Marcus Rios (born October 25, 1994) is a former

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 ...

cornerback A cornerback (CB) is a member of the defensive backfield or secondary in gridiron football. Cornerbacks cover receivers most of the time, but also blitz and defend against such offensive running plays as sweeps and reverses. They create turnove ...

. He played college football at

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 ...

Professional career

On May 11, 2017, the Denver Broncos signed Rios as an undrafted free agent after he was not selected during the

2017 NFL draft The 2017 NFL Draft was the 82nd annual meeting of National Football League (NFL) franchises to select newly eligible American football players. It was held in front of the Philadelphia Museum of Art on April 27–29, returning to Philadelphia ...

. On April 30, 2017, the Denver Broncos signed Rios to a three-year, $1.66 million contract. On September 2, 2017, the Denver Broncos waived Rios as part of their final roster cuts and he was signed to the practice squad the next day. He was promoted to the active roster on December 1, 2017. On September 1, 2018, Rios was placed on injured reserve.

Personal life

In 2013, Rios was diagnosed with an extremely rare condition known as Aspergillosis. Aspergillosis is defined as an infection caused by fungi of the genus Aspergillus. Though rare, the condition has proved to be fatal nearly every time it has been diagnosed; of the 12 people who had received similar diagnoses, eight of those had died. While in the hospital, Rios requested a room at the Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center with a window to oversee his team practice at the UCLA Wasserman Football Center. During his time in the hospital, Rios lost 50 pounds; however, he would recover and return to play for UCLA in 29 games. Rios' near-death experience has been retold on the Pac-12 Network's show "

The Drive The Drive was an offensive series in the fourth quarter of the 1986 AFC Championship Game played on January 11, 1987, at Cleveland Municipal Stadium between the Denver Broncos and Cleveland Browns. Broncos quarterback John Elway, in a span of 5 ...

" and Animal Planet's "

Monsters Inside Me ''Monsters Inside Me'' was an American television documentary series about infectious diseases. It included first-person interviews with people and medical professionals telling their personal stories about contracting rare diseases with most of ...

" (The Killer in the Lake, season 5 episode 4). Although Rios did not receive an invite to the scouting combine, NFL Draft Scout shows that he posted a 4.45 40-yard dash and put up 18 bench press reps at his pro day, eventually earning a spot in the NFL with the Denver Broncos in 2017.

References

External links

UCLA Bruins bioDenver Broncos bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Rios, Marcus 1994 births Living people American football cornerbacks UCLA Bruins football players Denver Broncos players Sportspeople from Merced, California Players of American football from Merced County, California Winnipeg Blue Bombers players