Spencer Drango
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Spencer Joseph Drango (born October 15, 1992) 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 ...
guard Guard or guards may refer to: Professional occupations * Bodyguard, who protects an individual from personal assault * Crossing guard, who stops traffic so pedestrians can cross the street * Lifeguard, who rescues people from drowning * Prison ...
. He played college football at Baylor. A freshman All-American in 2012, Drango was considered one of the best offensive tackles in his class. He was drafted by 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 ...
in the fifth round of the
2016 NFL Draft The 2016 NFL Draft was the 81st annual meeting of National Football League (NFL) franchises to select newly eligible American football players. As in 2015 NFL Draft, 2015, the draft took place at the Auditorium Theatre and Grant Park (Chicago), ...
.


High school career

A native of
Austin, Texas Austin is the capital city of the U.S. state of Texas, as well as the seat and largest city of Travis County, with portions extending into Hays and Williamson counties. Incorporated on December 27, 1839, it is the 11th-most-populous city ...
, Drango attended
Cedar Park High School Cedar Park High School (CPHS) is a high school in Cedar Park, Texas. It was established in 1998 to serve as the second high school in the Leander Independent School District due to the rapid growth in the area. The school's mascot is the Timberw ...
, where he was an All-State offensive lineman. As senior, he registered 144 knockdowns while not allowing a sack, helping Cedar Park to a 13–1 record and UIL quarterfinals, where they lost 21–20 to
Michael Brewer Michael Brewer (born November 13, 1992) is a former American football quarterback. He played college football at Virginia Tech and was their starting quarterback from 2014 to 2015. Prior to that he played at Texas Tech from 2011 to 2013. Coll ...
's Austin Lake Travis. Regarded as a four-star recruit by
Rivals.com Rivals.com is a network of websites that focus mainly on college football and basketball recruiting in the United States. The network was started in 1998 and employs more than 300 personnel. History Rivals.com was founded in 1998 by Jim Heckma ...
, Drango was listed as the No. 23 offensive tackle prospect in 2011. He picked Baylor over offers from
Arkansas Arkansas ( ) is a landlocked state in the South Central United States. It is bordered by Missouri to the north, Tennessee and Mississippi to the east, Louisiana to the south, and Texas and Oklahoma to the west. Its name is from the O ...
,
Louisiana State Louisiana State University (officially Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College, commonly referred to as LSU) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Baton Rouge, Louisian ...
, Stanford, and
Texas Texas (, ; Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2020, it is the second-largest U.S. state by ...
.


College career

After redshirting his initial year at Baylor, Drango took over from Cyril Richardson as starting left tackle for the Bears in 2012. He started all 13 games and was named Freshman All-American by Scout/FoxSports (first-team) and Phil Steele (second-team). Midway through his sophomore season, Drango had back surgery for a ruptured disk, but Baylor athletic trainer Jacob Puente helped him recover so he could play football once again. In his senior year, Drango had the highest pass-blocking efficiency in college football according to ''
Pro Football Focus Pro Football Focus (also written as ProFootballFocus, and often referred to by its initials, PFF) is a sports analytics company that focuses on thorough analysis of the National Football League (NFL) and NCAA Division-I football in the United Sta ...
''. He allowed only three quarterback hurries, and just a single QB hit—against Oklahoma State defensive end Emmanuel Ogbah—all season, giving him a nation-leading 99.2 pass blocking efficiency.


Professional career


Pre-draft

Coming out of college, Drango was projected to go anywhere from the fourth to the seventh round by NFL analysts. NFLDraftScout.com ranked him the 19th best guard in the 2016 NFL Draft. He played in the Senior bowl and reportedly met with representatives from the Chicago Bears. While teams were fond of his upper body strength, ability to play in space, quality pass protection technique, and his quality setup in pass sets many pegged him as an eventual NFL backup or low-end starter with sloppy hand placement during blocks with a predictable punch in pass protection. He attended the
NFL Scouting Combine The NFL Scouting Combine is a week-long showcase occurring every February at Lucas Oil Stadium (and formerly at the RCA Dome until 2008) in Indianapolis, where college football players perform physical and mental tests in front of National Foo ...
and put up decent numbers in the positional drills and workouts. At Baylor's annual Pro Day, he decided to stand on his combine numbers and only participate in positional drills. 61 scouts and representatives, including Pittsburgh Steelers' head coach
Mike Tomlin Michael Pettaway Tomlin (born March 15, 1972) is an American football coach who is the head coach for the Pittsburgh Steelers of the National Football League (NFL). Since joining the Steelers in 2007, he has led the team to ten playoff runs, s ...
and Houston Texans' head coach Bill O'Brien, from all 32 NFL teams came to watch Drango,
Corey Coleman Corey Defians Coleman (born July 6, 1994) is an American football wide receiver for the Philadelphia Stars of the United States Football League (USFL). He played college football at Baylor and was drafted by the Cleveland Browns in the first ...
, Shawn Oakman,
Xavien Howard Xavien Howard (born July 4, 1993) is an American football cornerback for the Miami Dolphins of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football at Baylor and was drafted in the second round of the 2016 NFL Draft by the Dolphins. ...
,
Andrew Billings Andrew Mitchell Billings (born March 6, 1995) is an American football defensive tackle for the Chicago Bears of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football at Baylor and was drafted by the Cincinnati Bengals in the fourth ro ...
, and 11 other prospects workout. Although Drango was a top 10 tackle at Baylor each of the past two seasons, almost all analysts pegged him as an offensive guard in the NFL.


Cleveland Browns

Drango was drafted by 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 ...
in the fifth round (168th overall) in the
2016 NFL Draft The 2016 NFL Draft was the 81st annual meeting of National Football League (NFL) franchises to select newly eligible American football players. As in 2015 NFL Draft, 2015, the draft took place at the Auditorium Theatre and Grant Park (Chicago), ...
. On May 13, he signed a four-year contract worth about $2.55 million, which included a signing bonus worth about $207,000. Drango began training camp practicing at right guard but was immediately moved to right tackle and competed with rookie Shon Coleman for the backup right tackle position behind
Austin Pasztor Austin William Pasztor (born November 26, 1990) is a former Canadian professional American football offensive tackle. He played college football at Virginia and was signed by the Minnesota Vikings as an undrafted free agent in 2012. Early year ...
. He ended up winning the backup left tackle position behind Pro-bowl veteran Joe Thomas. On September 18, 2016, Drango earned his first career start against the
Baltimore Ravens The Baltimore Ravens are a professional American football team based in Baltimore, Maryland. The Ravens compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the American Football Conference (AFC) North division. The team plays it ...
after the Cleveland Browns decided to start him as an extra lineman to begin the game. On November 10, 2016, he started at right guard against the Ravens after Joel Bitonio was unable to play after suffering an injury. He started the next three games after winning the job over veteran
Alvin Bailey Alvin Dewayne Bailey (born August 26, 1991) is a former American football guard. He played college football at Arkansas. He was signed by the Seattle Seahawks as an undrafted free agent in 2013. High school career A native of Broken Arrow, Ok ...
. Drango finished his rookie season by playing all 16 games with 9 starts. On October 22, 2017, Browns starting left tackle Joe Thomas went down with a torn triceps injury after he had played 10,363 consecutive offensive snaps. The injury would require season-ending surgery. On October 23, 2017, Browns head coach
Hue Jackson Hue Jackson (born October 22, 1965) is an American football coach who is the head football coach at Grambling State University. An offensive assistant at both the collegiate and professional levels, he held coordinator positions in the Nation ...
stated that Drango would start at left tackle in place of the injured 10-time Pro-Bowler, Joe Thomas. Drango was waived by the Browns on September 1, 2018.


Los Angeles Chargers

On September 18, 2018, Drango was signed to the
Los Angeles Chargers The Los Angeles Chargers are a professional American football team based in the Los Angeles metropolitan area. The Chargers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) West division, and ...
' practice squad. He signed a reserve/future contract with the Chargers on January 17, 2019. On August 31, 2019, Drango was waived by the Chargers and signed to the practice squad the next day. He was promoted to the active roster on November 18, 2019.


Personal life

Drango was raised by his parents, Gary and Pamela Drango, in
Austin, Texas Austin is the capital city of the U.S. state of Texas, as well as the seat and largest city of Travis County, with portions extending into Hays and Williamson counties. Incorporated on December 27, 1839, it is the 11th-most-populous city ...
. He was born in
Indianapolis, Indiana Indianapolis (), colloquially known as Indy, is the state capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Indiana and the seat of Marion County. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the consolidated population of Indianapolis and Mari ...
and overcame dyslexia at a young age. Drango grew up in Austin, TX, attending Canyon Ridge Middle School, where he played football and basketball. He continued as a dual sport athlete in high school before choosing to play football at Baylor over Stanford. Drango graduated from Baylor in December 2014 with a degree in finance and has a brother named Brad that also graduated from Baylor. He enjoys hunting, fishing, and listening to country music and cites the '' MythBusters'' as his favorite TV show and ''
Shooter Shooting is the act or process of discharging a projectile from a ranged weapon (such as a gun, bow, crossbow, slingshot, or blowpipe). Even the acts of launching flame, artillery, darts, harpoons, grenades, rockets, and guided missiles can ...
'' as his favorite movie.


References


External links

*
Baylor Bears bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Drango, Spencer 1992 births Living people All-American college football players American football offensive tackles Baylor Bears football players Cleveland Browns players Los Angeles Chargers players People from Cedar Park, Texas Players of American football from Texas