Donnie Spragan Jr. (born July 12, 1976) 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 ...

player who was a

linebacker Linebacker (LB) is a playing position in gridiron football. Linebackers are members of the defensive team, and typically line up three to five yards behind the line of scrimmage and so back up the defensive linemen. They play closer to the line ...

in 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

Pacific Tigers The Pacific Tigers represent the University of the Pacific (United States), University of the Pacific in Stockton, California, in intercollegiate athletics. The Tigers compete in NCAA Division I, and are currently in their second stint as members ...

and

Stanford Cardinal The Stanford Cardinal are the college athletics in the United States, athletic teams that represent Stanford University. Stanford's program has won 138 National Collegiate Athletic Association, NCAA team championships, the List of NCAA schools ...

. Spragan was signed by the

New Orleans Saints The New Orleans Saints are a professional American football team based in New Orleans. The Saints compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC South, South division. Since 1975, the team ...

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 1999. He was also a member of 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 ...

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 ...

Denver Broncos The Denver Broncos are a professional American football team based in Denver. The Broncos compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC West, West division. The team is headquartered in E ...

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

, and

Buffalo Bills The Buffalo Bills are a professional American football team based in the Buffalo–Niagara Falls metropolitan area. The Bills compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC East, East div ...

Early life

Spragan attended

James Logan High School James Logan High School (also known as JLHS or Logan) is a public high school located in Union City, California. It is part of the New Haven Unified School District in the San Francisco Bay Area. Awards In 1994 and 1998, Logan was recognized as ...

Union City, California Union City is a city in Alameda County, California, United States in the San Francisco Bay Area. The population in the 2020 census was 70,143, up from 69,628 in the 2010 census. It is located approximately south of Oakland, from San Franci ...

, where he lettered in football, basketball, and baseball. In football, he won All-League honors at both quarterback and linebacker. Spragan attended the University of the Pacific in

Stockton, California Stockton is a city in and the county seat of San Joaquin County, California, San Joaquin County in the Central Valley (California), Central Valley of the U.S. state of California. It is the most populous city in the county, the List of municipal ...

, and played football there for Chuck Shelton. When Pacific dropped their program after the 1995 season, Spragan transferred to

Stanford University Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University, is a Private university, private research university in Stanford, California, United States. It was founded in 1885 by railroad magnate Leland Stanford (the eighth ...

Professional career

Early career

Spragan signed as undrafted free agent with the

but was released after he injured his knee during pre-season. He spent the 1999 and 2000 seasons recovering from injury. He signed as free agent with the

Amsterdam Admirals The Amsterdam Admirals were a professional American football team based in Amsterdam, Netherlands, playing in the NFL Europe. History The Admirals were formed in 1995 as part of the NFL's plan to restart the World League of American Football, t ...

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 ...

, where he started all ten games and posted 44 tackles, 3,5 sacks, 2 forced fumbles and 5 special teams tackles. He was then picked up by the

on July 19, but was released on September 2 at the end of the preseason. He was added to the

' practice squad on October, 2, but was released from the practice squad on October 31.

Denver Broncos

Spragan was signed to the

' practice squad on December 11, 2001. He remained there through the end of the season, and was then re-signed by the

in the offseason He was active for the entire 2002 season, posting 12 tackles in total of which 2 were assisted. He also forced a fumble.
NFL Player page Spragan appeared in all 16 games for the

in 2003. He was moved to Safety (American football position), strong safety for a game against the

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 ...

. He posted 54 tackles in total of which 10 were assisted, 3 passes defended, 1 forced fumble and 3 fumbles recovered for a total of 9 yards. Spragan appeared in all 16 games for the

yet again in 2004, starting 14 at outside linebacker. He recorded a total of 67 tackles of which 22 were assisted, one sack, 5 passes defended, one forced fumble and one fumble recovered.

Miami Dolphins

Signed a two-year deal worth $2 million with the

. Dolphins signing Posted 53 tackles (38 solo), one sack, one interception, two passes defended and one forced fumble. Appeared in all 16 games for the

posting 50 tackles of which 22 were assisted, 1.5 sack, 3 passes defended, one forced fumble and one fumble recovered. On April 25, 2007, he re-signed with the Dolphins.

Buffalo Bills

A free agent in the 2008 offseason, Spragan signed with the

on August 2 after rookie linebacker Alvin Bowen suffered what appears to be a serious knee injury. He was released on August 30, 2008.

References

External links

Buffalo Bills bio

Denver Broncos bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Spragan, Donnie 1976 births Living people Players of American football from Oakland, California American football linebackers Stanford Cardinal football players New Orleans Saints players Amsterdam Admirals players Green Bay Packers players Cleveland Browns players Denver Broncos players Miami Dolphins players Buffalo Bills players James Logan High School alumni Players of American football from Union City, California