Major Wright

Major Wright

refer to caption

Wright playing for the Bears in 2013.
No. 31 Tampa Bay Buccaneers
Position: Safety
Personal information
Date of birth: (1988-07-01) July 1, 1988
Place of birth: Lauderdale Lakes, Florida
Height: 5 ft 11 in (1.80 m)
Weight: 204 lb (93 kg)
Career information
High school: Fort Lauderdale (FL) Aquinas
College: Florida
NFL draft: 2010 / Round: 3 / Pick: 75
Career history
Roster status: Active
Career highlights and awards
Career NFL statistics as of Week 17, 2015
Tackles: 329
Pass deflections: 22
Interceptions: 9
Forced fumbles: 3
Player stats at NFL.com
Player stats at PFR

Major Wright (born July 1, 1988) is an American football safety who currently plays for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. He played college football for the University of Florida, and was a member of a BCS National Championship team. He was drafted by the Chicago Bears in the third round of the 2010 NFL Draft.

Early years

Wright was born in Lauderdale Lakes, Florida.[1] He attended St. Thomas Aquinas High School in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida, where he played high school football for the St. Thomas Aquinas Raiders and ran track.[2] As a junior, he recorded 58 tackles with six interceptions and as a sophomore had 71 tackles and 10 interceptions.[2] As a senior, he was a finalist for the Hall Trophy (U.S. Army Player of the Year Award) after he recorded 72 tackles and three interceptions. He played in the 2007 U.S. Army All-American Bowl.[2] Wright was an All-state selection both years.[2] In track & field, Wright posted personal-bests of 11.1 in the 100-meter dash, 22.8 in the 200-meter dash and 41.32 in the 4×100-meter relay.[3]

Name Home town High school / college Height Weight 40‡ Commit date
Major Wright
Safety		 Fort Lauderdale St. Thomas Aquinas 6 ft 1 in (1.85 m) 200 lb (91 kg) 4.5 Jan 30, 2007 
Scout:5/5 stars   Rivals:4/5 stars   247Sports: N/A    ESPN grade: 80
Overall recruiting rankings: Scout: 1   Rivals: 4
  • Note: In many cases, Scout, Rivals, 247Sports, and ESPN may conflict in their listings of height and weight.
  • In these cases, the average was taken. ESPN grades are on a 100-point scale.

Sources:

College career

Wright accepted an athletic scholarship to attend the University of Florida in Gainesville, Florida,[2] where he played for coach Urban Meyer's Florida Gators football team from 2007 to 2009.[4] As a freshman in 2007, Wright started seven of 13 games for the Gators at free safety, recording 67 tackles, four forced fumbles and an interception.[2] He was a first-team freshman All-American by CollegeFootballNews.com and second-team freshman All-American by Rivals.com.[4] As a sophomore in 2008, Wright started all 14 games at free safety, recording 66 tackles and four interceptions, with one returned for a touchdown.[2] He had nine tackles and an interception in the Gators win over the Oklahoma Sooners in the 2009 BCS National Championship Game.[2]

After his junior season, Wright decided to forgo his senior year and enter the NFL Draft.[5]

Professional career

Chicago Bears

The Chicago Bears selected Wright in the third round (75th overall pick) of the 2010 NFL Draft,[6] and was predicted to be a future starter by former Bears general manager Jerry Angelo.[7] During his rookie season, Wright played in eleven of sixteen regular season games. He recorded his first career interception in 2011 off a Michael Vick pass against the Philadelphia Eagles, when a pass by Vick squirted through linebacker Lance Briggs's hands into Wright, who was able to return the ball 39 yards.[8] A week later against the Detroit Lions, Wright intercepted a Matthew Stafford lob and returned it 24 yards for a touchdown, which was the first pick-six of his career.[9]

In the 2012 season Wright started all 16 games for the Bears at Strong Safety, recording four interceptions along with 52 tackles for the year. During the Week 3 match up against the St. Louis Rams he returned an interception 45 yards for a defensive touchdown.

Tampa Bay Buccaneers

On April 4, 2014, Wright agreed to a one-year contract with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, reuniting with his former Bears head coach Lovie Smith.[10] Wright was cut by the Buccaneers on August 30, 2014. Wright rejoined the team on September 3, 2014. Wright re-signed with the Buccaneers on March 7, 2015.[11] On December 30, 2015, Wright was placed on injured reserve.[12]

NFL stats

Year Team GP COMB TOTAL AST SACK FF FR FR YDS INT IR YDS AVG IR LNG TD PD
2010 CHI 11 24 20 4 0.0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
2011 CHI 12 58 42 16 0.0 0 0 0 3 60 20 36 1 7
2012 CHI 16 71 52 19 0.0 1 2 0 4 45 11 45 1 8
2013 CHI 15 100 78 22 0.0 2 0 0 2 46 23 38 1 3
2014 TB 12 51 34 17 0.0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1
Career 66 304 226 78 0.0 3 2 0 9 151 17 45 3 19

[13]

Key

See also

References

  1. ↑ Pro-Football-Reference.com, Players, Major Wright. Retrieved April 7, 2011.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 GatorZone.com, Football History, 2009 Roster, Major Wright. Retrieved April 7, 2011.
  3. ↑ https://www.trackingfootball.com/players/major-wright-4035/
  4. 1 2 2011 Florida Gators Football Media Guide, University Athletic Association, Gainesville, Florida, pp. 89, 99, 154, 186 (2011). Retrieved September 1, 2011.
  5. ↑ "Three Gators enter NFL draft," ESPN.com (January 11, 2010). Retrieved May 19, 2011.
  6. ↑ Pro Football Hall of Fame, Draft History, 2010 National Football League Draft. Retrieved May 19, 2011.
  7. ↑ Jeff Dickerson, "Bears make Major decision," ESPN.com (April 24, 2010). Retrieved May 19, 2011.
  8. ↑ "Bears hit the ground running once again". Chicagobears.com. Retrieved August 3, 2012.
  9. ↑ "Defense fuels Bears to victory over Lions". Chicagobears.com. November 13, 2011. Retrieved August 3, 2012.
  10. ↑ Wesseling, Chris (April 4, 2014). "Major Wright, Tampa Bay Buccaneers agree to contract". NFL.com. Retrieved April 4, 2014.
  11. ↑ Sessler, Marc (March 7, 2015). "Buccaneers agree to terms with safety Major Wright". NFL.com. Retrieved March 7, 2015.
  12. ↑ "Vincent Jackson, Major Wright Head to IR". www.buccaneers.com. Retrieved 2016-01-01.
  13. ↑ "Major Wright Stats". ESPN. ESPN Internet Ventures. Retrieved 9 June 2015.

External links

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