Ahmad Rashad Merritt (born February 5, 1977) 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 ...

wide receiver. He was signed by the Chicago Bears 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 ...

in 2000. He played college football at

Wisconsin Wisconsin () is a state in the upper Midwestern United States. Wisconsin is the 25th-largest state by total area and the 20th-most populous. It is bordered by Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake M ...

. Merritt was also a member of the

Dallas Cowboys The Dallas Cowboys are a professional American football team based in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex. The Cowboys compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) East divi ...

, Chicago Rush and Arizona Cardinals.

Early years

Merritt was born in Chicago and named after former NFL running back and wide receiver

Ahmad Rashad Ahmad Rashad (born Robert Earl Moore; November 19, 1949) is an American sportscaster and former professional football player. He was the fourth overall selection of the 1972 NFL Draft, taken by the St. Louis Cardinals. He was known as Bobby Moo ...

, who was his father's favorite player at the time. Merritt attended St. Rita High School on Chicago's south side, where, as a senior, he earned All-America honors from '' Prep Football Report'' and ''

SuperPrep ''Super Prep'' is a sports magazine based in Laguna Beach, California, published in since 1985. It was founded and is published by Allen Wallace, a lawyer. Its main focus is to provide recruiting information on high school football players. In 19 ...

''. He had 63 receptions for 1,240 yards and 23 touchdowns throughout his high school career. Merritt was a grade school, high school, and college teammate of former NFL player Tony Simmons. Merritt and Simmons both played and caught touchdown passes in World Bowl IX. In 2012, Merritt was inducted into the St. Rita High School Hall of Fame.

College career

Merritt started 21 games at wide receiver but primarily served as a return specialist through his four years at Wisconsin. He finished his collegiate career with 36 receptions for 528 yards and two touchdowns, 28 kick returns for 521 yards and 25 punt returns for 165 yards.

Professional career

Chicago Bears

Merritt is probably most remembered for his 47-yard

touchdown A touchdown (abbreviated as TD) is a scoring play in gridiron football. Whether running, passing, returning a kickoff or punt, or recovering a turnover, a team scores a touchdown by advancing the ball into the opponent's end zone. In Amer ...

run on a reverse in the Bears 2001 divisional playoff loss to 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 ...

(the last offensive touchdown scored for the Bears scored in Old

Soldier Field Soldier Field is a multi-purpose stadium on the Near South Side of Chicago, Illinois, United States. Opened in 1924 and reconstructed in 2003, the stadium has served as the home of the Chicago Bears of the National Football League (NFL) since ...

). He was also the leading receiver of the 2001

World Bowl The World Bowl was the annual American football championship game of the World League of American Football/NFL Europe. The World Bowl was played each year from 1991 to 2007 (except 1993 and 1994). The game was conceived as the final of the NFL-r ...

Champion

Berlin Thunder The Berlin Thunder were a professional American football team in NFL Europe. History The Thunder came into existence as an expansion team, after the London/England Monarchs franchise shut down operations, prior to the 1999 season. Home games ...

of NFL Europa.

Dallas Cowboys

Merritt was in training camp with the

in 2005 and was on the verge of securing a roster spot when he tore ligaments in his foot and was given an injury settlement. He returned to the Cowboys in the offseason, but was later released a few days into training camp before the 2006 season.

Chicago Rush

Merritt started the first five games of the 2007 Arena Football season for the Chicago Rush, gaining 203 yards on 20 receptions with two touchdowns before being waived in early April.

Arizona Cardinals

Merritt was signed as a free agent by the Arizona Cardinals but spent his entire first season with the team on injured reserved after dislocating his ankle and breaking his fibula in a preseason game against the Houston Texans. He was re-signed by the team on March 26, 2008; however, he was released prior to the season on August 20.

References

External links

Arizona Cardinals bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Merritt, Ahmad 1977 births American football return specialists American football wide receivers Arizona Cardinals players Berlin Thunder players Chicago Bears players Chicago Rush players Dallas Cowboys players Living people Players of American football from Chicago Wisconsin Badgers football players