Marcus Wesley Wilkins (born January 2, 1980) is a former

American football American football, referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada and also known as gridiron football, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular American football field, field with goalposts at e ...

linebacker Linebacker (LB) is a playing position in gridiron football. Linebackers are members of the defensive team, and typically line up three to five yards behind the line of scrimmage and so back up the defensive linemen. They play closer to the line ...

who played 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) for six years for the

Green Bay Packers The Green Bay Packers are a professional American football team based in Green Bay, Wisconsin. The Packers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC North, North division. They ar ...

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 of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC North, North division. The team plays its h ...

and

Atlanta Falcons The Atlanta Falcons are a professional American football team based in Atlanta. The Falcons compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC South, South division. The Falcons were founded o ...

after playing four years of college football at

Texas Texas ( , ; or ) is the most populous U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. It borders Louisiana to the east, Arkansas to the northeast, Oklahoma to the north, New Mexico to the we ...

. Wilkins attended Westwood High School in

Austin, Texas Austin ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of Texas. It is the county seat and most populous city of Travis County, Texas, Travis County, with portions extending into Hays County, Texas, Hays and W ...

. Wilkins was Mack Brown's first verbal commitment when he arrived at Texas. At Texas, Wilkins was a four year letter winner who played in 49 games who helped the Longhorns win a Big 12 Championship and two bowl games. He was undrafted in 2002, but was signed by the

as an

undrafted free agent In professional sports, a free agent is a player or manager who is eligible to sign with other clubs or franchises; i.e., not under contract to any specific team. The term is also used in reference to a player who is under a contract at present ...

that April. He played for the Packers for two seasons and in 2003 he co-led the league with fumbles recovered for a TD with 1. After the 2003 season he spent time on the injured-reserved and was resigned by the Packers. During training camp he was waived by the Packers but then immediately signed by 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 ...

, who waived him 11 days later after which he was signed by the Bengals the next day. He played the next two seasons with the Bengals. After the 2006 season he became a free agent and was signed by the

who released him after the 2007 season.

References

1980 births Living people Players of American football from Austin, Texas American football defensive ends American football linebackers Texas Longhorns football players Green Bay Packers players Arizona Cardinals players Cincinnati Bengals players Atlanta Falcons players 21st-century American sportsmen {{linebacker-1980s-stub