Keith Wright (born June 8, 1980) 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. He 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). Wright 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

Missouri Tigers The Missouri Tigers intercollegiate athletics programs represent the University of Missouri, located in Columbia. The name comes from a band of armed Union Home Guards called the "Fighting Tigers of Columbia" who, in 1864, protected Columbia ...

and was selected by the

Houston Texans The Houston Texans are a professional American football team based in Houston. The Texans compete in the National Football League as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC South, South division. The team plays its home games at N ...

in the sixth round of the

2003 NFL draft The 2003 NFL draft was the procedure by which National Football League (NFL) teams selected amateur college football players. The draft is known officially as the "NFL Annual Player Selection Meeting" and has been conducted annually since 1936 NF ...

. In 2012, Wright was sentenced to life in prison after he was convicted on 19 charges including sexual assault, armed robbery, and kidnapping.

Biography

Wright graduated at 17 and went to Arizona Western college, where he stayed for 2 years before moving on to

Sacramento City College Sacramento City College (SCC) is a public community college in Sacramento, California. SCC is part of the Los Rios Community College District and had an enrollment of 25,307 in 2009. It is accredited by the Accrediting Commission for Community ...

in 1999. There, he had a total of 14 sacks during one season. Later he had 68 tackles in his first season at

Missouri Missouri (''see #Etymology and pronunciation, pronunciation'') is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. Ranking List of U.S. states and territories by area, 21st in land area, it border ...

. Then, he was moved to defensive tackle at the Missouri team, and he was able to complete 92 tackles in 2002. With that, he expected to be chosen in the third or fourth round of the

. Wright was drafted by the

as the final pick of the sixth round of the 2003 NFL Draft. He signed a contract worth $925,000 for the seasons from 2003 to 2005. On November 10, 2003, Wright was signed as a free agent from the Texans practice squad by 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 ...

. On November 24, 2004, Wright was signed by the

Tampa Bay Buccaneers The Tampa Bay Buccaneers (colloquially known as the Bucs) are a professional American football team based in Tampa, Florida. The Buccaneers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC S ...

to their practice squad and released on July 27, 2005. The

Arizona 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) NFC West, West division. The ...

signed Wright to a one-year contract on August 5, 2005, but subsequently released him on August 29. The Buccaneers signed him as a free agent in January 2006 and assigned him to

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 ...

. He was released on September 2, 2006, and signed to the

Detroit Lions The Detroit Lions are a professional American football team based in Detroit. The Lions compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC North, North division. The team plays their home game ...

practice squad on October 18. On August 29, 2011, Wright was arrested on suspicion of home invasion and sexual assault in the Natomas neighborhood of

Sacramento, California Sacramento ( or ; ; ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of California and the county seat, seat of Sacramento County, California, Sacramento County. Located at the confluence of the Sacramento Rive ...

. He was linked to three home invasions that took place in July and August 2011. During one of them, he sexually assaulted a woman and forced her to pull money out of two ATMs. In October 2012, Wright was convicted on 19 charges including armed robbery, kidnapping, forced oral copulation, first degree burglary, and false imprisonment. On November 30, he was sentenced to 234 years and 8 months in prison.

Sources

Sportsnet biography

Career transactions

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wright, Keith 1980 births 21st-century American criminals Living people American football defensive tackles Missouri Tigers football players Hamburg Sea Devils players Players of American football from Santa Clara, California American people convicted of burglary American people convicted of kidnapping American people convicted of sexual assault American sportspeople convicted of crimes Prisoners and detainees of California American expatriate sportspeople in Germany American expatriate players of American football Sacramento City Panthers football players Arizona Western College alumni Criminals from California Tampa Bay Buccaneers players Houston Texans players 21st-century American sportsmen Indianapolis Colts players Arizona Cardinals players Detroit Lions players