Dominique Taishaun Hatfield (born December 13, 1994) is an

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 ...

cornerback A cornerback (CB) is a member of the defensive backfield or secondary in gridiron football. Cornerbacks cover receivers most of the time, but also blitz and defend against such offensive running plays as sweeps and reverses. They create tur ...

for the

Ottawa Redblacks The Ottawa Redblacks (officially stylized as REDBLACKS) ( French: Le Rouge et Noir d'Ottawa) are a professional Canadian football team based in Ottawa, Ontario. The team plays in the East Division of the Canadian Football League (CFL). Startin ...

of the

Canadian Football League The Canadian Football League (CFL; french: Ligue canadienne de football—LCF) is a professional sports league in Canada. The CFL is the highest level of competition in Canadian football. The league consists of nine teams, each located in a ci ...

(CFL). 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 ...

Utah Utah ( , ) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. Utah is a landlocked U.S. state bordered to its east by Colorado, to its northeast by Wyoming, to its north by Idaho, to its south by Arizona, and to it ...

and signed with the

Los Angeles Rams The Los Angeles Rams are a professional American football team based in the Los Angeles metropolitan area. The Rams compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) West division. The Rams play ...

as an

undrafted free agent In professional sports, a free agent is a player who is eligible to sign with other clubs or franchises; i.e., not under contract to any specific team. The term is also used in reference to a player who is under contract at present but who is a ...

in 2017.

Early years

Hatfield attended and played

high school football High school football (french: football au lycée) is gridiron football played by high school teams in the United States and Canada. It ranks among the most popular interscholastic sports in both countries, but its popularity is declining, part ...

Crenshaw High School Crenshaw High School is a four-year public secondary school in the Los Angeles Unified School District, located on 11th Avenue in the Hyde Park neighborhood of Los Angeles, California. The school first opened in 1968 and currently enrolls aroun ...

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

, California. He recorded 33 receptions, 586 receiving yards, four receiving touchdowns, nine rushing attempts and 100 rushing yards his junior year in 2011. He also totaled 25 tackles and three pass breakups while averaging 29.8 yards on five punt returns. Hatfield recorded eight interceptions his senior year in 2012 while playing both wide receiver and

. He also earned

MaxPreps MaxPreps is an American website that specializes in coverage of American high school sports. The site is owned by Paramount Global and is a division of CBS Sports. Founded on August 1, 2002, the company has covered up to 29 sports, including b ...

First-team Division I All-State,

Los Angeles City Section The CIF Los Angeles City Section (CIF-LA) is the governing body of high school athletics for public schools in the city of Los Angeles and some surrounding communities. All of these schools were once associated with the Los Angeles Unified Schoo ...

Defensive Player of the Year and Coliseum League Player of the Year honors in 2012.

College career

Hatfield played for the

Utah Utes The Utah Utes are the intercollegiate athletics teams that represent the University of Utah, located in Salt Lake City. The athletic department is named after the Ute tribe of Native Americans. The men's basketball team is known as the Runnin' ...

of the

University of Utah The University of Utah (U of U, UofU, or simply The U) is a public research university in Salt Lake City, Utah. It is the flagship institution of the Utah System of Higher Education. The university was established in 1850 as the University of De ...

from 2013 to 2016. He began his college career as a receiver. He played in 11 games in 2013, catching 4 passes for 84 yards while also returning seven kick returns for 116 yards and recording 7 solo special teams tackles. After a season-ending injury to cornerback Reginald Porter in August 2014, Hatfield began to see time at cornerback. Hatfield played the first game of the 2014 season as a receiver but converted to cornerback full-time by the second game. He played in 13 games, starting 10, recording 32 solo tackles, 6 tackle assists, 9 pass breakups and 1 interception which was also returned for a touchdown. In July 2015, he was suspended indefinitely and later dismissed from the football team after being charged with robbery. He was arrested for aggravated robbery in July 2015 when he allegedly held a man at knifepoint for $180. As a result, head coach Kyle Whittingham dismissed Hatfield from the program for one whole month. The charges were later dropped. In August, he was charged with misdemeanor assault stemming from a fight at a party. After missing the first game of the 2015 season, Hatfield was reinstated by the team. He played in 12 games, starting 11, in 2015, recording 27 solo tackles, 6 tackle assists, 2 pass breakups and 4 interceptions, including 1 that was returned for a touchdown. He missed the first three games of the 2016 season due to injury. He then played in 9 games, starting 6, totaling 24 solo tackles, 6 tackle assists, 4 pass breakups and 1 interception. Hatfield was a team captain in 2016. He did not play in the

2016 Foster Farms Bowl The 2016 Foster Farms Bowl was an American college football bowl game played on December 28, 2016 at Levi's Stadium in Santa Clara, California. It was one of the 2016–17 bowl games concluding the 2016 FBS football season. The 15th edition of t ...

due to an unspecified violation of team rules. Head coach

Kyle Whittingham Kyle David Whittingham (born November 21, 1959) is an American football coach and former player. He is the head football coach at the University of Utah, a position he has held since 2005, and is the all-time leader in wins at Utah. Prior to bec ...

said the violation was not an academic or legal issue and that it "would've merited a one-game suspension in the regular season".

Professional career

Los Angeles Rams

Hatfield was rated the 77th best cornerback in the

2017 NFL Draft The 2017 NFL Draft was the 82nd annual meeting of National Football League (NFL) franchises to select newly eligible American football players. It was held in front of the Philadelphia Museum of Art on April 27–29, returning to Philadelphia f ...

by NFLDraftScout.com. He signed with the

as an undrafted free agent on May 16, 2017. He played in 11 games after making the Rams final roster, but was waived on December 9, 2017, and was re-signed to the practice squad two days later. He signed a reserve/future contract with the Rams on January 8, 2018. On September 1, 2018, Hatfield was waived by the Rams and was signed to the practice squad the next day. He was promoted to the active roster on September 26, 2018. He was placed on injured reserve on December 11, 2018, after suffering an ankle injury in Week 14. Without Hatfield, the Rams reached

Super Bowl LIII Super Bowl LIII was an American football game played to determine the champion of the National Football League (NFL) for the 2018 season. The American Football Conference (AFC) champion New England Patriots defeated the National Football Confe ...

where they lost 13–3 to the

New England Patriots The New England Patriots are a professional American football team based in the Greater Boston area. They compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) AFC East, East divisio ...

. Hatfield was waived/injured during final roster cuts on August 31, 2019, and reverted to the team's

injured reserve The injured reserve list ( IR list) is a designation used in North American professional sports leagues for athletes who suffer injuries and become unable to play. The exact name of the list varies by league; it is known as "injured reserve" in th ...

list the next day. He was waived from injured reserve with an injury settlement on September 10.

Carolina Panthers

On December 18, 2019, Hatfield was signed to the

Carolina Panthers The Carolina Panthers are a professional American football team based in Charlotte, North Carolina. The Panthers compete in the National Football League (NFL), as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) South division. T ...

practice squad. He signed a reserve/future contract with the Panthers on December 30, 2019. He was waived on April 30, 2020. Hatfield had a tryout with the

Detroit Lions The Detroit Lions are a professional American football team based in Detroit. The Lions compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) North Division. The team play their home games at Ford ...

on August 13, 2020.

Ottawa Redblacks

Hatfield signed with the

of the CFL on January 6, 2021.

References

External links

Utah Utes bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hatfield, Dominique Living people 1994 births Players of American football from Los Angeles American football cornerbacks Utah Utes football players American football wide receivers African-American players of American football Los Angeles Rams players Carolina Panthers players Crenshaw High School alumni Ottawa Redblacks players 21st-century African-American sportspeople Players of Canadian football from Los Angeles