Rasul Douglas (born August 29, 1995) is an

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 ...

cornerback A cornerback (CB) is a member of the defensive backfield or secondary in gridiron football. Cornerbacks cover receivers most of the time, but also blitz and defend against such offensive running plays as sweeps and reverses. They create tur ...

for 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) North division. It is the t ...

of 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 majo ...

(NFL). 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 ...

West Virginia West Virginia is a state in the Appalachian, Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States.The Census Bureau and the Association of American Geographers classify West Virginia as part of the Southern United States while the ...

, and was drafted 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 the third round of the

2017 NFL Draft The 2017 NFL Draft was the 82nd annual meeting of National Football League (NFL) franchises to select newly eligible American football players. It was held in front of the Philadelphia Museum of Art on April 27–29, returning to Philadelphia ...

. He has also been a member of 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 club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) South division. ...

Las Vegas Raiders The Las Vegas Raiders are a professional American football team based in the Las Vegas metropolitan area. The Raiders compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) West div ...

Houston Texans The Houston Texans are a professional American football team based in Houston. The Texans compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the American Football Conference (AFC) South division, and play their home games at NR ...

, and

Arizona Cardinals The Arizona Cardinals are a professional American football team based in the Phoenix metropolitan area. The Cardinals compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) West division, and play th ...

Personal life

Douglas grew up in

East Orange, New Jersey East Orange is a city in Essex County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. As of the 2020 U.S. census, the city's population was 69,612. The city was the state's 20th most-populous municipality in 2010, after having been the state's 14th most-po ...

, where he and his six other siblings were raised by his grandmother, and attended

East Orange Campus High School East Orange Campus High School is a comprehensive high school, comprehensive community state school, public Secondary education in the United States, high school serving students in ninth grade, ninth through twelfth grades in the city of East O ...

. Douglas welcomed his first child, son Jeremiah Lusar Douglas, with his girlfriend Ny-Asia Franklin on October 2, 2018.

College career

Douglas started his college career at

Nassau Community College Nassau Community College (NCC) is a public community college in Uniondale, New York, using the Garden City, New York ZIP Code. It was founded in 1959 and is part of the State University of New York. History Nassau Community College was crea ...

. After redshirting in 2012, he recorded 83 tackles and five

interceptions In ball-playing competitive team sports, an interception or pick is a move by a player involving a pass of the ball—whether by foot or hand, depending on the rules of the sport—in which the ball is intended for a player of the same team ...

over the 2013 and 2014 seasons. In 2015, he transferred to

West Virginia University West Virginia University (WVU) is a public land-grant research university with its main campus in Morgantown, West Virginia. Its other campuses are those of the West Virginia University Institute of Technology in Beckley, Potomac State Coll ...

. During his first season at West Virginia, he appeared in 11 games and recorded seven tackles and an interception. As a senior in 2016, Douglas was named first-team 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 ...

after he tied for the nation lead with eight interceptions. He also had 70 tackles and a sack.

Professional career

Coming out of West Virginia, Douglas was projected to be a third to fifth round pick from the majority of NFL draft experts and analysts. He received an invitation to the NFL combine and completed all of the required combine and positional drills. On March 31, 2017, Douglas participated at West Virginia's pro day and opted to run the 40, 20, and 10-yard dash once again while also performing positional drills. Team representatives and scouts from all 32 NFL teams attended to scout Douglas, K. J. Dillon, Shelton Gibson, Tyler Orlosky, and 14 other prospects. He was ranked the 19th best cornerback prospect in the draft by NFLDraftScout.com.

Philadelphia Eagles

The

selected Douglas in the third round (99th overall) of the

. He was the 17th cornerback selected in the draft and the second cornerback taken by the Eagles after they selected Sidney Jones in the second round (42nd overall). He competed with Patrick Robinson,

Jalen Mills Jalen Mills (born April 6, 1994) is an American football safety for the New England Patriots of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football at LSU, where he received first-team All-American honors, and was selected by the ...

, Ron Brooks,

Ronald Darby Ronald Darby (born January 2, 1994) is an American football cornerback for the Denver Broncos of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football at Florida State and was drafted by the Buffalo Bills in the second round of the 2015 ...

, Jaylen Watkins,

Aaron Grymes Aaron Grymes (born March 1, 1991) is a Canadian football defensive back for the Edmonton Elks of the Canadian Football League (CFL). He played college football at Idaho. Grymes made his professional debut for the Edmonton Eskimos in 2013 and h ...

, and Sidney Jones throughout training camp for the starting cornerback position. Head coach

Doug Pederson Douglas Irvin Pederson (born January 31, 1968) is an American football coach and former quarterback who is the head coach for the Jacksonville Jaguars of the National Football League (NFL). Pederson spent most of his 13-season playing career ...

named him the fourth cornerback on the Eagles' depth chart to start the regular season, behind Ronald Darby, Jalen Mills, and Patrick Robinson. Douglas was inactive for the Philadelphia Eagles' season-opening 30–17 victory over the

Washington Redskins The Washington Commanders are a professional American football team based in the Washington metropolitan area. The Commanders compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) ...

. During the second quarter, starting cornerback Ronald Darby dislocated his

ankle The ankle, or the talocrural region, or the jumping bone (informal) is the area where the foot and the leg meet. The ankle includes three joints: the ankle joint proper or talocrural joint, the subtalar joint, and the inferior tibiofibular joi ...

, sidelining him for 4–6 weeks. On September 17, 2017, Douglas made his professional regular season debut against the

Kansas City Chiefs The Kansas City Chiefs are a professional American football team based in Kansas City, Missouri. The Chiefs compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) West division. The t ...

and finished with four solo tackles and a pass deflection in the 20–27 loss. The following week, he earned his first career start in place of Ronald Darby and recorded four combined tackles, defended a pass, and made his first career interception after picking off a pass from New York Giants' quarterback

Eli Manning Elisha Nelson Manning (born January 3, 1981) is a former American football quarterback who played in the National Football League (NFL) for 16 seasons with the New York Giants. A member of the Manning football dynasty, he is the youngest son ...

during the 27–24 victory. Douglas finished his rookie season with 25 tackles, 2 interceptions, and 11 passes defended. The Eagles went on to win

Super Bowl LII Super Bowl LII was an American football game played to determine the champion of the National Football League (NFL) for the 2017 season. The National Football Conference (NFC) champion Philadelphia Eagles defeated the American Football Conferen ...

41–33 against 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 ...

Pro Football Focus Pro Football Focus (also written as ProFootballFocus, and often referred to by its initials, PFF) is a sports analytics company that focuses on thorough analysis of the National Football League (NFL) and NCAA Division-I football in the United Sta ...

gave Douglas an overall grade of 61.2, which ranked 87th among all qualifying cornerbacks in 2017. On September 5, 2020, Douglas was waived during final roster cuts.

Carolina Panthers

On September 6, 2020, Douglas was claimed off waivers by the

. He was placed on the reserve/

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was identified in Wuhan, China, in December 2019. The disease quick ...

list by the team on October 23, and activated on November 2.

Las Vegas Raiders

Douglas signed with the

on April 19, 2021. He was released on August 23, 2021.

Houston Texans

On August 25, 2021, Douglas was signed by the

. He was released on August 31, 2021.

Arizona Cardinals

On September 3, 2021, Douglas was signed to the

practice squad.

Green Bay Packers

The

signed Douglas off the Cardinals' practice squad on October 6, 2021, following injuries to starting cornerbacks

Jaire Alexander Jaire Zakar Alexander (born February 9, 1997) is an American football cornerback for the Green Bay Packers of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football at Louisville, and was selected by the Packers in the first round of t ...

and Kevin King. Douglas replaced backup cornerback

Isaac Yiadom Isaac Yiadom (born February 20, 1996) is an American football cornerback for the New Orleans Saints of the National Football League (NFL). A graduate of Doherty Memorial High School in Worcester, Massachusetts, he played college football at Bos ...

in a Week 6 match up vs the Chicago Bears after Yiadom committed a pass interference penalty on the opening drive. On October 28, 2021, Douglas intercepted a

Kyler Murray Kyler Cole Murray (born August 7, 1997) is an American football quarterback for the Arizona Cardinals of the National Football League (NFL). Following a stint at Texas A&M, Murray played college football at Oklahoma, where he won the Heisman Trop ...

pass during the final seconds of a close game against the

, sealing a 24–21 win for the Packers. King returned from injury in Week 9 against the

in relief of starting cornerback Eric Stokes, who was injured during warmups. Stokes recovered in time for the Packers' Week 10 matchup against the

Seattle Seahawks The Seattle Seahawks are a professional American football team based in Seattle. The Seahawks compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) West, which they rejoined in 2002 a ...

, and defensive coordinator Joe Barry named Douglas and Stokes as the starters at outside cornerback, supplanting King. On November 28, 2021, Douglas intercepted a pass from

Matthew Stafford John Matthew Stafford (born February 7, 1988) is an American football quarterback for the Los Angeles Rams of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football at Georgia, where he was a first-team All-American, and was selected ...

and returned it 33 yards for his first career defensive touchdown in a 36–28 win over the

Los Angeles Rams The Los Angeles Rams are a professional American football team based in the Greater Los Angeles, Los Angeles metropolitan area. The Rams compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC Wes ...

. For his performance, Douglas received his first NFC Defensive Player of the Week honor. On December 12, 2021, Douglas recorded his second interception return for a touchdown after intercepting

Chicago Bears The Chicago Bears are a professional American football team based in Chicago. The Bears compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) North division. The Bears have won nine ...

quarterback Justin Fields en route to a 45–30 victory. In a 24–22 Christmas Day victory over the

Cleveland Browns The Cleveland Browns are a professional American football team based in Cleveland. Named after original coach and co-founder Paul Brown, they compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the American Football Conferenc ...

, Douglas was responsible for two of Browns quarterback Baker Mayfield's four interceptions, including one with the Browns driving for a potential game-winning drive with under a minute to play. For his play during the season, Douglas was named a Pro Bowl alternate for the first time in his career. On March 19, 2022, Douglas signed a three-year, $21 million extension with the Packers.

NFL career statistics

Regular season

Postseason

References

External links

Green Bay Packers bioWest Virginia Mountaineers bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Douglas, Rasul 1995 births Living people Sportspeople from East Orange, New Jersey Players of American football from New Jersey American football cornerbacks Nassau Lions football players West Virginia Mountaineers football players Philadelphia Eagles players Carolina Panthers players Las Vegas Raiders players Houston Texans players Arizona Cardinals players Green Bay Packers players