Corey Lamonte Chavous (; born January 5, 1976) 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 back who played 11 seasons 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 ...

(NFL). Chavous played for three teams, at both safety and

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 turnove ...

. Chavous was known as one of the most instinctive defensive backs of his era and was a

Pro Bowl The National Football League All-Star Game (1939–1942), Pro Bowl (1951–2022), or Pro Bowl Games (starting in 2023) is an annual event held by the National Football League (NFL) featuring the league's star players. The format has changed thro ...

selection in 2003. He is the founder of the media company and website DraftNastyMagazine.com, which specializes in coverage of the major sports with an emphasis on scouting and professional drafts. He is currently a color analyst for college football games as well as an

NFL Draft The National Football League Draft, also called the NFL Draft or (officially) the Player Selection Meeting, is an annual event which serves as the league's most common source of player recruitment. Each team is given a position in the drafting o ...

analyst for

CBS Sports CBS Sports is the sports division of the American television network CBS. Its headquarters are in the CBS Building on W 52nd Street (Manhattan), 52nd Street in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, with programs produced out of Studio 43 at the CBS ...

High school career

Chavous attended Silver Bluff High School in

Aiken, South Carolina Aiken is the largest city in, and the county seat of, Aiken County, in western South Carolina. It is one of the two largest cities of the Central Savannah River Area. Founded in 1835, Aiken was named after William Aiken, the president of the S ...

. In football, he was an All-Area, and an All-District pick, and in track, he was an All-State choice and was part of a 4 × 100 relay team which won the state title. He was a high school teammate of former

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 ...

and Vikings wide receiver

D'Wayne Bates D'Wayne Lavoris Bates (born December 4, 1975 in Augusta, Georgia) is a former American football wide receiver in the National Football League. Bates played three seasons with the Chicago Bears (1999-2001) and two with the Minnesota Vikings ( ...

College career

Chavous attended

Vanderbilt University Vanderbilt University (informally Vandy or VU) is a private research university in Nashville, Tennessee. Founded in 1873, it was named in honor of shipping and rail magnate Cornelius Vanderbilt, who provided the school its initial $1-million ...

. He finished his career with 12 interceptions (which ranks sixth on the school's all-time list), made 199 tackles, and batted down 31 passes. He graduated with a degree in human and organizational development.

Professional career

Arizona Cardinals

Chavous was selected by the

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) NFC West, West division, an ...

in the second round (33rd overall) in the

1998 NFL Draft The 1998 NFL draft was the procedure by which National Football League teams selected amateur college football players. It is officially known as the NFL Annual Player Selection Meeting. The draft was held April 18–19, 1998, at the Theater at ...

. In his rookie season he played in 16 games, starting five, recording 28 tackles and two interceptions, his first coming at 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 ...

on November 30. During the team's 1999 NFC Wildcard playoff 20-7 victory over the Dallas Cowboys, Chavous notched five tackles and six passes defensed. In 1999, he played in 15 games recording 40 tackles and one interception. The following year, he made 48 tackles and one interception. In his final year with the Cardinals, Chavous made 74 tackles and one interception.

Minnesota Vikings

On March 25, 2002, Chavous signed a four-year contract with 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 ...

as an unrestricted free agent. In his debut season he started in all 16 games recording 83 tackles, three interceptions and one touchdown, the first of his career at the

Detroit Lions The Detroit Lions are a professional American football team based in Detroit. The Lions compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) North Division. The team play their home games at For ...

on December 29. In 2003, he made 86 tackles, a career-high eight interceptions and one touchdown. His performances that season earned him a trip to the

2004 Pro Bowl The 2004 Pro Bowl was the NFL's all-star game for the 2003 season. The game was played on February 8, 2004, at Aloha Stadium in Honolulu, Hawaii. The final score was NFC 55, AFC 52, the most points scored in a Pro Bowl game. Marc Bulger of the ...

. The following year, he made 81 tackles and one interception. In his final season with the Vikings, Chavous started all 16 games for a fourth straight season, recording 71 tackles and two interceptions.

St. Louis Rams

On March 13, 2006, Chavous signed a three-year contract with the St. Louis Rams as an unrestricted free agent. During the subsequent

2006 NFL Draft The 2006 National Football League Draft, the 71st in league history, took place in New York City, New York, at Radio City Music Hall on April 29 and April 30, 2006. For the 27th consecutive year, the draft was telecast on ESPN and ESPN2, with ad ...

, he was an analyst alongside

Mike Mayock Michael Francis Mayock (born August 14, 1958) is a former American football executive and former player who served as the General manager (American football), general manager of the Las Vegas Raiders of the National Football League (NFL) from 20 ...

and

Rich Eisen Richard Eisen (; born June 24, 1969) is an American television sportscaster and radio host. Since 2003, he has worked for NFL Network as a host of various pregame, halftime, and postgame shows. He also hosts a daily sports radio show, ''The Ric ...

for their draft coverage. In his first season, he equaled his career-high of 86 tackles and made one interception. In 2008, he started 14 games making 75 tackles and 3.5 sacks. On February 13, 2009, Chavous was released by the Rams.

NFL statistics

Post-playing career

Chavous has been featured on various sports programs as an analyst of college football talent, especially in regards to their potential for the

National Football League draft The National Football League Draft, also called the NFL Draft or (officially) the Player Selection Meeting, is an annual event which serves as the league's most common source of player recruitment. Each team is given a position in the drafting o ...

and is currently a color analyst and draft analyst for CBS Sports. Chavous was one of the lead analysts on the NFL Network's first-ever coverage of the draft at

Radio City Music Hall Radio City Music Hall is an entertainment venue and theater at 1260 Avenue of the Americas, within Rockefeller Center, in the Midtown Manhattan neighborhood of New York City. Nicknamed "The Showplace of the Nation", it is the headquarters for th ...

in 2005. Along with host

and NFL Network draft guru

, the trio covered all of the NFL Network's two-day weekend. Chavous' website
DraftNastymagazine.com
covers the NFL Draft on a year-round basis. Chavous and his scouts tour college campuses to find NFL Draft prospects and related issues to spotlight.

Personal life

Chavous is the nephew of former

Denver Broncos The Denver Broncos are a professional American football franchise based in Denver. The Broncos compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) West division. The team is headquar ...

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 ...

Barney Chavous Barney Lewis Chavous ( ; born March 22, 1951) is a former American football defensive end in the National Football League (NFL). He was drafted in the second round (36th overall) of the 1973 NFL Draft by the Denver Broncos after playing college ...

. He is also the cousin of

Fred Vinson Frederick "Fred" Moore Vinson (January 22, 1890 – September 8, 1953) was an American attorney and politician who served as the 13th chief justice of the United States from 1946 until his death in 1953. Vinson was one of the few Americans to ...

, former NFL and

football player.

References

External links

St. Louis Rams bio
– dead link
DraftNastymagazine.com
– Founder

{{DEFAULTSORT:Chavous, Corey 1976 births Living people Sportspeople from Aiken, South Carolina American football safeties American football cornerbacks Vanderbilt Commodores football players National Conference Pro Bowl players Arizona Cardinals players Minnesota Vikings players St. Louis Rams players Players of American football from South Carolina College football announcers Ed Block Courage Award recipients