Brett Ratliff (born August 8, 1985) is an American former 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 ...

quarterback The quarterback (QB) is a position in gridiron football who are members of the offensive side of the ball and mostly line up directly behind the Lineman (football), offensive line. In modern American football, the quarterback is usually consider ...

. He was signed by the

New York Jets The New York Jets are a professional American football team based in the New York metropolitan area. The Jets compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC East, East division. The team p ...

as an

undrafted free agent In professional sports, a free agent is a player or manager 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 a contract at present ...

in 2007. 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 ...

Butte College Butte College is a public community college in the Butte-Glenn Community College District in Chico, Orland, and Oroville, California. History After the passage of the 1960 Donahoe Act, the voters of Butte County created a local community ...

and

Utah Utah is a landlocked state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It is one of the Four Corners states, sharing a border with Arizona, Colorado, and New Mexico. It also borders Wyoming to the northea ...

. He has also been a member of the

Cleveland Browns The Cleveland Browns are a professional American football team based in Cleveland. The Browns compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC North, North division. The team is named after ...

Jacksonville Jaguars The Jacksonville Jaguars are a professional American football team based in Jacksonville, Florida. The Jaguars compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC South, South division. The team ...

New England Patriots The New England Patriots are a professional American football team based in the Greater Boston area. The Patriots compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC East, East division. The Pa ...

, and

Tampa Bay Buccaneers The Tampa Bay Buccaneers (colloquially known as the Bucs) are a professional American football team based in Tampa, Florida. The Buccaneers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC S ...

Early life

Ratliff was born in

Chico, California Chico ( ; Spanish language, Spanish for "little") is the most populous city in Butte County, California, United States. Located in the Sacramento Valley region of Northern California, the city had a population of 101,475 in the 2020 United Sta ...

, and attended Chico Senior High School in Chico, California, where he played football as a quarterback. He led his teams to two conference championships, (JV and freshman year) and as a senior, he was named the Chico High School Offensive Player of the Year, and was an All-Conference selection and played in the

Lions Club Lions Clubs International, is an international service organization, currently headquartered in Oak Brook, Illinois. , it had over 46,000 local clubs and more than 1.4 million members (including the youth wing Leo clubs, Leo) in more than 200 ge ...

District 4C-1 Senior All-Star Football Game in 2003.

College career

Butte College

After attending high school, Ratliff went on to

(2003–04) in

Oroville, California Oroville (''Oro'', Spanish for "Gold" and ''Ville'', French for "town") is a city in and the county seat of Butte County, California, United States. Its population was 15,506 at the 2010 census, up from 13,004 in the 2000 census. After the 20 ...

, where he was the starting quarterback for two seasons, following

Aaron Rodgers Aaron Charles Rodgers (born December 2, 1983) is an American professional American football, football quarterback for the Pittsburgh Steelers of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football for the California Golden Bears foo ...

. While at Butte College, he set the school's career record for touchdowns (35), completions (239), and total offensive yards (3,651).

Utah

After graduating from Butte, Ratliff went to

for the 2005 season. He spent most of the year as a backup to

Brian Johnson Brian Johnson (born 5 October 1947) is an English singer and songwriter. In 1980 at the age of 32, after the death of Bon Scott, he became the third lead singer of the Australian rock band AC/DC. Johnson was one of the founding members of th ...

, but he got his chance to start after Johnson suffered a season-ending injury. In his first start, Ratliff led the Utes to a 41–34 victory over rival BYU to get the Utes to bowl eligibility. In his second start, he led the Utes to a 38–10 upset victory over #25

Georgia Tech The Georgia Institute of Technology (commonly referred to as Georgia Tech, GT, and simply Tech or the Institute) is a public research university and institute of technology in Atlanta, Georgia, United States. Established in 1885, it has the lar ...

in the Emerald Bowl. In 2006, Ratliff led the Utes to an 8–5 season record, including a 25–13 victory over

Tulsa Tulsa ( ) is the second-most-populous city in the state of Oklahoma, after Oklahoma City, and the 48th-most-populous city in the United States. The population was 413,066 as of the 2020 census. It is the principal municipality of the Tul ...

in the

Armed Forces Bowl The Armed Forces Bowl, formerly the Fort Worth Bowl from 2003 to 2005, is an annual postseason college football bowl game. First played in 2003, the game is normally held at the 45,000-seat Amon G. Carter Stadium on the campus of Texas Christian ...

Professional career

Ratliff was rated the 25th best quarterback in the

2007 NFL draft The 2007 NFL draft was the 72nd annual meeting of National Football League franchises to select newly eligible American football players. It took place at Radio City Music Hall in New York City, New York, on April 28 and April 29, 2007. The draf ...

by NFLDraftScout.com.

New York Jets

Ratliff signed with the New York Jets as an

following the 2007 NFL draft. After being waived on September 1, 2007, he was signed to the

practice squad In gridiron football, the practice squad, also called the taxi squad or practice roster, is a group of players signed by a team but not part of their main roster. They serve as extra players during the team's practices, often as part of the scou ...

two days later, where he spent the entire season. In 2008, Ratliff made the Jets active roster and was the third-string quarterback for the entire season.

Cleveland Browns

Ratliff was traded to the Cleveland Browns on April 25, 2009 as part of a deal for the Browns' first-round pick, which the Jets used to draft

Mark Sanchez Mark Travis John Sanchez (born November 11, 1986) is an American former professional American football, football player who was a quarterback in the National Football League (NFL) for 10 seasons. He played college football for the USC Trojans ...

in the

2009 NFL draft The 2009 NFL draft was the 74th annual meeting of National Football League (NFL) franchises to select newly eligible football players. The draft took place at Radio City Music Hall in New York City, New York, on April 25 and 26, 2009. The draft c ...

. The Browns also received two other players and the Jets' 17th overall pick, as well as a second round pick. Ratliff, who played under head coach

Eric Mangini Eric Anthony Mangini (born January 19, 1971) is an American former professional football coach and current television sports analyst. He served as a head coach for the New York Jets from 2006 to 2008 and the Cleveland Browns from 2009 to 2010. ...

for a second straight season, was also the third-string quarterback for a second consecutive season in

2009 2009 was designated as the International Year of Astronomy by the United Nations to coincide with the 400th anniversary of Galileo Galilei's first known astronomical studies with a telescope and the publication of Astronomia Nova by Joha ...

. He was waived by the Browns on September 4, 2010.

Jacksonville Jaguars

On September 5, 2010, Ratliff was signed to the Jacksonville Jaguars practice squad. He was released from the practice squad on September 27, 2010.

New England Patriots

On October 7, 2010, Ratliff was signed to the New England Patriots practice squad.

Second stint with Browns

On October 11, 2010, Ratliff was signed off the Patriots practice squad by the Browns to their active roster. Ratliff was waived by the team on November 16, 2010.

Tampa Bay Buccaneers

After spending training camp with the

Tennessee Titans The Tennessee Titans are a professional American football team based in Nashville, Tennessee. The Titans compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC South, South division. They play the ...

and being out of football for a few months in 2011, Ratliff was signed by the Buccaneers on December 6, 2011. He was released on September 1, 2012.

References

External links

Cleveland Browns bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ratliff, Brett 1985 births Living people Players of American football from Chico, California American football quarterbacks Butte Roadrunners football players Utah Utes football players New York Jets players Cleveland Browns players Jacksonville Jaguars players New England Patriots players Tennessee Titans players Tampa Bay Buccaneers players