Edward Videl Jasper (January 18, 1973 – April 14, 2022) was an American 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

defensive tackle A defensive tackle (DT) is a position in American football that typically lines up on the line of scrimmage, opposite one of the Guard (American football), offensive guards; however, he may also line up opposite one of the offensive Tackle (gridir ...

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 was selected by the

Philadelphia Eagles The Philadelphia Eagles are a professional American football team based in Philadelphia. The Eagles compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC East, East division. The team plays its ...

in the sixth round of the 1997 NFL draft and played for the Eagles,

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 ...

, and

Oakland Raiders The Oakland Raiders were a professional American football team based in Oakland, California, from its founding in 1960 to 1981, and again from 1995 to 2019 before Oakland Raiders relocation to Las Vegas, relocating to the Las Vegas metropolitan ...

from 1997 to 2005.

Early life

Jasper was born in

Tyler, Texas Tyler, officially the City of Tyler, is a city in and the county seat of Smith County, Texas, United States. As of 2020, the population is 105,995. Tyler was the List of municipalities in Texas, 38th most populous city in Texas (as well as the m ...

, on January 18, 1973. He attended Troup High School, where he was a three-time All-East Texas and honored as Defensive Most Valuable Player. He was also part of the school's basketball team that won the

University Interscholastic League The University Interscholastic League (UIL) is an organization that creates rules for and administers almost all athletic, musical, and academic contests for public primary and secondary schools in the U.S. state of Texas. It is the largest organ ...

Class 2A state championship in 1992.

College career

After graduating from Troup, Jasper studied at

Texas A&M University Texas A&M University (Texas A&M, A&M, TA&M, or TAMU) is a public university, public, Land-grant university, land-grant, research university in College Station, Texas, United States. It was founded in 1876 and became the flagship institution of ...

and played four seasons of

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 Aggies. In his first year with the team in 1993, the Aggies won the

Southwest Conference The Southwest Conference (SWC) was an NCAA Division I college athletic conference in the United States that existed from 1914 to 1996. Composed primarily of schools from Texas, at various times the conference also included schools from Oklaho ...

(SWC) title, before losing 24–21 to Notre Dame Fighting in the

1994 Cotton Bowl Classic The 1994 Mobil Cotton Bowl Classic was the fifty-eighth edition of the college football bowl game, played January 1, 1994, at the Cotton Bowl in Dallas, Texas. The game featured the Notre Dame Fighting Irish versus the Southwest Conference cham ...

. They finished 10–0–1 the following season, but were ineligible to defend their title. The Aggies switched from the SWC to the

Big 12 Conference The Big 12 Conference is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference in the United States. It consists of 16 full-member universities (3 private universities and 13 public universities) in the states of Arizona, Colorado, Florida ...

during Jasper's senior year in 1996. Although the team was 6–6 that season, he received honorable mention All-Big 12 honors. He was also conferred the Aggie Heart Award, as voted for by his teammates. He was subsequently drafted by the

in the sixth round (198th overall selection) of the 1997 NFL draft.

Professional career

Jasper made his NFL debut with the Eagles on September 15, 1997, at the age of 24, in a 21–20 loss against 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 of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC East, East division. T ...

. After two seasons with the franchise, he joined the

in 1999. He had the most effective years of his career with the team, with arguably his best season coming in 2002, when he started all 16 games and helped the Falcons qualify for the playoffs that year. The franchise also qualified for the playoffs two years later, advancing to the

NFC Championship Game The NFC Championship Game is the annual championship game of the National Football Conference (NFC) and one of the two semifinal National Football League playoffs, playoff games of the National Football League (NFL), the largest professional Ame ...

. He went to the

in 2005, where he tallied 2 sacks and 24 tackles in 15 games played. He retired at the conclusion of the 2005 season. During his nine-season NFL career, Jasper registered 250

tackles Tackle may refer to: * In football: ** Tackle (football move), a play in various forms of football ** Tackle (gridiron football position) A tackle is a playing position in American football. Historically, in the one-platoon system prevalent ...

, 17 sacks, forced four

fumble A fumble in gridiron football occurs when a player who has possession and control of the ball loses it before being downed (tackled), scoring, or going out of bounds. By rule, it is any act other than passing, kicking, punting, or successful h ...

s, and made four fumble recoveries in 118 games played.

NFL career statistics

Regular season

Playoffs

Personal life

Jasper's brother, Shane, served as president of the Troup Independent School District board. Jasper died on April 14, 2022, at the age of 49.Edward Jasper
/ref>

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Jasper, Ed 1973 births 2022 deaths American football defensive tackles Texas A&M Aggies football players Philadelphia Eagles players Atlanta Falcons players Oakland Raiders players Players of American football from Tyler, Texas