Dereck Leonard Faulkner (born May 6, 1985) is a former professional gridiron football wide receiver. He was signed 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 ...

by 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 ...

in 2007. He played college football for the

Hampton Pirates The Hampton Pirates and Lady Pirates refer to the sports teams representing Hampton University in Hampton, Virginia in intercollegiate athletics. The Pirates and Lady Pirates compete in the NCAA Division I Football Championship Subdivision (FCS) ...

. Faulkner has also been a member of the

BC Lions The BC Lions are a professional Canadian football team based in Vancouver, British Columbia. The Lions compete in the West Division of the Canadian Football League (CFL), and play their home games at BC Place. The Lions played their first seas ...

Early years

Faulkner grew up in

Moorestown, New Jersey Moorestown is a township in Burlington County in the U.S. state of New Jersey. It is an eastern suburb of Philadelphia and geographically part of the South Jersey region of the state. As of the 2020 U.S. census, the township's population was ...

and played

high school football High school football (french: football au lycée) is gridiron football played by high school teams in the United States and Canada. It ranks among the most popular interscholastic sports in both countries, but its popularity is declining, part ...

Moorestown High School Moorestown High School (MHS) is a four-year comprehensive public high school that serves students in ninth through twelfth grades from Moorestown in Burlington County, New Jersey, United States, operating as the lone secondary school of the M ...

,"Akers hits one for teammates"
''

The Philadelphia Inquirer ''The Philadelphia Inquirer'' is a daily newspaper headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The newspaper's circulation is the largest in both the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the Delaware Valley metropolitan region of Southeastern Pennsy ...

'', August 11, 2007. Accessed December 10, 2007. "The star of the morning practice was Dereck Faulkner, the undrafted rookie receiver from Hampton University and Moorestown High School." where he was a First-team All-Statewide receiver. He also earned All-County, All-Conference Accolades as well as All-South Jersey Honors after catching 40 passes for 898 yards (22.5 avg) and nine touchdowns his senior season. Super Prep rated him among the top 100 players on the East Coast. He chose Hampton University over the

University of Iowa The University of Iowa (UI, U of I, UIowa, or simply Iowa) is a public research university in Iowa City, Iowa, United States. Founded in 1847, it is the oldest and largest university in the state. The University of Iowa is organized into 12 col ...

College career

Faulkner immediately earned playing time as a true freshman at the "X" receiver position. Despite playing behind current All-Pro Kick Returner current Houston Texans Jerome Mathis, Faulkner still finished second on the team with 20 receptions for 249

yards The yard (symbol: yd) is an English unit of length in both the British imperial and US customary systems of measurement equalling 3 feet or 36 inches. Since 1959 it has been by international agreement standardized as exactly ...

and 1

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 ...

in 10 games. 17 of those catches resulted in first downs, with 12 of those coming on third down plays. A strained

calf muscle The triceps surae consists of two muscles located at the calf – the two-headed gastrocnemius and the soleus. These muscles both insert into the calcaneus, the bone of the heel of the human foot, and form the major part of the muscle of the ...

limited Faulkner to 9 games in 2005. He still contributed to the team by pulling in 24 catches for 427 yards and 3 touchdowns, finishing third on the team, showing his prowess as the team clutch third-down receiver. He helped convert 12 third-down plays finishing with a total of 22 first down receptions. He suffered a broken right

fibula The fibula or calf bone is a leg bone on the lateral side of the tibia, to which it is connected above and below. It is the smaller of the two bones and, in proportion to its length, the most slender of all the long bones. Its upper extremity i ...

during practice in the fourth week of the season and only played in 13 games over his last two seasons at Hampton. He finished his career with 74 catches for 1,011 yards.

Professional career

Philadelphia Eagles

Despite not being drafted after a good career and a great work-out, Faulkner still fulfilled a childhood dream by being signed by the team he grew up cheering for, the

, God-Father and family friend Eagle being All-Pro wide receiver

Mike Quick Michael Anthony Quick (born May 14, 1959) is a color commentator and former American football wide receiver. He played professionally in the National Football League (NFL) with the Philadelphia Eagles for nine seasons, from 1982 to 1990. Quick ...

, who also is a family friend. Quick was very positive when he heard the news about Faulkner going to the Eagles. He was quoted as saying:

"It was a quick decision, but it was a strong decision."

Faulkner was quoted saying:

"I think this was the right decision for me. They didn't draft any wide receivers this year, and they only signed one other UDFA undrafted free agent wide receiver, so I'll have a good shot to show them I can play on the level of the receivers they have now."

British Columbia Lions

Faulkner was signed by the

on April 8, 2009.

Personal

Faulkner majored in Business Management and hopes to become a sportscaster when his playing days are over. His father was a

linebacker Linebacker (LB) is a playing position in gridiron football. Linebackers are members of the defensive team, and line up three to five yards behind the line of scrimmage and the defensive linemen. They are the "middle ground" of defenders, ...

Virginia State University Virginia State University (VSU or Virginia State) is a public historically Black land-grant university in Ettrick, Virginia. Founded on , Virginia State developed as the United States's first fully state-supported four-year institution of hi ...

. Dereck is a member of Omega Psi Phi fraternity (Gamma Epsilon chapter).

References

External links

BC Lions bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Faulkner, Dereck 1985 births Living people Moorestown High School alumni Sportspeople from Moorestown, New Jersey Players of American football from Burlington County, New Jersey American football wide receivers Hampton Pirates football players Philadelphia Eagles players BC Lions players