Chad Wolfegang Jackson (born March 6, 1985) is an American former college and professional

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

player who was a wide receiver 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) for three seasons. He played

college football College football (french: Football universitaire) refers to gridiron football played by teams of student athletes. It was through college football play that American football rules first gained popularity in the United States. Unlike most ...

for the

University of Florida The University of Florida (Florida or UF) is a public land-grant research university in Gainesville, Florida. It is a senior member of the State University System of Florida, traces its origins to 1853, and has operated continuously on its ...

. Jackson was drafted by the

New England Patriots The New England Patriots are a professional American football team based in the Greater Boston area. They compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) AFC East, East divisio ...

of the

(NFL) in the second round of the

2006 NFL Draft The 2006 National Football League Draft, the 71st in league history, took place in New York City, New York, at Radio City Music Hall on April 29 and April 30, 2006. For the 27th consecutive year, the draft was telecast on ESPN and ESPN2, with ad ...

, and also played for the

Denver Broncos The Denver Broncos are a professional American football franchise based in Denver. The Broncos compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) West division. The team is headquart ...

of the NFL, and the

Omaha Nighthawks The Omaha Nighthawks were a professional American football team based in Omaha, Nebraska, which played in the United Football League, joining the league as an expansion team in 2010. During their first season, the Nighthawks played their home gam ...

of the United Football League (UFL).

Early years

Jackson was born in

Birmingham, Alabama Birmingham ( ) is a city in the north central region of the U.S. state of Alabama. Birmingham is the seat of Jefferson County, Alabama's most populous county. As of the 2021 census estimates, Birmingham had a population of 197,575, down 1% fr ...

in 1985.Pro-Football-Reference.com, Players
Chad Jackson
Retrieved March 17, 2011. He was a three-year starter at football powerhouse Hoover High School in Birmingham, where he recorded 202

reception Reception is a noun form of ''receiving'', or ''to receive'' something, such as art, experience, information, people, products, or vehicles. It may refer to: Astrology * Reception (astrology), when a planet is located in a sign ruled by another p ...

s for 3,553 yards and forty touchdowns.GatorZone.com, Football History, 2005 Roster
Chad Jackson
. Retrieved March 17, 2011. Jackson also found time to pass and run for twelve more touchdowns and try his hand at

free safety Safety is a position in gridiron football on the defense. The safeties are defensive backs who line up ten to fifteen yards from the line of scrimmage. There are two variations of the position: the free safety and the strong safety. Their dut ...

. His high school career ended with a 41–3 record and two Alabama Class 6A championships, and he was recognized as a ''

Parade A parade is a procession of people, usually organized along a street, often in costume, and often accompanied by marching bands, float (parade), floats, or sometimes large balloons. Parades are held for a wide range of reasons, but are usually ce ...

'' magazine prep All-American. Jackson also played basketball and ran track before concentrating on football as a senior.

College career

Jackson accepted an athletic scholarship to attend the

in Gainesville, Florida, where he played for coach

Ron Zook Ronald Andrew Zook (; born April 28, 1954) is an American football coach and former player who currently serves as the Defensive Coordinator of the Seattle Sea Dragons of the XFL. He was the head football coach at the University of Florida from ...

and coach

Urban Meyer Urban Frank Meyer III (born July 10, 1964) is a college football TV commentator and former American football coach. He spent most of his coaching career at the collegiate level, having served as the head coach of the Bowling Green Falcons fro ...

Florida Gators football The Florida Gators football program represents the University of Florida (UF) in American college football. Florida competes in the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) and the Eastern Division of ...

teams from

2003 File:2003 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The crew of STS-107 perished when the Space Shuttle Columbia disintegrated during reentry into Earth's atmosphere; SARS became an epidemic in China, and was a precursor to SARS-CoV-2; A des ...

2005 File:2005 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: Hurricane Katrina in the Gulf of Mexico; the Funeral of Pope John Paul II is held in Vatican City; "Me at the zoo", the first video ever to be uploaded to YouTube; Eris was discovered in ...

.
2011 Florida Gators Football Media Guide
'', University Athletic Association, Gainesville, Florida, pp. 89, 97, 127, 136, 139, 143–145, 147–148, 152, 159, 182 (2011). Retrieved August 27, 2011. As a junior in 2005, Jackson started eleven games and appeared in all twelve. He tied the Gators team record for

s in a single season with eighty-eight, and led the

Southeastern Conference The Southeastern Conference (SEC) is an American college athletic conference whose member institutions are located primarily in the South Central and Southeastern United States. Its fourteen members include the flagship public universities of ...

(SEC). Jackson was a first-team All-SEC selection, an honorable mention All-American, and one of fifteen semi-finalists for the

Biletnikoff Award The Fred Biletnikoff Award is presented annually to the most outstanding receiver in American college football by the Tallahassee Quarterback Club Foundation, Inc. (TQCF), an independent not-for-profit 501(c)(3) organization. The award was creat ...

in 2005. His eighty-eight catches went for 900 yards and nine touchdowns, and he also ran for two more rushing touchdowns. Following his junior season, Jackson declared that he would forgo his final year of NCAA eligibility and enter the NFL draft.

Professional career

Pre-draft

New England Patriots

On the first day of the

, the Patriots traded draft picks with the

Green Bay Packers The Green Bay Packers are a professional American football team based in Green Bay, Wisconsin. The Packers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC North, North division. It ...

to move up sixteen places (from the Patriots' 52nd to the Packers' 36th) in the second round to select Jackson, giving up a third-round pick (75th overall) acquired in a trade. Jackson played for the Patriots in and .National Football League, Current Players
Chad Jackson
Retrieved March 17, 2011. Jackson missed the entire 2006 preseason with a

hamstring In human anatomy, a hamstring () is any one of the three posterior thigh muscles in between the hip and the knee (from medial to lateral: semimembranosus, semitendinosus and biceps femoris). The hamstrings are susceptible to injury. In quadrupeds, ...

injury; his first NFL game was in Week 2 of the 2006 season against the

New York Jets The New York Jets are a professional American football team based in the New York metropolitan area. The Jets compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) East division. The J ...

, in which he caught two passes for a total of 42 yards; one of those was a 13-yard touchdown. In Week 4, he caught two passes for a total of nine yards against the

Cincinnati Bengals The Cincinnati Bengals are a professional American football team based in Cincinnati. The Bengals compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) AFC North, North division. The c ...

. His performance was limited due to his nagging hamstring injury. In Week 7, at Buffalo, Jackson recorded his fifth catch of the season, a 35-yard touchdown reception from

Tom Brady Thomas Edward Patrick Brady Jr. (born August 3, 1977) is an American football quarterback for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers of the National Football League (NFL). He spent his first 20 seasons with the New England Patriots organization, with which ...

in the third quarter. A few weeks later, Jackson suffered a groin injury and missed back-to-back games in December. Jackson finished his rookie season with 13 catches for 152 yards, six first downs and three touchdowns. In the 2006 AFC Championship Game against the

Indianapolis Colts The Indianapolis Colts are a professional American football team based in Indianapolis. The Colts compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) South division. Since the 2008 ...

, Jackson suffered a torn ACL and was placed on the Patriots'

physically unable to perform Physically unable to perform (PUP) is a roster designation used in the National Football League (NFL) for players who suffered injuries during football-related activities prior to the start of training camp. Players on the PUP list may participate ...

(PUP) list prior to the

2007 File:2007 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Steve Jobs unveils Apple's first iPhone; TAM Airlines Flight 3054 overruns a runway and crashes into a gas station, killing almost 200 people; Former Pakistani Prime Minister of Pakistan, Pr ...

season. He was activated from the PUP on November 7, 2007, but was active for only four of the Patriots' remaining games, finishing the season with one catch for 19 yards. Jackson was active for the Patriots' first

playoff The playoffs, play-offs, postseason or finals of a sports league are a competition played after the regular season by the top competitors to determine the league champion or a similar accolade. Depending on the league, the playoffs may be eithe ...

game against the

Jacksonville Jaguars The Jacksonville Jaguars are a professional American football team based in Jacksonville, Florida. The Jaguars compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the American Football Conference (AFC) South division. The team play ...

, but was a healthy inactive for their next two games, the AFC Championship and

Super Bowl XLII Super Bowl XLII was an American football game between the National Football Conference (NFC) champion New York Giants and the American Football Conference (AFC) champion New England Patriots to decide the National Football League (NFL) champion ...

. On August 31, 2008, Jackson was released by the Patriots a day after the deadline for cutting rosters down to 53 players.

Denver Broncos

Jackson was signed by the

on October 27, 2008. During the 2008 season, he played in four games, making one catch for 19 yards and returning eight kickoffs (all on the same day, to tie a franchise record) for a combined 162 yards. Jackson made the Broncos' initial 53-man roster but was released by the Broncos on September 7, 2009.

Buffalo Bills

Jackson signed with the

Buffalo Bills The Buffalo Bills are a professional American football team based in the Buffalo metropolitan area. The Bills compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) East division. ...

on March 31, 2010. He was released on September 4, 2010.

Omaha Nighthawks

Jackson was signed by the

of the United Football League on June 29, 2011.

Oakland Raiders

On August 6, 2011, Jackson signed with 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 ...

. Jackson was waived on September 3, 2011.

References

External links

Chad Jackson
– Florida Gators player profile
Chad Jackson
– New England Patriots player profile
Career stats
{{DEFAULTSORT:Jackson, Chad 1985 births Living people American football wide receivers Buffalo Bills players Denver Broncos players Florida Gators football players New England Patriots players Oakland Raiders players Omaha Nighthawks players Players of American football from Birmingham, Alabama