Tab Wilson Perry (born January 20, 1982) 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 drafted by 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) North division. The club's home ...

in the sixth round of the

2005 NFL Draft The 2005 NFL draft was the procedure by which National Football League teams selected amateur college football players. It is officially known as the NFL Annual Player Selection Meeting. The draft was held April 23–24, 2005. The league also he ...

. 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 in the United States, American football rules first gained populari ...

UCLA The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a teachers college then known as the southern branch of the California ...

. Perry has also been a member of the

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

Early years

Perry played wide receiver and safety at Milpitas High School wearing the jersey number 3.

College career

During his first three seasons at UCLA, played wide receiver and wore the jersey number 1 (because number 3 was already taken). He worked hard over the summer, attending classes at three small schools in between his junior and senior year, to remain eligible to play football at UCLA. Once it was vacated, he wore the number 3 for his senior year.

Professional career

Cincinnati Bengals

Perry was expected to go somewhere around the third to fifth round of the

, but fell to the Bengals in the sixth round. Most teams saw him primarily as a kick returner, because that was his specialty at UCLA (where he set numerous records). He wore the number 12 during preseason for the Bengals and during a short minicamp due to the late graduation date of UCLA. Perry was used primarily as a kick returner for his first year with the Bengals. He earned special teams player of the week in a victory over the

Pittsburgh Steelers The Pittsburgh Steelers are a professional American football team based in Pittsburgh. The Steelers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the American Football Conference (AFC) North division. Founded in , the Steel ...

due in part to a long kick return that set up the game clinching

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 ...

. He was listed from as high as the third down to the fifth receiver for Cincinnati. Perry finished the 2005 season with a franchise record 1,562 kickoff return yards, and 2 touchdowns on offense, assisting the team to an 11-5 record and their first playoff appearance in over a decade. Perry was also the starting returner for the Bengals in 2006, but he suffered a season-ending injury in the second game of the year.

Miami Dolphins

On March 15, 2008, Perry signed a one-year deal worth just under $1 million with the

. On May 24, he suffered a torn Achilles' tendon. He was waived/injured by the Dolphins four days later and subsequently placed on

injured reserve The injured reserve list ( IR list) is a designation used in North American professional sports leagues for athletes who suffer injuries and become unable to play. The exact name of the list varies by league; it is known as "injured reserve" in th ...

Las Vegas Locomotives

Perry was signed by the

Las Vegas Locomotives The Las Vegas Locomotives (called the Locos for short) were a professional American football team based in Las Vegas, Nevada that played in the United Football League. The team played their home games at Sam Boyd Stadium, home field for the Unive ...

of the United Football League on August 31, 2009.

External links

UCLA Bruins bio

Just Sports Stats
{{DEFAULTSORT:Perry, Tab 1982 births Living people Sportspeople from Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania Players of American football from Pennsylvania American football wide receivers American football return specialists UCLA Bruins football players Cincinnati Bengals players Miami Dolphins players Las Vegas Locomotives players