Brian Bratton (born July 31, 1982) is an American former

Canadian football Canadian football, or simply football, is a Sports in Canada, sport in Canada in which two teams of 12 players each compete on a field long and wide, attempting to advance a Ball (gridiron football), pointed oval-shaped ball into the opposi ...

wide receiver A wide receiver (WR), also referred to as a wideout, and historically known as a split end (SE) or flanker (FL), is an eligible receiver in gridiron football. A key skill position of the offense (American football), offense, WR gets its name ...

who is currently a football coach at

Indianapolis Colts The Indianapolis Colts are a professional American football team based in Indianapolis. The Colts compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC South, South division. Since the 2008 India ...

. He most recently played for the

Montreal Alouettes The Montreal Alouettes (Canadian French, French: ''Les Alouettes de Montréal'') are a professional Canadian football team based in Montreal, Quebec. Founded in 1946, the team has disbanded twice and been re-established thrice. The Alouettes compe ...

of the

Canadian Football League The Canadian Football League (CFL; , LCF) is a Professional gridiron football, professional Canadian football league in Canada. It comprises nine teams divided into two divisions, with four teams in the East Division (CFL), East Division and f ...

(CFL). Having played with the Alouettes since

2007 2007 was designated as the International Heliophysical Year and the International Polar Year. Events January * January 1 **Bulgaria and Romania 2007 enlargement of the European Union, join the European Union, while Slovenia joins the Eur ...

, he is a two-time

Grey Cup The Grey Cup () is both the championship game of the Canadian Football League (CFL) and the trophy awarded to the victorious team playing in the namesake championship of professional Canadian football. The game is contested between the winners ...

champion, after winning 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 ...

and

2010 The year saw a multitude of natural and environmental disasters such as the 2010 Haiti earthquake, the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, and the 2010 Chile earthquake. The 2009 swine flu pandemic, swine flu pandemic which began the previous year ...

. 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

Furman Paladins The Furman Paladins are the varsity athletic teams representing Furman University in Greenville, South Carolina, in intercollegiate athletics. Furman competes in NCAA Division I athletics and is one of the smallest NCAA Division I schools in the ...

from 2002 to 2005.

Professional career

Atlanta Falcons

Bratton signed his first professional contract with the

Atlanta Falcons The Atlanta Falcons are a professional American football team based in Atlanta. The Falcons compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC South, South division. The Falcons were founded o ...

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 ...

in May 2005 and attended the team's training camp. He was later released in September of that year.

Baltimore Ravens

Following his release from Atlanta, Bratton signed with the

Baltimore Ravens The Baltimore Ravens are a professional American football team based in Baltimore. The Ravens compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC North, North division. The team plays its home g ...

in October 2005 and spent time on the team's practice roster.

Cologne Centurions

After the 2005 season, Bratton was allocated to

NFL Europe NFL Europe League (simply called NFL Europe and known in its final season as NFL Europa) was a professional American football league that functioned as the List of developmental and minor sports leagues, developmental minor league of the Nati ...

's Cologne Centurions in January 2006. While playing for Cologne, he started 10 games and caught 23 passes for 280 yards and two touchdowns. He was released in August, thereby terminating his contract with the Centurions.

Montreal Alouettes

Bratton signed with the

of the

on February 27, 2007, to a one-year plus an option contract. In his first season, he mainly played on special teams, returning punts and kickoffs. He recorded his first career touchdown on July 26, 2007, against the

Toronto Argonauts The Toronto Argonauts (officially the Toronto Argonaut Football Club and colloquially known as the Argos) are a professional Canadian football team based in Toronto, Ontario. The Argonauts compete in the East Division (CFL), East Division of t ...

on a 79-yard punt return. He achieved a career-high in touchdowns scored in the 2008 season when he scored seven receiving touchdowns. He played in both of Montreal's

victories in

and

. In

2011 The year marked the start of a Arab Spring, series of protests and revolutions throughout the Arab world advocating for democracy, reform, and economic recovery, later leading to the depositions of world leaders in Tunisia, Egypt, and Yemen ...

, he recorded a career-high in receiving yards with 675 yards to go along with five touchdowns, including the 20th scored of his career that year. At the end of the 2012 Eastern Final against the

, Bratton missed an attempt to catch a deflected ball which would have been the game-tying touchdown with only 39 seconds left on third town. The Alouettes lost possession of the football and the Argonauts went on to win the

100th Grey Cup The 100th Grey Cup was a Canadian football game between the East Division champion Toronto Argonauts and the West Division champion Calgary Stampeders of the Canadian Football League to decide the Grey Cup champions of the 2012 season. The ga ...

. Two weeks before entering free agency, Bratton was released on February 1, 2013, so that he could pursue offers from other teams. In 2012, he won the Tom Pate Memorial Award for outstanding sportsmanship and because he had made a significant contribution to his team, his community and Association.

Statistics

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Bratton, Brian 1982 births Living people Montreal Alouettes players Furman Paladins football players Players of Canadian football from West Virginia Cologne Centurions (NFL Europe) players Sportspeople from Wheeling, West Virginia Players of American football from West Virginia Coaches of American football from West Virginia American expatriate players of American football American expatriate sportspeople in Germany North Greenville Crusaders football coaches Indianapolis Colts coaches American football wide receivers Furman Paladins football coaches