Isaiah Alexander Ford (born February 9, 1996) is 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 ...

wide receiver A wide receiver (WR), also referred to as a wideout, and historically known as a split end (SE) or flanker (FL), is an eligible receiver in gridiron football. A key skill position of the offense (American football), offense, WR gets its name ...

. 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 ...

Virginia Tech The Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, commonly referred to as Virginia Tech (VT), is a Public university, public Land-grant college, land-grant research university with its main campus in Blacksburg, Virginia, United States ...

. He was selected by the

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 ...

in the seventh round of the 2017 NFL draft.

Early life

Ford attended Trinity Christian Academy in

Jacksonville, Florida Jacksonville ( ) is the most populous city proper in the U.S. state of Florida, located on the Atlantic coast of North Florida, northeastern Florida. It is the county seat of Duval County, Florida, Duval County, with which the City of Jacksonv ...

. While there, he played

high school football High school football, also known as prep football, is gridiron football played by High school (North America), high school teams in the United States and Canada. It ranks among the most popular high school sports, interscholastic sports in both c ...

. As a senior, he had 717 yards receiving and 12

touchdowns A touchdown (abbreviated as TD) is a scoring play in gridiron football. Scoring a touchdown grants the team that scored it 6 points. Whether running, passing, returning a kickoff or punt, or recovering a turnover, a team scores a touchd ...

. He was rated by Rivals.com as a three-star recruit and committed to

to play

. Ford also played

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appro ...

in high school, averaging 37

points per game Points per game, often abbreviated PPG, is the average number of points scored by a player or team per game played in a sport, over the course of a series of games, a whole season, or a career. It is calculated by dividing the total number of poi ...

as a senior. Ford played AAU basketball with

Grayson Allen Grayson James Allen (born October 8, 1995) is an American professional basketball player for the Phoenix Suns of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He played four years of college basketball at Duke University, where he helped Duke win a ...

for the Jacksonville Lee Bull.

College career

As a true freshman at Virginia Tech, Ford played in all 13 games with 11 starts and had 56 receptions for 709 yards and six touchdowns. As a sophomore, he was named first-team All-

Atlantic Coast Conference The Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference in the United States. Headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina, the ACC's eighteen member universities compete in the National Collegiate Athlet ...

(ACC) and set Virginia Tech single-season records for receptions and touchdowns. As a junior, Ford was named second-team All-ACC, recording 73 receptions for 1,038 yards and seven touchdowns. After the season, Ford decided to forgo his senior year and enter the 2017 NFL draft.

Professional career

Miami Dolphins (first stint)

Ford was selected by the

in the seventh round, 237th overall, in the 2017 NFL draft. On August 18, 2017, he was placed on

injured reserve The injured reserve list ( IR list) is a designation used in North American professional sports leagues for athletes who suffer injuries and become unable to play. The exact name of the list varies by league; it is known as "injured reserve" in ...

after suffering a knee injury. On September 1, 2018, Ford was waived by the Dolphins and was signed to the

practice squad In gridiron football, the practice squad, also called the taxi squad or practice roster, is a group of players signed by a team but not part of their main roster. They serve as extra players during the team's practices, often as part of the scou ...

. He was promoted to the active roster on November 28, 2018. On August 31, 2019, Ford was waived by the Dolphins and re-signed to the practice squad. He was promoted to the active roster on September 25, 2019. He was waived again on October 30 and re-signed to the practice squad. He was promoted to the active roster on November 27. In the 2019 season, he recorded 23 receptions for 244 receiving yards. On April 17, 2020, Ford was re-signed to a one-year contract by the Dolphins.

New England Patriots

On November 3, 2020, Ford was traded to 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 ...

for a conditional 2022 seventh-round draft pick. On December 5, 2020, Ford was waived.

Miami Dolphins (second stint)

Ford re-signed with the Dolphins' practice squad on December 14, 2020. He was elevated to the active roster on December 19 and December 22 for the team's weeks 15 and 16 games against the Patriots and

Las Vegas Raiders The Las Vegas Raiders are a professional American football team based in the Las Vegas Valley, Las Vegas metropolitan area. The Raiders compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC West ...

, and reverted to the practice squad after each game. He was promoted to the active roster on December 30. The Dolphins declined to assign a

restricted free agent A restricted free agent (RFA) is a type of free agent in some sports leagues, such as the National Football League (NFL), National Hockey League (NHL), and National Basketball Association (NBA). Such players have special restrictions on the term ...

tender to Ford at the start of the 2021 league year. On July 16, 2021, Ford re-signed with the Dolphins. He was released on August 24, 2021. He was re-signed to the practice squad on September 6. On October 9, 2021, he was elevated to the active roster for the Dolphins' Week 5 game. He was signed to the active roster on October 23.

New York Giants

On June 7, 2022, Ford signed with the

New York Giants The New York Giants are a professional American football team based in the New York metropolitan area. The Giants compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC East, East division. The ...

Indianapolis Colts

On July 26, 2022, Ford signed 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 of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC South, South division. Since the 2008 India ...

. He was released on August 16, 2022.

Chicago Bears

On July 24, 2023, Ford signed with the

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 of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC North, North division. They are one of two remaining ...

. He was placed on injured reserve on August 29, then released on September 6.

References

External links

Virginia Tech Hokies bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ford, Isaiah 1996 births Living people Players of American football from Jacksonville, Florida American football wide receivers Virginia Tech Hokies football players Miami Dolphins players New England Patriots players Indianapolis Colts players Chicago Bears players