Matthew Jason Russell (born July 5, 1973) 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 wi ...

executive who currently serves as a Senior Personnel Executive for the

Philadelphia Eagles The Philadelphia Eagles are a professional American football team based in Philadelphia. The Eagles compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) East division. The team play ...

of the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the ...

. He formerly served as the Director of Player Personnel for the

Denver Broncos The Denver Broncos are a professional American football franchise based in Denver. The Broncos compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) West division. The team is headquar ...

of the

(NFL). Russell also was a former American college and professional football player who was a

linebacker Linebacker (LB) is a playing position in gridiron football. Linebackers are members of the defensive team, and line up three to five yards behind the line of scrimmage and the defensive linemen. They are the "middle ground" of defenders, ...

in the

(NFL) for a single season. He played college football for the

University of Colorado The University of Colorado (CU) is a system of public universities in Colorado. It consists of four institutions: University of Colorado Boulder, University of Colorado Colorado Springs, University of Colorado Denver, and the University o ...

, earned All-American honors and won the

Butkus Award The Butkus Award, instituted in 1985 by the Downtown Athletic Club of Orlando, is given annually to the top linebackers at the high school, collegiate and professional levels of football. The award, named in honor of College Football Hall of Fame ...

as the top linebacker in America. He played professionally for the NFL's Detroit Lions from 1997-1999.

Early years

Russell was born in

Tokyo, Japan Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, with an estimated 37.468 ...

.National Football League, Historical Players
Matt Russell
Retrieved February 2, 2012. He lived in

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

and various parts of the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

as a child. He attended Belleville High School-East in Belleville, Illinois,databaseFootball.com, Players
Matt Russell
. Retrieved February 2, 2012. and played for the Belleville East Lancers

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 ...

team.

College career

Russell attended the

, where he started at linebacker for the Colorado Buffaloes football team from 1993 to 1996. He finished his collegiate career ranked first in school history in unassisted tackles (282) and second in total tackles (446). He received all-conference honors during each of his final two seasons with the Buffaloes. As a senior in 1996, he was recognized as a consensus first-team All-American and won the

as the nation's best college linebacker after posting a career-high 137 tackles. He was selected as a member of CU’s Athletic Hall of Fame Class of 2012.

Professional career

The Detroit Lions selected Russell in the fourth round (130th pick overall) of the

1997 NFL Draft The 1997 NFL Draft was the procedure by which National Football League teams selected amateur college football players. It is officially known as the NFL Annual Player Selection Meeting. The draft was held April 19–20, 1997, at the Paramount T ...

, and he played in fourteen regular season games for the Lions in and earned all-rookie honors along his college teammate

Rae Carruth Rae Theotis Carruth (born Rae Lamar Wiggins; January 20, 1974) is a former American football wide receiver, and convicted murderer. After playing college football at Colorado, Carruth was drafted in the first round of the 1997 NFL Draft by the ...

.Pro-Football-Reference.com, Players
Matt Russell
Retrieved February 2, 2012. He was expected to compete for a starting linebacker position with

Stephen Boyd Stephen Boyd (born William Millar; 4 July 1931 – 2 June 1977) was a Northern Irish actor. He appeared in some 60 films, most notably as the villainous Messala in '' Ben-Hur'' (1959), a role that earned him the Golden Globe Award for Bes ...

following the departure of

Pepper Johnson Thomas "Pepper" Johnson (born July 29, 1964) is an American football coach and former linebacker who is the defensive coordinator and defensive line coach for the Tampa Bay Bandits of the United States Football League (USFL). He played in the Nat ...

. In , Russell injured his knee during the opening kickoff of the first preseason game against the Atlanta Falcons, and was lost for the season to injured reserve. He had also suffered a season ending knee injury the year before. Knee injuries eventually forced him to retire after the 1999 season.

Post-playing career

Russell spent the 2000 season as a graduate assistant coach for

Colorado Colorado (, other variants) is a state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It encompasses most of the Southern Rocky Mountains, as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the wes ...

, helping to instruct the Buffaloes’ linebackers. While a member of the Detroit Lions, Russell befriended Lions scout

Tom Dimitroff Thomas George Dimitroff Jr. (born July 14, 1966) is an American–Canadian football executive. He served as the general manager of the Atlanta Falcons from 2008 to 2020. Before joining the Falcons in 2008, Dimitroff was with the New England Pat ...

, who later worked for the Patriots and hired Russell as a scout for the Patriots in December 2000.

New England Patriots

Russell served as a scout for the club during the 2001 season and worked as an area scout for the team from 2003-05. Russell is credited for persuading

Scott Pioli Scott Pioli (born March 31, 1965) is an American football executive who most recently worked as the Assistant General Manager for the Atlanta Falcons. He was an NFL analyst for NBC Sports' '' Football Night in America'', NBC Sports Network's Pro ...

and the New England Patriots to draft

Matt Cassel Matthew Brennan Cassel (born May 17, 1982) is a former American football quarterback who played in the National Football League (NFL) for 14 seasons. A member of seven NFL teams, Cassel's most notable stints were with the New England Patriots ...

Philadelphia Eagles

Russell was hired by the Eagles in 2006 as a scout. He spent the 2008 season as the national scout for the Eagles after scouting the Western region for the club from 2006-07.

Denver Broncos

Russell was hired by the Broncos in 2009 as Director of College Scouting, and was promoted to Director of Player Personnel in January 2012. As director of player personnel, Russell is responsible for overseeing the day-to-day operations of the pro personnel and college scouting departments for the Broncos. Since his ascension to director of player personnel in 2012, the Broncos overhauled the majority of their roster, developing depth and competition through free agency and the draft. Denver posted the third-most regular-season wins (64) in the NFL from 2012–17, while capturing four AFC West Division titles, two AFC Championships and a victory in

Super Bowl 50 Super Bowl 50 was an American football game to determine the champion of the National Football League (NFL) for the 2015 season. The American Football Conference (AFC) champion Denver Broncos defeated the National Football Conference (NFC) cha ...

. On July 6, 2013, while celebrating his 40th birthday, Russell was arrested for DUI. He was suspended indefinitely without pay by the Broncos, but was reinstated after 60 days.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Russell, Matt 1975 births Living people All-American college football players American football linebackers Colorado Buffaloes football players Detroit Lions players New England Patriots scouts