Josh Heinrich Taves (born May 13, 1972, in

Watsonville, California Watsonville is a city in Santa Cruz County, California, in the Monterey Bay Area of the Central Coast (California), Central Coast of California. The population was 52,590 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. Predominantly Latino and ...

) is an American former professional

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

player who was a

defensive end Defensive end (DE) is a defensive position in the sport of gridiron football. This position has designated the players at each end of the defensive line, but changes in formation (American football), formations over the years have substantially ...

in the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a Professional gridiron football, professional American football league in the United States. Composed of 32 teams, it is divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National ...

(NFL). He played

college football College football is gridiron football that is played by teams of amateur Student athlete, student-athletes at universities and colleges. It was through collegiate competition that gridiron football American football in the United States, firs ...

for the

Northeastern Huskies The Northeastern Huskies are the athletic teams representing Northeastern University in Boston, Massachusetts. They compete in thirteen varsity team sports: men's and women's hockey (in Hockey East); men's baseball, men's and women's basketball ...

Biography

Taves is Jewish. He grew up in Truro, MA, played football for Dennis-Yarmouth Regional High School, and for

Northeastern University Northeastern University (NU or NEU) is a private university, private research university with its main campus in Boston, Massachusetts, United States. It was founded by the Boston Young Men's Christian Association in 1898 as an all-male instit ...

, where he twice made the Jewish All-American team."NFL EUROPE'S TOP DEFENSIVE PLAYER TO SIGN WITH DOLPHINS"
''Miami Herald'', June 20, 1998 He was named NFL Europe's 1998 Most Valuable Defensive Player, after he was co-leader in sacks in the league with 9 in 10 games for the Barcelona Dragons. Taves signed with the Buffalo Destroyers of the

Arena Football League The Arena Football League (AFL) was a professional arena football league in the United States. It was founded in 1986, but played its first official games in the 1987 Arena Football League season, 1987 season, making it the third longest-runnin ...

for the 2000 season. On March 21, 2000, he was traded to the

Orlando Predators The Orlando Predators were a professional arena football team based in Orlando, Florida and member of the Arena Football League (AFL). The team was most recently owned by Orlando Predators LLC, a company owned by David A. Siegel, and played it ...

for Mile Black. In the NFL, he played

for 29 games over three seasons for the

Oakland Raiders The Oakland Raiders were a professional American football team based in Oakland, California, from its founding in 1960 to 1981, and again from 1995 to 2019 before Oakland Raiders relocation to Las Vegas, relocating to the Las Vegas metropolitan ...

and the

Carolina Panthers The Carolina Panthers are a professional American football team based in Charlotte, North Carolina. The Panthers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC South, South division. The t ...

References

1972 births Living people Sportspeople from Watsonville, California Players of American football from Santa Cruz County, California Jewish American players of American football American football defensive ends Northeastern Huskies football players Detroit Lions players Jacksonville Jaguars players New England Patriots players Miami Dolphins players Barcelona Dragons (NFL Europe) players Oakland Raiders players Carolina Panthers players 21st-century American Jews Jews from California 20th-century American sportsmen Buffalo Destroyers players Orlando Predators players {{defensive-lineman-1970s-stub

Biography

See also

References