Jamel Richardson (born January 22, 1982) 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

slotback Slotback (SB), also called slot receiver, is an offensive position in gridiron football responsible for covering a ''slot,'' the playing area between the⁣⁣ offensive tackle and the wide receiver. A player who lines up between those two pl ...

in the

Canadian Football League The Canadian Football League (CFL; , LCF) is a Professional gridiron football, professional Canadian football league in Canada. It comprises nine teams divided into two divisions, with four teams in the East Division (CFL), East Division and f ...

(CFL). He won two

Grey Cup The Grey Cup () is both the championship game of the Canadian Football League (CFL) and the trophy awarded to the victorious team playing in the namesake championship of professional Canadian football. The game is contested between the winners ...

championships with the

Montreal Alouettes The Montreal Alouettes (Canadian French, French: ''Les Alouettes de Montréal'') are a professional Canadian football team based in Montreal, Quebec. Founded in 1946, the team has disbanded twice and been re-established thrice. The Alouettes compe ...

, and was named the Grey Cup Most Valuable Player (MVP) of the

98th Grey Cup The 98th Grey Cup was a Canadian football game played between the East Division champion Montreal Alouettes and West Division champion Saskatchewan Roughriders to decide the champion of the Canadian Football League (CFL) for the 2010 season. ...

. Richardson attended Corcoran High School before he was a two-year All-Foothill Conference in Basketball and All-American in Football at Victor Valley College where he led the state in receptions and yardage.

Early life

Richardson attended Corcoran High School where he played football. In 2011 he was inducted into the Corcoran High school athletic hall of fame.

Professional career

Saskatchewan Roughriders

Richardson played for four seasons, from 2003–2006, for the

Saskatchewan Roughriders The Saskatchewan Roughriders are a professional Canadian football team based in Regina, Saskatchewan. The Roughriders compete in the Canadian Football League (CFL) as a member club of the league's West Division. The Roughriders were founded in 19 ...

. Over that span of time he caught 113 passes for 1471 yards and scored 4

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 ...

Dallas Cowboys

Richardson was signed by 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 ...

of 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 ...

in March 2007, but he faced an uphill battle at making the Cowboys' roster due to the depth Dallas had at the wide receiver position. On August 27, 2007, the Dallas Cowboys waived Richardson, along with seven other players, as part of its roster cuts prior to the start of the 2007 regular season.

Montreal Alouettes

On March 18, 2008, the Montreal Alouettes signed Richardson. In the 2008 season, Richardson was named a CFL All-Star after leading the CFL with 16 TD receptions while catching 98 passes for 1287 yards. Richardson made news on January 7, 2009, when it was reported that he turned down an offer from the

Minnesota Vikings The Minnesota Vikings are a professional American football team based in Minneapolis. The Vikings compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC North, North division. Founded in 1960 as ...

of the NFL and chose to remain with the Alouettes for at least 3 seasons. He also drew interest from

Seattle Seattle ( ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Washington and in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. With a population of 780,995 in 2024, it is the 18th-most populous city in the United States. The city is the cou ...

San Francisco San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is a commercial, Financial District, San Francisco, financial, and Culture of San Francisco, cultural center of Northern California. With a population of 827,526 residents as of ...

, and

Tampa Bay Tampa Bay is a large natural harbor and shallow estuary connected to the Gulf of Mexico on the west-central coast of Florida, comprising Hillsborough Bay, McKay Bay, Old Tampa Bay, Middle Tampa Bay, and Lower Tampa Bay. The largest freshwater i ...

. On November 28, 2010 in the

Edmonton, Alberta Edmonton is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Alberta. It is situated on the North Saskatchewan River and is the centre of the Edmonton Metropolitan Region, which is surrounded by Central Alberta ...

vs. the

, Richardson helped the Alouettes to a 21-18 victory as well as receiving the

MVP MVP most commonly refers to: * Most valuable player, an award, typically for the best performing player in a sport or competition * Minimum viable product, a concept for feature estimating used in business and engineering MVP may also refer to: ...

trophy. He was the first receiver to receive this honour since 2003. For six consecutive seasons Richardson amassed over 1,000 receiving yards; from

2008 2008 was designated as: *International Year of Languages *International Year of Planet Earth *International Year of the Potato *International Year of Sanitation The Great Recession, a worldwide recession which began in 2007, continued throu ...

through the

2012 CFL season The 2012 CFL season was the 59th season of modern-day Canadian football. Officially, it was the 55th season for the Canadian Football League. The pre-season began on June 13, 2012, and the regular season started on June 29, 2012. Rogers Centr ...

. On August 4, 2013, partway through the season, Richardson tore his LCL and ACL, in his left knee, during practice. He then missed the remainder of the

2013 CFL season The 2013 CFL season was the 60th season of modern-day Canadian football. Officially, it was the 56th season of the Canadian Football League. The pre-season began on June 12, 2013 and the regular season began on June 27, 2013. Regina, Saskatch ...

. Following the season-ending injury, Richardson was part of the team's final cuts of 2014 training camp and was released on June 21, 2014.

Saskatchewan Roughriders (II)

After sitting out the regular season in

2014 The year 2014 was marked by the surge of the Western African Ebola epidemic, West African Ebola epidemic, which began in 2013, becoming the List of Ebola outbreaks, most widespread outbreak of the Ebola, Ebola virus in human history, resul ...

, Richardson signed with the

on December 22, 2014.Back at It: Richardson returns; inks deal with Roughriders
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Statistics

References

External links

Jamel Richardson official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Richardson, Jamel 1982 births Living people American football wide receivers Players of Canadian football from New York (state) Montreal Alouettes players Saskatchewan Roughriders players 21st-century African-American sportsmen 20th-century African-American sportsmen Players of American football from Syracuse, New York Canadian football slotbacks Dallas Cowboys players