Michael Sellers (born July 21, 1975) 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 wi ...

fullback in 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 ...

(NFL). He was the youngest import player to sign a

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) deal in the history of the football league when he played at 19 years old for the Edmonton Eskimos. He was signed 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 ...

by the NFL's

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, and also played for the

Cleveland Browns The Cleveland Browns are a professional American football team based in Cleveland. Named after original coach and co-founder Paul Brown, they compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the American Football Conference (A ...

of the NFL.

High school

Sellers attended

North Thurston High School North Thurston High School, located in the North Thurston Public Schools District in Lacey, Washington, is a comprehensive high school which opened in 1955. North Thurston serves a portion of Lacey and northeast Thurston County. The school is ...

Lacey, Washington Lacey is a city in Thurston County, Washington, United States. It is a suburb of Olympia with a population of 53,526 at the 2020 census. Lacey is located along Interstate 5 between Olympia and the Nisqually River, which marks the border with ...

and was a letterman in football,

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular court, compete with the primary objective of shooting a basketball (approximately in diameter) through the defender's h ...

and track. As a senior, he was named the

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Prep Player of the Year and the Offensive Player of the Year.

Junior College Career

Sellers attended

Walla Walla Community College Walla Walla Community College (WWCC), often referred to as just “CC” locally, is a multi-campus community college in southeastern Washington state. History Walla Walla Community College was founded in 1967 by Peter Dietrich when the region ...

and earned junior college All-America honors as a linebacker.

Professional career

Canadian Football League

Sellers attained some stardom in the

, where he moved to fullback and appeared for the Eskimos and the

Winnipeg Blue Bombers The Winnipeg Blue Bombers are a professional Canadian football team based in Winnipeg, Manitoba. The Blue Bombers compete in the Canadian Football League (CFL) as a member club of the league's West division. They play their home games at IG Fie ...

. With the Blue Bombers, he was the power half of what was then the league's most dangerous rushing duo, "Thunder and Lightning", with fleet-footed running back Charles Roberts.

Washington Redskins

Sellers signed with the

as an undrafted free agent on January 8, 1998.

Cleveland Browns

On March 16, 2001, Sellers signed with the

. He was waived by the Browns on November 27, 2001. Mike Sellers at Redskins training camp, August 2005

Return to the Washington Redskins

Sellers made his return to the Redskins after signing with them on January 5, 2004. On March 7, 2005, he re-signed with the Redskins as an unrestricted free agent. Sellers signed a multi-year contract extension on March 2, 2007. His stellar performance in the 2008 season allowed Sellers to be selected as the starting fullback for the 2009 Pro Bowl. On September 16, 2009, the Redskins signed him to a two-year contract extension. Sellers was involved in controversy after a 2009 exhibition game against the New England Patriots. As part of the pregame ceremonies, the last Washington Redskin player announced comes on to the field holding the American flag. This task fell to Sellers who took the flag to midfield before throwing it on the ground. This upset fans in attendance and caused Sellers to issue an apology the next day. He said it was a heat of the moment thing and not meant to be a sign of disrespect. In the 2011 season, Sellers was made the backup fullback losing the starting spot to Darrel Young. According to Young, Sellers showed no hard feelings and has even acted as a mentor to him. Throughout the season, Sellers played more on special teams along with being a backup fullback, tight end, and H-back. On March 12, 2012, the Redskins released Sellers. On July 27, Sellers announced that he would be retiring from football.

Honors

In a 1999 article in The News Tribune (Tacoma, Wash.), Sellers was listed as one of the 100 greatest athletes in Washington state history. In a February 2005 article in

The Seattle Times ''The Seattle Times'' is a daily newspaper serving Seattle, Washington, United States. It was founded in 1891 and has been owned by the Blethen family since 1896. ''The Seattle Times'' has the largest circulation of any newspaper in Washington ...

, Sellers was named as one of the 25 greatest

running back A running back (RB) is a member of the offensive backfield in gridiron football. The primary roles of a running back are to receive handoffs from the quarterback to rush the ball, to line up as a receiver to catch the ball, and block. Ther ...

s in state history.

Personal

Mike Sellers has two daughters, Kaylin and Braxton. Sellers is a motivational speaker, and spoke to high school football players through out his career, mostly making an effort to dissuade them from taking steroids in an effort to be better football players.

References

External links

Washington Redskins bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sellers, Mike 1975 births Living people American football fullbacks Canadian football fullbacks Edmonton Elks players Winnipeg Blue Bombers players Washington Redskins players National Conference Pro Bowl players Walla Walla Warriors football players People from Lacey, Washington Players of American football from Washington (state) Sportspeople from Frankfurt American sportspeople of Samoan descent