Eric Jerrod Swann (born August 16, 1970) is a former professional

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 ...

player who was selected by the Phoenix/Arizona Cardinals in the 1st round (6th overall) of the

1991 NFL Draft The 1991 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 21–22, 1991, at the Marriott ...

. A 6'5", 317 lbs. defensive tackle, Swann never attended college and was drafted from a semi-professional football team called the

Bay State Titans A bay is a recessed, coastal body of water that directly connects to a larger main body of water, such as an ocean, a lake, or another bay. A large bay is usually called a gulf, sea, sound, or bight. A cove is a small, circular bay with a narr ...

located in

Lynn, Massachusetts Lynn is the eighth-largest municipality in Massachusetts and the largest city in Essex County. Situated on the Atlantic Ocean, north of the Boston city line at Suffolk Downs, Lynn is part of Greater Boston's urban inner core. Settled by Eu ...

. He played in ten

NFL 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 maj ...

seasons from 1991 to 2000 for the Cardinals and the

Carolina Panthers The Carolina Panthers are a professional American football team based in Charlotte, North Carolina. The Panthers compete in the National Football League (NFL), as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) South division. ...

High school

Swann played high school football at Western Harnett High School in

Lillington, North Carolina Lillington is a town in Harnett County, North Carolina, United States. The population was 3,194 at the 2010 census, and was estimated in 2018 to be 3,604. It is the county seat of Harnett County. Lillington is a part of the Dunn Micropolitan Area ...

, and graduated in 1989. During his high school years, he was state runner-up in shot-put and discus throwing, recording distances of 54' 02" and 152' 06", respectively.

Semi-pro career

Swann was bound for

North Carolina State University North Carolina State University (NC State) is a public land-grant research university in Raleigh, North Carolina. Founded in 1887 and part of the University of North Carolina system, it is the largest university in the Carolinas. The universi ...

, but was ruled academically ineligible. Rather than enrolling as a Proposition 48 In 1990, he left Wake Technical to join the semi-pro Bay State Titans in

with a $5 an hour salary.

Professional career

On April 24, 1991, Swann signed a five-year contract with the

Phoenix 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) West division, and play th ...

. In 1995 and 1996, Swann was named an NFL All Pro and to those years' Pro Bowl teams. In 1998, Swann re-signed with the Cardinals for a five-year, $25 million contract with a $7.5 million signing bonus. At that point in time, it was the richest contract ever signed by a Cardinals player in the history of the franchise. Because he was recovering from knee surgeries, Swann did not practice with the Cardinals in the 1999 training camp period. In 1999, he played nine games and had four sacks and a 42-yard interception. The Cardinals waived Swann on July 11, 2000. Two weeks later, he signed a one-year, veterans' minimum deal with the

along with

Reggie White Reginald Howard White (December 19, 1961 – December 26, 2004) was an American professional football player who played defensive end in the National Football League (NFL) for 15 seasons during the 1980s and 1990s. He played college football f ...

. Eric Swann agreed in 2007 to play for the Hudson Valley Saints, who are a member of the North American Football League. Eric Swann was inducted into the American Football Association's

Semi Pro Football Hall of Fame SEMI is an industry association comprising companies involved in the electronics design and manufacturing supply chain. They provide equipment, materials and services for the manufacture of semiconductors, photovoltaic panels, LED and flat pan ...

in 1998.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Swann, Eric 1970 births Living people African-American players of American football American football defensive ends American football defensive tackles Arizona Cardinals players Carolina Panthers players National Conference Pro Bowl players Phoenix Cardinals players People from Lillington, North Carolina People from Sanford, North Carolina Players of American football from North Carolina Players of American football from Phoenix, Arizona 21st-century African-American sportspeople 20th-century African-American sportspeople