Malik Terrell Jefferson (born November 15, 1996) is an

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 ...

linebacker Linebacker (LB) is a playing position in gridiron football. Linebackers are members of the defensive team, and line up three to five yards behind the line of scrimmage and the defensive linemen. They are the "middle ground" of defenders, pl ...

for 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 club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) East divis ...

of the

National Football League 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 ma ...

(NFL). He played college football at

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2 ...

. As a senior at Poteet High School in

Mesquite, Texas Mesquite is a suburban city located east of the city of Dallas, Texas, in the United States. Most of the city is located in Dallas County, though a small portion extends into Kaufman County. As of 2019 census estimates, the population was ...

, Jefferson won the 2014

Butkus Award The Butkus Award, instituted in 1985 by the Downtown Athletic Club of Orlando, is given annually to the top linebackers at the high school, collegiate and professional levels of football. The award, named in honor of College Football Hall of Fam ...

given to the best linebacker in

high school A secondary school describes an institution that provides secondary education and also usually includes the building where this takes place. Some secondary schools provide both '' lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper seconda ...

. He has been a member of the

Cincinnati Bengals The Cincinnati Bengals are a professional American football team based in Cincinnati. The Bengals compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) North division. The club's home ...

Cleveland Browns The Cleveland Browns are a professional American football team based in Cleveland. Named after original coach and co-founder Paul Brown, they compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the American Football Conference ( ...

Los Angeles Chargers The Los Angeles Chargers are a professional American football team based in the Los Angeles metropolitan area. The Chargers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) West division, and ...

, and

Tennessee Titans The Tennessee Titans are a professional American football team based in Nashville, Tennessee. The Titans compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the American Football Conference (AFC) South division, and play their h ...

of the

(NFL).

High school career

A native of

, Jefferson attended Poteet High School where he played football and baseball and competed in track and field. Playing defensive back as a sophomore in 2012, Jefferson registered 105 tackles, 24 tackles for loss, seven sacks, five forced fumbles, and four blocked kicks. Helping Poteet to an 11–3 record, including a 5–2 district mark and a

UIL The Uil ( kk, Ойыл, translit=Oyyl; russian: Уил, translit=Uil) is a river of western Kazakhstan. It discharges into the Lake Aktobe A lake is an area filled with water, localized in a basin, surrounded by land, and distinct from any ...

playoff berth, Jefferson was named Sophomore of the Year in District 10–4A and earned first-team All-Area honors by the ''

Dallas Morning News ''The Dallas Morning News'' is a daily newspaper serving the Dallas–Fort Worth area of Texas, with an average print circulation of 65,369. It was founded on October 1, 1885 by Alfred Horatio Belo as a satellite publication of the '' Galvest ...

''. Poteet advanced to the 4A Division 2 quarterfinals, where they lost 21–13 to Daeshon Hall's

Lancaster Lancaster may refer to: Lands and titles *The County Palatine of Lancaster, a synonym for Lancashire *Duchy of Lancaster, one of only two British royal duchies *Duke of Lancaster *Earl of Lancaster *House of Lancaster, a British royal dynasty ...

. In his junior year, Jefferson mostly played linebacker and was part of a defense that held nine opponents to 20 points or fewer. He tallied 93 tackles, 18 tackles for loss, 14 sacks, three forced fumbles, and three fumble recoveries, and was chosen Defensive MVP and first-team All-District 10–4A. Jefferson was also an honorable mention on the 4A All-State team by the

Associated Press The Associated Press (AP) is an American non-profit news agency headquartered in New York City. Founded in 1846, it operates as a cooperative, unincorporated association. It produces news reports that are distributed to its members, U.S. n ...

and Texas Sports Writers Association. Poteet finished the season with a 12–2 record, including a 6–1 district mark and an appearance in the 4A Division 2 quarterfinals, where they lost 43–14 to Terence Williams'

Ennis Ennis () is the county town of County Clare, in the mid-west of Ireland. The town lies on the River Fergus, north of where the river widens and enters the Shannon Estuary. Ennis is the largest town in County Clare, with a population of 25,27 ...

. ''

MaxPreps MaxPreps is an American website that specializes in coverage of American high school sports. The site is owned by Paramount Global and is a division of CBS Sports. Founded on August 1, 2002, the company has covered up to 29 sports, including ...

'' named Jefferson to their 2013 Junior All-American team. After participating in Nike's 2014 ''The Opening'' in

Eugene, Oregon Eugene ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Oregon. It is located at the southern end of the Willamette Valley, near the confluence of the McKenzie and Willamette rivers, about east of the Oregon Coast. As of the 2020 United States Census ...

, Jefferson started his senior season as preseason Defensive Player of the Year by

Dave Campbell's Texas Football ''Dave Campbell's Texas Football'' is a biannual magazine previewing American football teams in the state of Texas. It previews football teams in Texas at all levels, from the NFL's Dallas Cowboys and Houston Texans, college football, to the ...

. He was credited with 81 tackles on the season, including six sacks and 16 tackles for loss, along with two forced fumbles and four blocked kicks, despite missing more than two games due to injury, along with three other second halves where the starters were removed. Poteet went undefeated 7–0 through its district schedule and finished the season 10–2, but was upset 27–24 in the 5A Division 2 area playoffs by The Colony. Jefferson was named first-team All-American by ''

Parade A parade is a procession of people, usually organized along a street, often in costume, and often accompanied by marching bands, floats, or sometimes large balloons. Parades are held for a wide range of reasons, but are usually celebrations of s ...

'' and ''

USA Today ''USA Today'' (stylized in all uppercase) is an American daily middle-market newspaper and news broadcasting company. Founded by Al Neuharth on September 15, 1982, the newspaper operates from Gannett's corporate headquarters in Tysons, Virg ...

'', and also won the High School Butkus Award for the nation's top linebacker. After season, he participated in the 2015

Under Armour All-America Game The Under Armour High School All-America Game is a high school football all-star game typically held in early January in the U.S. state of Florida created to spotlight the nation’s top high school seniors. The game was first played on January 5 ...

. Regarded as a five-star recruit by both Rivals.com and Scout.com, either recruiting service also ranked him the No. 1 outside linebacker prospect of his class. With offers from every major program in the country, Jefferson narrowed his selection down to Baylor,

Louisiana State Louisiana State University (officially Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College, commonly referred to as LSU) is a public land-grant research university in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. The university was founded in 1860 near ...

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

, and

UCLA The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a Normal school, teachers colle ...

. On December 19, 2014, he committed to play football at University of Texas at Austin, and was labelled as

Charlie Strong Charles Rene Strong (born August 2, 1960) is an American football coach who is currently the co-defensive coordinator and linebackers coach at the University of Miami. He recently served as the assistant head coach and inside linebackers co ...

's “signature recruit.” He was an early enrollee arriving on campus in January 2015.

College career

Jefferson played as a

true freshman Redshirt, in United States college athletics, is a delay or suspension of an athlete's participation in order to lengthen their period of eligibility. Typically, a student's athletic eligibility in a given sport is four seasons, aligning with the ...

at Texas, and was named a Freshman All-American by ''

Sporting News The ''Sporting News'' is a website and former magazine publication owned by Sporting News Holdings, which is a U.S.-based sports media company formed in December 2020 by a private investor consortium. It was originally established in 1886 as a pr ...

'', and ''

''. Jefferson was also awarded as The Big 12 Conference Freshman Defensive Player of the Year for the 2015 season. On December 31, 2017, Jefferson declared his intentions to enter the

2018 NFL Draft The 2018 NFL Draft was the 83rd annual meeting of National Football League (NFL) franchises to select newly eligible players for the 2018 NFL season. The draft was held on April 26–28 at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas; it was the first dra ...

Professional career

On December 31, 2017, Jefferson released a statement through

The Player's Tribune ''The Players' Tribune'' is a new media platform that produces daily sports conversation and publishes first-person stories from professional athletes. The platform was founded by former professional Major League Baseball player Derek Jeter in ...

announcing his decision to forgo his remaining eligibility and enter the

. Jefferson ignored recommendations from the College Advisory Board to return to college and chose to enter the draft instead. He attended the

NFL Scouting Combine The NFL Scouting Combine is a week-long showcase occurring every February at Lucas Oil Stadium (and formerly at the RCA Dome until 2008) in Indianapolis, where college football players perform physical and mental tests in front of National Footba ...

in Indianapolis and completed the majority of drills, but opted to skip the three-cone drill and short shuttle. On March 28, 2018, he participated at Texas' pro day and performed the vertical jump (37"), short shuttle, and three-cone drill. At the conclusion of the pre-draft process, Jefferson was projected to be a second-round pick by NFL draft experts and scouts. He was ranked the second-best inside linebacker prospect in the draft by DraftScouts.com and was ranked the eighth-best linebacker by Scouts Inc. and

Sports Illustrated ''Sports Illustrated'' (''SI'') is an American sports magazine first published in August 1954. Founded by Stuart Scheftel, it was the first magazine with circulation over one million to win the National Magazine Award for General Excellence twice ...

Cincinnati Bengals

The

selected Jefferson in the third round (78th overall) of the

. Jefferson was the 11th linebacker drafted in 2018. On June 21, 2018, the Cincinnati Bengals signed Jefferson to a four-year, $3.59 million

contract A contract is a legally enforceable agreement between two or more parties that creates, defines, and governs mutual rights and obligations between them. A contract typically involves the transfer of goods, services, money, or a promise to ...

that includes a

signing bonus A signing bonus or sign-on bonus is a sum of money paid to a new employee (including a professional sports person) by a company as an incentive to join that company. They are often given as a way of making a compensation package more attractive ...

of $923,728. He played in 10 games before being placed on injured reserve on December 18, 2018 with a foot injury. Jefferson was waived during final roster cuts on August 31, 2019.

Cleveland Browns

Jefferson was claimed off waivers by the

on September 1, 2019. On November 12, 2019, Jefferson was waived by the Browns.

Los Angeles Chargers

On November 25, 2019, Jefferson was signed to the

practice squad. He signed a

futures contract In finance, a futures contract (sometimes called a futures) is a standardized legal contract to buy or sell something at a predetermined price for delivery at a specified time in the future, between parties not yet known to each other. The asset ...

with the Chargers on December 30, 2019. On September 5, 2020, Jefferson was waived by the Chargers.

Tennessee Titans

On September 9, 2020, Jefferson was signed to the Tennessee Titans practice squad, but was released five days later.

Los Angeles Chargers (second stint)

On September 16, 2020, Jefferson was signed to the Los Angeles Chargers practice squad. He was promoted to the active roster on September 26, 2020. On January 1, 2021, Jefferson was placed on injured reserve. He was waived after the season on March 12, 2021.

Indianapolis Colts

On May 5, 2021, Jefferson 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 club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) South division. Since the 20 ...

. He was waived on August 31, 2021 and re-signed to the practice squad the next day. He was promoted to the active roster on December 15. He was waived on January 4, 2022. He signed a reserve/future contract on January 10, 2022. He was released on May 10, 2022.

Dallas Cowboys

On July 14, 2022, Jefferson signed with the

. On August 30, 2022, he was waived and signed to the practice squad the next day. On December 14, 2022, the Cowboys released him. On December 20, 2022, he was signed to the practice squad. On January 30, 2023, he was released. On February 8, 2023, the Cowboys signed him to a reserve/future contract.

References

External links

*
Texas Longhorns bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Jefferson, Malik 1996 births Living people American football linebackers Cincinnati Bengals players Cleveland Browns players Dallas Cowboys players Indianapolis Colts players Los Angeles Chargers players People from Mesquite, Texas Players of American football from Texas Sportspeople from Dallas County, Texas Tennessee Titans players Texas Longhorns football players African-American players of American football 21st-century African-American sportspeople