Willie Thedric Andrews (born November 2, 1983) 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 with ...

safety Safety is the state of being "safe", the condition of being protected from harm or other danger. Safety can also refer to risk management, the control of recognized hazards in order to achieve an acceptable level of risk. Meanings There are ...

. He 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 ...

in the seventh 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 ...

. 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 ...

at Baylor. Andrews has also been a member of the

Florida Tuskers Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to th ...

and

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 ...

College career

Andrews was a three-year starter at Baylor and was awarded All-

Big 12 The Big 12 Conference is a college athletic conference headquartered in Irving, Texas, USA. It consists of ten full-member universities. It is a member of Division I of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) for all sports. Its f ...

honors in 2004 and 2005. Andrews ran a 4.38

40-yard dash The 40-yard dash is a sprint covering . It is primarily run to evaluate the speed and acceleration of American football players by scouts, particularly for the NFL Draft but also for collegiate recruiting. A player's recorded time can have a he ...

at the 2006

NFL Combine The NFL Scouting Combine is a week-long showcase occurring every February at Lucas Oil Stadium (and formerly at the RCA Dome until 2008) in Indianapolis, where college football players perform physical and mental tests in front of National Footba ...

Indianapolis, Indiana Indianapolis (), colloquially known as Indy, is the state capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Indiana and the seat of Marion County. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the consolidated population of Indianapolis and Mari ...

Professional career

New England Patriots

After being drafted in the seventh round of the

with the 229th overall pick by the New England Patriots, Andrews played primarily on special teams; in 2007 Andrews returned a kickoff 74 yards for a touchdown in the Patriots' Week 7 game against 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 pla ...

. After multiple arrests in the 2008 offseason (see "Legal troubles" below), the Patriots released Andrews.

Florida Tuskers

Andrews was signed by the

of the United Football League on September 3, 2009.

Legal troubles

In July 2002, Andrews was sentenced to 30 days in jail after pleading guilty to a misdemeanor gun charge. The gun was found in his car by Texas State Troopers during a traffic stop. At the time, Andrews was serving a two-year probation for a March 2002 conviction for

misdemeanor A misdemeanor (American English, spelled misdemeanour elsewhere) is any "lesser" criminal act in some common law legal systems. Misdemeanors are generally punished less severely than more serious felonies, but theoretically more so than adm ...

criminal mischief Mischief or malicious mischief is the name for a criminal offenses that is defined differently in different legal jurisdictions. While the wrongful acts will often involve what is popularly described as vandalism, there can be a legal differenti ...

. On February 5, 2008, two days after Super Bowl XLII, Andrews was arrested in

Lowell, Massachusetts Lowell () is a city in Massachusetts, in the United States. Alongside Cambridge, It is one of two traditional seats of Middlesex County. With an estimated population of 115,554 in 2020, it was the fifth most populous city in Massachusetts as of ...

and charged with possession of

marijuana Cannabis, also known as marijuana among other names, is a psychoactive drug from the cannabis plant. Native to Central or South Asia, the cannabis plant has been used as a drug for both recreational and entheogenic purposes and in various tra ...

with intent to distribute and operating an unregistered motor vehicle. Andrews was seen driving a black

Ford Crown Victoria The Ford Crown Victoria ("Crown Vic") is a full-size sedan that was marketed and manufactured by Ford. The successor to the Ford LTD Crown Victoria, two generations of the model line were produced from the 1992 to 2012 model years. The Ford ...

when police received a call that there was possible drug activity in the area. Police found $6,800 in cash and a 1/2 pound of marijuana in Andrews' unregistered car. On June 30, 2008, Andrews was arrested at his home in

Mansfield, Massachusetts Mansfield is a town in Bristol County, Massachusetts, United States. As of the United States 2020 Census, the town population is 23,860. Mansfield is in the south-southwest suburbs of Boston and is also close to Providence, Rhode Island. The vill ...

and charged with

assault An assault is the act of committing physical harm or unwanted physical contact upon a person or, in some specific legal definitions, a threat or attempt to commit such an action. It is both a crime and a tort and, therefore, may result in crim ...

with a dangerous weapon and unlawful possession of a

firearm A firearm is any type of gun designed to be readily carried and used by an individual. The term is legally defined further in different countries (see Legal definitions). The first firearms originated in 10th-century China, when bamboo tubes ...

when police responded to a call that Andrews allegedly pointed a handgun at his girlfriend's head during an argument. The handgun Andrews allegedly used was found near a dumpster at Andrews

apartment complex An apartment (American English), or flat (British English, Indian English, South African English), is a self-contained housing unit (a type of residential real estate) that occupies part of a building, generally on a single story. There are ...

. Andrews was released by the Patriots the next day, July 1, 2008. The charges against Andrews were dropped in March 2009 after the victim refused to testify against him in court. In May 2011, Andrews and 12 other individuals were arrested as part of a federal investigation.

References

External links

Just Sports Stats

Official New England Patriots bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Andrews, Willie 1983 births Living people People from Longview, Texas American football return specialists American football cornerbacks Baylor Bears football players New England Patriots players Florida Tuskers players Omaha Nighthawks players Players of American football from Texas