Caesar Rayford (born March 4, 1986) is a former

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 wit ...

defensive end Defensive end (DE) is a defensive position in the sport of gridiron football. This position has designated the players at each end of the defensive line, but changes in formations over the years have substantially changed how the position is p ...

in 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 ma ...

for the

Dallas Cowboys The Dallas Cowboys are a professional American football team based in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex. The Cowboys compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) East divis ...

. He also was 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 season ...

, Spokane Shock,

Utah Blaze The Utah Blaze was a professional arena football team based in Salt Lake City, Utah and competed in the West Division of the Arena Football League. Home games were played at the EnergySolutions Arena. In 2013, the team did not submit proper do ...

, Jacksonville Sharks,

Calgary Stampeders The Calgary Stampeders are a professional Canadian football team based in Calgary, Alberta. The Stampeders compete in the West Division of the Canadian Football League (CFL). The club plays its home games at McMahon Stadium and are the third ...

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 folded and been revived twice. The Alouettes compete in the Canadian F ...

, Los Angeles Kiss and Tampa Bay Storm. He played college football at the

University of Washington The University of Washington (UW, simply Washington, or informally U-Dub) is a public research university in Seattle, Washington. Founded in 1861, Washington is one of the oldest universities on the West Coast; it was established in Seat ...

. He is currently the

defensive line In gridiron football, a lineman is a player who specializes in play at the line of scrimmage. The linemen of the team currently in possession of the ball are the offensive line, while linemen on the opposing team are the defensive line. A numbe ...

and

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, pl ...

s coach for the Atlantic City Blackjacks.

Early years

Rayford attended Bethel High School. As a senior, he tallied 47 tackles, 8 sacks and 3 blocked field goals. He received All-SPSL South and

Tacoma News Tribune ''The News Tribune'' is an American daily newspaper based in Tacoma, Washington. It is the second-largest daily newspaper in the state of Washington with a weekday circulation of 30,945 in 2020. With origins dating back to 1883, the newspaper w ...

's second-team All-area honors.

College career

Rayford accepted a football scholarship from the

on January 11, 2004. He chose the Huskies over scholarship offers from

Oregon Oregon () is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. The Columbia River delineates much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington, while the Snake River delineates much of its eastern boundary with Idah ...

and

UCLA The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a Normal school, teachers colle ...

. He was originally

redshirted Redshirt, in United States college athletics, is a delay or suspension of an athlete's participation in order to lengthen their period of eligibility. Typically, a student's athletic eligibility in a given sport is four seasons, aligning with the ...

as a true freshman, but had to play the last 6 games of the season because of injuries suffered on the

. As a sophomore, he appeared in 9 games, making 2 tackles and a half sack. As a junior, he appeared in 9 games and made one tackle. As a senior, he appeared in 13 games, registering career-highs with 10 tackles and 4 sacks. He played a total of 35 career games mainly as a backup

, finishing with 13 tackles (7 solo), 5.5 sacks, 5.5 tackles for loss, 4 pass breakups, one forced fumble and one blocked kick.

Professional career

BC Lions (first stint)

Rayford declared for the

2008 NFL Draft The 2008 NFL Draft was the 73rd annual meeting of National Football League (NFL) franchises to select newly eligible American football players. The draft took place at Radio City Music Hall in New York City, New York, on April 26 and April 27 ...

, but was not selected and began his career 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 ...

. He was signed by the

of the

Canadian Football League The Canadian Football League (CFL; french: Ligue canadienne de football—LCF) is a professional sports league in Canada. The CFL is the highest level of competition in Canadian football. The league consists of nine teams, each located in a ...

after having a

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 ...

workout. He spent all of the season on the practice squad. He was released before the start of the season on June 25, 2009.

Spokane Shock (AF2)

On July 7, 2009, Rayford joined the Spokane Shock of the AF2 league. He appeared in 3 games (2 starts), collecting 2 tackles (2 for loss), one sack and two pass breakups. He was a part of the ArenaCup X Championship team.

BC Lions (second stint)

On November 12, 2009, the

added Rayford to the practice roster. He was promoted to the active roster on November 13. He played in two playoff games as a backup

, making one tackle. He wasn't re-signed after the season.

Utah Blaze (AFL)

In 2010, he signed with the

of the

Arena Football League The Arena Football League (AFL) was a professional arena football league in the United States. It was founded in 1986, but played its first official games in the 1987 season, making it the third longest-running professional football league in ...

. He recorded 16 tackles, 5 sacks, 2 interceptions (returned for 2

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 Americ ...

s), 4 pass breakups, 2 forced fumbles and 2 fumble recoveries. In 2011, he started 17 out of 18 games, posting 31 tackles, 10 sacks (tied for sixth in the league), 12 tackles for loss (fourth in the league), 7 passes defensed, 3 forced fumbles and 4 fumble recoveries. He also blocked an AFL single-season record five kicks. In 2012, the Blaze's

was coined "Sack Lake City" due to the tremendous amount of pressure and sacks they applied to

quarterback The quarterback (commonly abbreviated "QB"), colloquially known as the "signal caller", is a position in gridiron football. Quarterbacks are members of the offensive platoon and mostly line up directly behind the offensive line. In modern Ame ...

s. In a game against the

Iowa Barnstormers The Iowa Barnstormers are a professional indoor football team based in Des Moines, Iowa. They are currently members of the Indoor Football League (IFL). They play their home games at Wells Fargo Arena, known in indoor football circles as "The ...

, the Blaze recorded a league record 11 sacks in one game, led by the combination of Rayford and Mike Lewis with 3.5 sacks each. He finished with 18 starts, 21 tackles (7 for loss), 7.5 sacks, 3 pass breakups, one forced fumble and one blocked kick. In 2013, he registered 13 tackles, 6 sacks, 2 pass breakups, 4 forced fumbles, one fumble recovery and 2 blocked kicks. He finished with 68 tackles (26.5 for loss), 22.5 sacks, 16 passes defensed, 7 forced fumbles, 7 fumble recoveries, 2 interceptions returned for touchdowns and 6 blocked kicks.

Indianapolis Colts

On May 23, 2013, Rayford signed as a

with the

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 club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) South division. Since the 20 ...

to play as an

outside 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, pla ...

on the team's 3-4 defense.

Dallas Cowboys

On September 3, 2013, the

acquired him from the Colts after he had a notable preseason, in exchange of a seventh round draft choice (#244- Trenton Brown). He played in 7 games, before being cut on November 12 and signed to the practice squad. He was released by the team on August 30, 2014.

Calgary Stampeders (CFL)

Rayford was signed to the Calgary Stampeders' practice roster on September 23, 2014. He was released by the Stampeders on September 26, 2014.

Montreal Alouettes (CFL)

Rayford was signed to the Montreal Alouettes' practice roster on October 27, 2014. He was promoted to the active roster on November 1. He was released by the Alouettes on November 24.

Jacksonville Sharks (AFL)

Rayford was acquired by the Jacksonville Sharks of the

through the Off-Season Assignment Process in 2013 and was activated from the Other League Exempt list on January 6, 2015. He spent the entire 2014 season on the Other League Exempt list. He was activated by the Sharks on January 6, 2015.

Minnesota Vikings

On April 2, 2015, he was signed as a

by the

Minnesota Vikings The Minnesota Vikings are a professional American football team based in Minneapolis. They compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the National Football Conference (NFC) North division. Founded in 1960 as an expansio ...

. He was cut on August 30.

Los Angeles KISS (AFL)

On November 18, 2015, he was assigned to the Los Angeles KISS of the

. He tallied 3 tackles and one pass defensed. On January 7, 2016, he was placed on the Other League Exempt list.

Saskatchewan Roughriders (CFL)

On January 7, 2016, Rayford signed with the

Saskatchewan Roughriders The Saskatchewan Roughriders are a professional Canadian football team based in Regina, Saskatchewan. The Roughriders compete in the Canadian Football League (CFL) as a member club of the league's West Division. The Roughriders were founded i ...

. He was released on June 12.

Tampa Bay Storm (AFL)

On October 14, 2016, Rayford was selected by the Tampa Bay Storm of the

during the dispersal draft. He had 8 tackles, 1.5 sacks, 2 passes defensed, one forced fumble, one blocked kick and one interception returned for a touchdown. The franchise folded in December 2017.

Personal life

His uncle Otis Sistrunk, was a defensive tackle for the

Oakland Raiders The Oakland Raiders were a professional American football team that played in Oakland from its founding in 1960 to 1981 and again from 1995 to 2019 before relocating to the Las Vegas metropolitan area where they now play as the Las Vegas Ra ...

. On January 31, 2019, he was named the

and

s coach for the

expansion team Atlantic City Blackjacks.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Rayford, Caesar 1986 births Living people Sportspeople from Fayetteville, North Carolina American players of Canadian football American football linebackers Canadian football defensive linemen Washington Huskies football players BC Lions players Spokane Shock players Utah Blaze players Dallas Cowboys players Jacksonville Sharks players Calgary Stampeders players Montreal Alouettes players Los Angeles Kiss players Tampa Bay Storm players