Max Valles (born August 5, 1994) 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 ...

. He 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 ...

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States between the East Coast of the United States ...

. He was selected by the

Oakland Raiders The Oakland Raiders were a professional American football team based in Oakland, California, from its founding in 1960 to 1981, and again from 1995 to 2019 before Oakland Raiders relocation to Las Vegas, relocating to the Las Vegas metropolitan ...

in the sixth round of the

2015 NFL draft The 2015 NFL draft was the 80th annual meeting of National Football League (NFL) franchises to select newly eligible American football, football players. It took place in Chicago at the Auditorium Theatre and in Grant Park (Chicago), Grant Park ...

Early life

Valles grew up in the Sicklerville section of Winslow Township, New Jersey and played high school football at St. Joseph High School in

Hammonton, New Jersey Hammonton is a Town (New Jersey), town in Atlantic County, New Jersey, Atlantic County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey, that has been referred to as the "Blueberry Capital of the World". As of the 2020 United States census, the town's populati ...

, where he played

wide receiver A wide receiver (WR), also referred to as a wideout, and historically known as a split end (SE) or flanker (FL), is an eligible receiver in gridiron football. A key skill position of the offense (American football), offense, WR gets its name ...

defensive end Defensive end (DE) is a defensive position in the sport of gridiron football. This position has designated the players at each end of the defensive line, but changes in formation (American football), formations over the years have substantially ...

and

safety Safety is the state of being protected from harm or other danger. Safety can also refer to the control of recognized hazards in order to achieve an acceptable level of risk. Meanings The word 'safety' entered the English language in the 1 ...

. Valles committed to the

University of Virginia The University of Virginia (UVA) is a Public university#United States, public research university in Charlottesville, Virginia, United States. It was founded in 1819 by Thomas Jefferson and contains his The Lawn, Academical Village, a World H ...

to play

. He also played

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball sport played between two team sport, teams of nine players each, taking turns batting (baseball), batting and Fielding (baseball), fielding. The game occurs over the course of several Pitch ...

in high school. After high school, he attended

Fork Union Military Academy Fork Union Military Academy (abbreviated as FUMA) is a private school, private, all-male, college preparatory Christian school, Christian Military school, military boarding school located in Fork Union, Virginia. Founded in 1898, Fork Union is co ...

for a year.

College career

Valles attended Virginia from 2013 to 2014. As a freshman in 2013, he played in 10 games, making four starts. He had 23

tackles Tackle may refer to: * In football: ** Tackle (football move), a play in various forms of football ** Tackle (gridiron football position) A tackle is a playing position in American football. Historically, in the one-platoon system prevalent ...

and four sacks. Valles started all 12 games as a sophomore in 2014. He finished the year with 55 tackles and nine sacks. After his redshirt sophomore season, Valles entered the

Professional career

Oakland Raiders (first stint)

Valles was selected with the 179th overall pick of the 2015 NFL draft by the

, who announced he would play

. On September 5, 2015, he was waived by the Raiders and was re-signed to the

practice squad In gridiron football, the practice squad, also called the taxi squad or practice roster, is a group of players signed by a team but not part of their main roster. They serve as extra players during the team's practices, often as part of the scou ...

Buffalo Bills

On December 16, 2015, the

Buffalo Bills The Buffalo Bills are a professional American football team based in the Buffalo–Niagara Falls metropolitan area. The Bills compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC East, East div ...

signed Valles off the Raiders' practice squad. On September 2, 2016, he was released by the Bills as part of final roster cuts and was re-signed to the practice squad. He signed a reserve/future contract with the Bills on January 2, 2017. On September 2, 2017, Valles was waived by the Bills.

Oakland Raiders (second stint)

Valles was signed to the Raiders' practice squad on September 3 and was released on September 8, 2017. He was re-signed on September 12, 2017. He was released on September 28, 2017.

Ottawa Redblacks

On May 21, 2019, Valles signed with the

Ottawa Redblacks The Ottawa Redblacks (officially stylized as REDBLACKS) (Canadian French, French: ) are a professional Canadian football team based in Ottawa, Ontario. The team plays in the East Division (CFL), East Division of the Canadian Football League (CFL ...

of the

Canadian Football League The Canadian Football League (CFL; , LCF) is a Professional gridiron football, professional Canadian football league in Canada. It comprises nine teams divided into two divisions, with four teams in the East Division (CFL), East Division and f ...

Personal life

His older brother, Hakeem, also played in the NFL.

References

External links

Virginia Cavaliers bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Valles, Max 1994 births Living people People from Winslow Township, New Jersey St. Joseph Academy (New Jersey) alumni Players of American football from Camden County, New Jersey American football linebackers Virginia Cavaliers football players Oakland Raiders players Buffalo Bills players Ottawa Redblacks players Players of Canadian football from New Jersey Canadian football defensive linemen