Andrew Mitchell Billings (born March 6, 1995) is an American 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 ...

defensive tackle A defensive tackle (DT) is a position in American football that typically lines up on the line of scrimmage, opposite one of the Guard (American football), offensive guards; however, he may also line up opposite one of the offensive Tackle (gridir ...

for the

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 of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC North, North division. They are one of two remaining ...

of 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

Baylor Bears The Baylor Bears are the athletic teams that represent Baylor University. The teams participate in Division I of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) as one of only three private school members of the Big 12 Conference. Prior t ...

and was selected 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 of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC North, North division. The team plays its h ...

in the fourth round of the

2016 NFL draft The 2016 NFL draft was the 81st annual draft of National Football League (NFL) franchises to select newly eligible American football players. As in 2015, the draft took place at the Auditorium Theatre and Grant Park in Chicago. The draft beg ...

Early life

Billings attended

Waco High School Waco High School is a public high school located in the city of Waco, Texas and classified as a 6A school by the UIL. It is a part of the Waco Independent School District located in central McLennan County. In 2015, the school was rated “ ...

Waco, Texas Waco ( ) is a city in and the county seat of McLennan County, Texas, United States. It is situated along the Brazos River and Interstate 35, I-35, halfway between Dallas and Austin, Texas, Austin. The city had a U.S. census estimated 2024 popul ...

. He was rated by

Rivals.com Rivals.com (stylized as ''rivals'') is a network of websites that focus mainly on college football and basketball recruiting in the United States. The network was started in 1998 and employs more than 300 personnel. History Rivals.com was found ...

as a four-star recruit and committed to

Baylor University Baylor University is a Private university, private Baptist research university in Waco, Texas, United States. It was chartered in 1845 by the last Congress of the Republic of Texas. Baylor is the oldest continuously operating university in Te ...

to play

. Billings also competed in

powerlifting Powerlifting is a competitive strength athletics, strength sport that consists of three attempts at maximal weight on three lifts: Squat (exercise), squat, bench press, and deadlift. As in the sport of Olympic weightlifting, it involves the athle ...

during high school and broke

Mark Henry Mark Jerrold Henry (born June 12, 1971) is an American former powerlifter, Olympic weightlifter, strongman, and retired professional wrestler currently signed to WWE under a Legends contract. Henry is a two-time Olympian (1992 and 19 ...

's Texas record with 2,010 pounds. The record was set with an 805-pound squat, 500-pound bench press, and a 705-pound dead lift.

College career

As a

true freshman The following terms are used in American football, both conventional and indoor. Some of these terms are also in use in Canadian football; for a list of terms unique to that code, see '' Glossary of Canadian football''. 0–9 ...

at Baylor in 2013, Billings played in 11 games and made two starts while recording 29 total

tackles Tackle may refer to: * In football: ** Tackle (football move), a play in various forms of football ** Tackle (gridiron football position) A tackle is a playing position in American football. Historically, in the one-platoon system prevalent ...

. As a sophomore in 2014, he started all 13 games and was named 1st Team All-Big 12 Conference after recording 37 tackles and two sacks. In his 2015 junior season, he started in 12 games, posting career highs in total tackles (39), solo tackles (31),

tackles for loss The following terms are used in American football, both conventional and indoor. Some of these terms are also in use in Canadian football; for a list of terms unique to that code, see '' Glossary of Canadian football''. 0–9 ...

(14), and sacks (5.5). His efforts earned him Big 12 Co-Defensive Player of the Year (shared with Emmanuel Ogbah), Big 12 Defensive Lineman of the Year, and 1st Team All-Big 12 Conference honors. Billings finished his college career with 106 total tackles, 14 tackles for loss, 8 sacks, and 2 forced fumbles.

Professional career

Pre-draft

As a top

prospect, Billings chose to forego his senior season and would receive an invitation to the

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 Foot ...

. He attended the combine and completed all of the required combine drills.

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listed him as one of their top five biggest winners from the combine and his performance was perceived well overall by scouts for his display of raw strength coupled with exceptional quickness and speed for a man of his size. On March 16, 2016, Billings participated at Baylor's

Pro Day The NFL draft, officially known as the Annual Player Selection Meeting, is an annual event which serves as the most common source of player recruitment in the National Football League. Each team is given a position in the drafting order in reve ...

along with

Corey Coleman Corey Defians Coleman (born July 6, 1994) is an American former professional football wide receiver who played in the National Football League (NFL) for 6 seasons. He is currently the assistant wide receivers coach for TCU. He played college fo ...

, Shawn Oakman, Spencer Drango, Xavien Howard, Grant Campbell, LaQuan McGowan,

Jimmy Landes Jimmy Landes (born August 13, 1992) is an American former professional American football, football long snapper. He played college football at Baylor University and was selected by the Detroit Lions in the sixth round of the 2016 NFL draft. Pro ...

, and seven other teammates. A record 61 team representatives and scouts from all 32 NFL teams attended Baylor's pro day, including general manager

Kevin Colbert Kevin Colbert (; born January 1957) is an American professional football executive who serves a consultant for Colorado State. He served as the general manager of Pittsburgh Steelers from 2000 to 2021. Colbert is widely credited with putting to ...

(

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 of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC North, North division. Founded in 1933 P ...

) and head coaches

Mike Tomlin Michael Pettaway Tomlin (born March 15, 1972) is an American professional American football, football coach who is the head coach of the Pittsburgh Steelers in the National Football League (NFL). Since joining the Steelers in 2007, he has led t ...

(Steelers) and Bill O'Brien (

Houston Texans The Houston Texans are a professional American football team based in Houston. The Texans compete in the National Football League as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC South, South division. The team plays its home games at N ...

). Billings performed well and chose to run the

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 ...

(4.96), 20-yard dash (2.89), 10-yard dash (1.76),

short shuttle 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 Footb ...

(4.78), and

three-cone drill The three-cone drill, 3-cone drill or L-drill is a test performed by American football players. It is primarily run to evaluate the agility, quickness and fluidity of movement of players by scouts. It is most commonly seen at the NFL Combine in p ...

(7.74) and decreased his times from the combine in all of them. At the conclusion of the pre-draft process, Billings was projected to be a late-first- or second-round pick. He was ranked the third-best defensive tackle prospect in the draft by

ESPN ESPN (an initialism of their original name, which was the Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by the Walt Disney Company (80% and operational control) and Hearst Commu ...

, the sixth-best defensive tackle by NFLDraftScout.com and NFL analyst

Mike Mayock Michael Francis Mayock Sr. (born August 14, 1958) is an American former professional football executive and player in the National Football League (NFL). He played as a safety with the New York Giants. After his playing career, he was a draft ...

, and was ranked the seventh-best defensive lineman by ''

Sports Illustrated ''Sports Illustrated'' (''SI'') is an American sports magazine first published in August 1954. Founded by Stuart Scheftel, it was the first magazine with a circulation of over one million to win the National Magazine Award for General Excellen ...

''. He drew major interest and was linked to 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 of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC North, North division. They ar ...

, Washington Redskins, Steelers, and Minnesota Vikings.

Cincinnati Bengals

2016

The

selected Billings in the fourth round (122nd overall) of the

. He was the 16th defensive tackle selected in 2016. His fall in the draft was greatly unexpected as no teams gave any indications of it prior to the draft. He was projected as a first rounder in multiple mock drafts by Pro Football Focus and NFL analysts Todd McShay and Mel Kiper Jr. There were many speculations that ranged from his lack of height and size for his position and a possible knee injury. Bengals head coach Marvin Lewis said "I think his height maybe was restrictive in some ways for some people at times but we've done pretty well these guys." Billings stated in regards to his fall in the draft, "This is something I'm going to carry with me my whole life," Billings said. "It's actually a good thing for me." He drew comparisons, by multiple media outlets, to teammate Geno Atkins and his equally unexpected slide in the draft during the 2010 NFL draft. On May 18, 2016, the Bengals signed Billings to a four-year, $2.87 million contract that included a signing bonus of $535,845. He competed with Domata Peko, Pat Sims, and DeShawn Williams throughout Training camp (NFL), training camp for the starting nose tackle position. On August 10, 2016, he was carted off the field during the Bengals' practice after suffering a knee injury. On August 15, he underwent surgery to repair a torn meniscus (anatomy), meniscus and was placed on injured reserve for the entirety of the season. The Cincinnati Bengals later lost another rookie (William Jackson III) for the entire .

2017

Billings competed with Pat Sims, DeShawn Williams, and Josh Tupou throughout training camp for the vacant starting nose tackle position left by the departure of Domata Peko to the Denver Broncos during free agency. Head coach Marvin Lewis named him the backup nose tackle to Pat Sims to begin the regular season. He made his professional regular season debut in the Bengals' season-opener against the Baltimore Ravens and recorded one solo tackle in their 20–0 loss. On November 24, 2017, Billings earned his first career start against the Tennessee Titans in place of Sims who had injured his calf the previous week. Billings recorded a season-high four combined tackles in the Bengals' 24–20 loss. Throughout the first seven games he played in 59 total defensive snaps and earned 48 defensive snaps against the Titans.

Cleveland Browns

On March 26, 2020, Billings signed with the Cleveland Browns. He chose to opt-out of the 2020 season due to the COVID-19 pandemic on August 4, 2020. Billings was waived by the Browns on November 13, 2021.

Miami Dolphins

On November 16, 2021, Billings was signed to the practice squad of the Miami Dolphins.

Kansas City Chiefs

On January 19, 2022, Billings was signed to the Kansas City Chiefs practice squad.

Las Vegas Raiders

On February 27, 2022, Billings signed with the Las Vegas Raiders. He started all 14 games he played in and notched a career best 39 total tackles.

Chicago Bears

On March 16, 2023, Billings signed with the

. On November 2, Billings signed a two-year contract extension worth $8.5 million, with $6 million guaranteed. He started all 17 games for the Bears during the 2023 NFL season, 2023 Season at defensive tackle. On September 15, 2024, Billings collected his first career forced fumble, using his helmet to knock the football out of the hands of

running back Cam Akers. On November 7, Billings was placed on injured reserve after undergoing surgery to repair a torn pectoral muscle.

Career statistics

References

External links

Chicago Bears bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Billings, Andrew 1995 births Living people Waco High School alumni Players of American football from Waco, Texas American football defensive tackles Baylor Bears football players Cincinnati Bengals players Cleveland Browns players Miami Dolphins players Kansas City Chiefs players Las Vegas Raiders players Chicago Bears players