Matthew K. "Matt" Shaughnessy (born September 23, 1986) 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

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 ...

in the third round of the

2009 NFL Draft The 2009 NFL Draft was the seventy-fourth annual meeting of National Football League (NFL) franchises to select newly eligible football players. The draft took place at Radio City Music Hall in New York City, New York, on April 25 and 26, 2009. T ...

. He played

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Early years

Shaughnessy attended the

Norwich Free Academy The Norwich Free Academy (NFA), founded in 1854 and in operation since 1856, is a coeducational independent school for students between the 9th and 12th grade. Located in Norwich, Connecticut, the Academy serves as the primary high school for Norw ...

Norwich, Connecticut Norwich ( ) (also called "The Rose of New England") is a city in New London County, Connecticut, United States. The Yantic, Shetucket, and Quinebaug Rivers flow into the city and form its harbor, from which the Thames River flows south to Long ...

and graduated in 2005. He earned Super Prep All-American honors and was rated one of the top 30 defensive ends in the nation, according to Rivals.com. He was named to the Connecticut High School Coaches Association and New Haven Register All-State teams in 2004. Also, he earned All-Conference and All-Area accolades in each of his three final seasons, adding three more letters in basketball and two in track. He also played in the Connecticut vs Rhode Island All-Star Football Game as a Defensive End, earning the CT Defensive Player of the Game.

College career

Shaughnessy played in 50 games and started 46 games at Wisconsin, recording 174 tackles (109 solos) with 18.5 sacks, 41.5 stops for losses and 22 quarterback pressures. He also caused and recovered one fumble while also deflecting nine passes. As a senior in 2008 he was honorable mention All-

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 ...

Conference after recorded 40 tackles (29 solo) with four sacks and eight stops for losses and 10 quarterback pressures and deflected four passes. In 2007, he was a Second-team All-Big Ten Conference and the team's Defensive Most Valuable Player. he started all 13 games at right defensive end and made 18.0 stops for losses and a career-high 60 tackles (41 solos) with five sacks, three pass deflections and four pressures. The year before, in 2005, he was First-team Freshman All-American honors from

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and

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and an honorable mention All-Big Ten Conference after appearing in 11 games, starting seven, at right defensive end and finishing with 39 tackles (20 solos), 2.5 sacks, five pressures, 7.5 stops for losses and a pair of pass deflections.

Professional career

Oakland Raiders

He was drafted by the Raiders in the third round of the

. He signed a 4-year contract on July 20, 2009. As a rookie in 2009, Shaughnessy played in all 16 regular season games for the Raiders, starting two. He recorded 4 sacks and 29 tackles (26 of them solo). In 2010, he played in all 16 games, starting in eight. He recorded 56 tackles (43 of them solo, 13 assisted), 7 sacks, and forced 2 fumbles. His 2011 season was cut short after a Week 3 injury against the Jets. He would be placed on injured reserve weeks after thus ending his season.

Arizona Cardinals

On March 15, 2013, Shaughnessy signed with 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 ...

. On September 5, 2015, he was released by the Cardinals.

New Orleans Saints

On August 3, 2016, Shaughnessy signed with 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 ...

NFL career statistics

References

External links

Oakland Raiders bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Shaughnessy, Matt 1986 births Living people American football linebackers American football defensive ends Wisconsin Badgers football players Oakland Raiders players Arizona Cardinals players New Orleans Saints players Players of American football from Connecticut Sportspeople from Norwich, Connecticut