Still put his football career on hiatus saying: "she's fighting for her life. Sports is not more important than me being there while my daughter is fighting for her life." Since the June 2, 2014 diagnosis, Still spent the next three weeks sleeping next to his daughter at the hospital despite his own recent back surgery. In support of his daughter, Still shaved his head bald and has said that he will grow back his hair only when Leah's does. The Bengals demonstrated their loyalty even further by permitting Devon Still's jersey to be sold in order to raise awareness for pediatric cancer research and the Cincinnati Children's Hospital. $400,000 sales were made in four days. At the end of September, it was reported that Still's jersey donation sales neared $1 million. The
New Orleans Saints The New Orleans Saints are a professional American football team based in New Orleans. The Saints compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) South division. Since 1975, the te ...
head coach,
Sean Payton Sean, also spelled Seán or Séan in Irish English, is a male given name of Irish origin. It comes from the Irish versions of the Biblical Hebrew name ''Yohanan'' (), Seán (anglicized as ''Shaun/ Shawn/ Shon'') and Séan (Ulster variant; anglici ...
bought 100 jerseys and distributed them to the local Boys & Girls Club and the Cincinnati Children's Hospital. On September 25, 2014, before driving Leah to the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia for cancer surgery, Still posted a video to his Instagram account, which went viral. Still later tweeted that the tumor and lymph nodes were removed. On October 5, 2014, during a game with the New England Patriots at
Gillette Stadium Gillette Stadium is a multi-purpose stadium located in the town of Foxborough, Massachusetts, which is southwest of downtown Boston. It serves as the home stadium and administrative offices for both the New England Patriots of the National Footb ...
in Foxboro, Massachusetts, a music video was shown on the stadium's video screen featuring Still's daughter. The Patriots cheerleaders also donned copies of Still's' jersey to show support. It was further reported that Patriots owner Robert Kraft was donating $25,000 to Cincinnati Children's Hospital and Medical Center in Leah's name. On March 18, 2015, Still announced that Leah had undergone surgery to get the tumor out, and that she was now cancer-free. On July 15, 2015, at the ESPY awards, Devon and Leah Still received the
Jimmy V Award The Jimmy V Award (sometimes called the Jimmy V Award for Perseverance) is awarded as part of the ESPY Awards to "a deserving member of the sporting world who has overcome great obstacles through perseverance and determination". The award is na ...
for their determination and perseverance in the face of cancer. In November 2015, Still announced Leah was in remission with no signs of cancer. In January 2016, Still announced that Leah remained cancer-free and that she had "really beat cancer." In August 2021, Still partnered with
United Therapeutics United Therapeutics Corporation is an American publicly-traded biotechnology company listed on the NASDAQ under the symbol UTHR. It develops novel, life-extending technologies for patients in the areas of lung disease and organ manufacturing. Un ...
to launch Braving NeuroBLASToma, an initiative to educate the public about neuroblastoma. Still's cousins,
Art Still Arthur Barry Still (born December 5, 1955) is a former American football defensive end in the National Football League. He played college football at the University of Kentucky, where he was an All-American in 1977, and professionally for the Kan ...
and
Levon Kirkland Lorenzo Levon Kirkland (born February 17, 1969) is an American former football inside linebacker and coach. A second-round draft choice of the Pittsburgh Steelers in the 1992 NFL Draft, he played 11 years as a linebacker in the National Footbal ...
, have also played in the NFL.


References


External links

*
NFL Combine bio


{{DEFAULTSORT:Still, Devon 1989 births Living people Players of American football from Camden, New Jersey American football defensive tackles Penn State Nittany Lions football players All-American college football players Cincinnati Bengals players Houston Texans players New York Jets players