Matt Paradis (born October 12, 1989) 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 ...

center who is a free agent. He was drafted by the

Denver Broncos The Denver Broncos are a professional American football franchise based in Denver. The Broncos compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) West division. The team is headquar ...

in the sixth round of the 2014 NFL Draft. He played college football at

Boise State Boise State University (BSU) is a public research university in Boise, Idaho. Founded in 1932 by the Episcopal Church, it became an independent junior college in 1934 and has been awarding baccalaureate and master's degrees It became a publ ...

Professional career

Paradis was one of 51 collegiate offensive linemen to attend 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 ...

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. He completed all of the combine drills and had a mediocre performance overall, finishing 11th in the

three-cone drill The three-cone drill, 3-cone drill or L-drill is a test performed by American football players. It is primarily run to evaluate the agility, quickness and fluidity of movement of players by scouts. It is most commonly seen at the NFL Combine i ...

and 20th among offensive linemen in the bench press. On March 14, 2014, he attended Boise State's pro day, but opted to stand on his combine numbers and only ran positional drills. At the conclusion of the pre-draft process, Paradis was projected to be a seventh round pick or priority

undrafted free agent In professional sports, a free agent is a player 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 contract at present but who is a ...

by NFL draft experts and scouts. He was ranked the 15th best center prospect in the draft by NFLDraftScout.com.

Denver Broncos

The

selected Paradis in the sixth round (207th overall) of the 2014 NFL Draft. He was the ninth center selected in 2014.

2014

On June 2, 2014, the Denver Broncos signed Paradis to a four-year, $2.31 million contract 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 $91,000. Throughout training camp, he competed for a roster spot against

Will Montgomery Will Montgomery (born February 13, 1983) is a former American football center that played ten seasons in National Football League (NFL). He was drafted by the Carolina Panthers in the seventh round of the 2006 NFL Draft. He played college footbal ...

. On August 30, 2014, the Denver Broncos waived Paradis and signed him to their practice squad on September 1, 2014. On January 15, 2015, the Denver Broncos signed Paradis to a reserve/future contract.

2015

Throughout training camp, Paradis competed against Gino Gradkowski for the vacant starting center role after Manny Ramirez and Will Montgomery both departed during free agency. Head coach Gary Kubiak named Paradis the starting center to begin the regular season. He made his first career start and professional regular season debut in the Denver Broncos' season-opening 19–13 victory over the

Baltimore Ravens The Baltimore Ravens are a professional American football team based in Baltimore, Maryland. The Ravens compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the American Football Conference (AFC) North division. The team plays it ...

. Paradis started all 16 regular season games and helped the Broncos attain a 12–4 record and finish atop the AFC West. On January 17, 2016, he started his first career playoff game as the Broncos defeated the

Pittsburgh Steelers The Pittsburgh Steelers are a professional American football team based in Pittsburgh. The Steelers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the American Football Conference (AFC) North division. Founded in , the Stee ...

23–16 in the AFC divisional playoff game. The Denver Broncos went on to defeat the

New England Patriots The New England Patriots are a professional American football team based in the Greater Boston area. They compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) AFC East, East divisio ...

and play against the

Carolina Panthers The Carolina Panthers are a professional American football team based in Charlotte, North Carolina. The Panthers compete in the National Football League (NFL), as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) South division. ...

Super Bowl 50 Super Bowl 50 was an American football game to determine the champion of the National Football League (NFL) for the 2015 season. The American Football Conference (AFC) champion Denver Broncos defeated the National Football Conference (NFC) ...

. Paradis started in the Super Bowl and helped his team defeat the

by a score of 24–10. Paradis played exceptionally well throughout his first season as a starter and was ranked the best center in the NFL in 2015 by

Pro Football Focus Pro Football Focus (also written as ProFootballFocus, and often referred to by its initials, PFF) is a sports analytics company that focuses on thorough analysis of the National Football League (NFL) and NCAA Division-I football in the United Sta ...

and was also ranked the fourth overall center by the

Bleacher Report Bleacher Report (often abbreviated as B/R) is a website that focuses on sport and sports culture. Its headquarters are in San Francisco, with offices in New York City and London. Bleacher Report was acquired by Turner Broadcasting System in Au ...

. Due to his contract and his snap count, Paradis earned a player performance bonus of $391,647. It was the largest performance bonus of any player in 2015. He allowed 29 quarterback pressures and received a pass blocking efficiency of 96.6 from Pro Football Focus. It ranked 19th among all centers in 2015.

2016

On April 14, 2016, the Denver Broncos signed Paradis to a one-year, $525,000 contract. After a stellar season in , Paradis maintained his starting role to begin the regular season. He started all 16 regular season games and helped the Broncos finish 9–7. Paradis played 2,392 snaps out of a possible 2,402 snaps in 2016 and only allowed 17 quarterback pressures.

gave Paradis a pass blocking efficiency of 97.9, which ranked 13th among all centers. He also received an overall grade of 90.7 from PFF that finished first among all centers. The

finished with a 9–7 record and did not qualify for the playoffs. Head coach Gary Kubiak announced his retirement after the season, due to health concerns. As the Broncos' starting center, Paradis received a player performance bonus of $306,002, which was the highest player performance bonus of any player on the Broncos' roster.

2017

On March 7, 2017, the Denver Broncos signed Paradis to his exclusive rights tender under the terms of one-year, $615,000 contract. Due to his exclusive rights tender, he was unable to negotiate with any other team, but became a

restricted free agent A restricted free agent (RFA) is a type of free agent in the National Football League (NFL), National Hockey League (NHL), or National Basketball Association (NBA). Such players have special restrictions on the terms under which they can retain ...

in 2018. Paradis missed organized team activities and the beginning of training camp after undergoing

arthroscopic Arthroscopy (also called arthroscopic or keyhole surgery) is a minimally invasive surgical procedure on a joint in which an examination and sometimes treatment of damage is performed using an arthroscope, an endoscope that is inserted into the j ...

surgery on both his hips during the offseason. He returned to training camp after receiving medical clearance in July. Head coach

Vance Joseph Vance Desmond Joseph (born September 20, 1972) is an American football coach and former player who is the defensive coordinator of the Arizona Cardinals of the National Football League (NFL). Previously he was the head coach of the Denver Bronco ...

named Paradis the starting center to begin the regular season, ahead of Connor McGovern and

Dillon Day Dillon Day (born August 18, 1970 in Ohio, United States) is a pornographic actor and director. Biography Day was married to Dasha but is now married to fellow pornographic actress Victoria Rush. He initially pursued a career in Hollywood and app ...

. Paradis started all 16 regular season games for the third consecutive season. He earned an overall grade of 75.2 from

in .

2018

On March 12, 2018, the Broncos placed a second-round restricted free agent tender on Paradis. He started the first nine games at center before suffering a fractured fibula in Week 9. He was placed on injured reserve on November 12, 2018.

Carolina Panthers

On March 14, 2019, Paradis signed a three-year, $27 million contract with the

. Paradis suffered a torn ACL in Week 9 of the 2021 season and was placed on injured reserve on November 8, 2021.

References

External links

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Boise State Broncos bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Paradis, Matt 1989 births Living people People from Council, Idaho Players of American football from Idaho American football centers Boise State Broncos football players Denver Broncos players Carolina Panthers players