Christopher Parker Washington (born March 21, 2002) is an American professional

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

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 ...

for the

Jacksonville Jaguars The Jacksonville Jaguars are a professional American football team based in Jacksonville, Florida. The Jaguars compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC South, South division. The team ...

of 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). 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 ...

for the

Penn State Nittany Lions The Penn State Nittany Lions are the athletic teams of Pennsylvania State University, except for the women's basketball team, known as the Penn State Lady Lions basketball, Lady Lions. The school colors are navy blue and white. The school mascot ...

Early life

Washington was born on March 21, 2002, in

Starkville, Mississippi Starkville is a city in and the county seat of Oktibbeha County, Mississippi, United States. As of the 2020 United States census, Starkville's population is 24,360, making it the 16th-most populated city in Mississippi. Starkville is the largest ...

. He attended

Travis High School William B. Travis High School, known simply as Travis High School, is a public high school in Pecan Grove, Fort Bend County, Texas, United States. Located off Grand Parkway and in Houston's extraterritorial jurisdiction, the school is Fort Bend ...

in Pecan Grove, Texas. Washington 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 ...

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appro ...

and

. In football, he had 160 receptions, 2,800 receiving yards, 36 receiving touchdowns, and 41 total touchdowns at Travis.

College career

As a freshman at Penn State, Washington started all nine games for the Nittany Lions. He became the first true freshman since Brandon Polk in

2015 2015 was designated by the United Nations as: * International Year of Light * International Year of Soil __TOC__ Events January * January 1 – Lithuania officially adopts the euro as its currency, replacing the litas, and becomes ...

to start the season opener for the Nittany Lions. On October 24, 2020, in Penn State's season-opener against

Indiana Indiana ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Lake Michigan to the northwest, Michigan to the north and northeast, Ohio to the east, the Ohio River and Kentucky to the s ...

, Washington caught his first career touchdown to give the Nittany Lions a lead in overtime. Against

Maryland Maryland ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It borders the states of Virginia to its south, West Virginia to its west, Pennsylvania to its north, and Delaware to its east ...

, Washington caught two touchdown passes and earned the coaching staff's Offensive Player of the Week. Against

Michigan Michigan ( ) is a peninsular U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest, Upper Midwestern United States. It shares water and land boundaries with Minnesota to the northwest, Wisconsin to the west, ...

, Washington had 9 receptions for 93 yards. Two weeks later, against

Michigan State Michigan State University (Michigan State or MSU) is a public land-grant research university in East Lansing, Michigan, United States. It was founded in 1855 as the Agricultural College of the State of Michigan, the first of its kind in the ...

, he set a new career high with 95 receiving yards and two touchdowns Washington had 36 receptions for 500 yards and 6 receiving touchdowns as a true freshman, and was named a second-team

Freshman All-American Underclass All-American is an honorific for high school and college athletes for excellence in competition. The athletes recognized with this title are considered the best players of a specific season in their sport that are members of a given cla ...

The Athletic ''The Athletic'' is a subscription-based sports journalism department of ''The New York Times''. It provides national and local coverage in 47 North American cities as well as the United Kingdom. ''The Athletic'' also covers national stories ...

. He ranked first among

Big Ten The Big Ten Conference (stylized B1G, formerly the Western Conference and the Big Nine Conference, among others) is a collegiate athletic conference in the United States. Founded as the Intercollegiate Conference of Faculty Representatives in 1 ...

freshmen in receptions, yards, and touchdowns.

Statistics

Professional career

Washington was selected by the

in the sixth round, 185th overall, of the

2023 NFL draft The 2023 NFL draft was the 88th annual meeting of National Football League (NFL) franchises to select newly eligible players for the 2023 NFL season, 2023 season. The NFL draft, draft was held outside of Kansas City Union Station, Union Station i ...

. He was placed on injured reserve on October 7, 2023. He was activated on November 18. On December 4, during Week 13 game against 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 of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC North, North division. The team plays its h ...

, Washington scored his first NFL touchdown. He finished his rookie season with 16 receptions for 132 yards and two touchdowns in nine games and one start. In Week 13 of the 2024 season, Washington had six receptions for 103 yards and a touchdown in the 23–20 loss to the Houston Texans. In the 2024 season, he finished with 32 receptions for 390 yards and three touchdowns.

NFL career statistics

Regular season

Personal life

Washington's sister Ashton was hired as the first female scout for the

Chicago Bears The Chicago Bears are a professional American football team based in Chicago. The Bears compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC North, North division. They are one of two remaining ...

in 2021. His cousin,

Joshua Dobbs Robert Joshua Dobbs (born January 26, 1995) is an American professional football quarterback for the New England Patriots of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football for the Tennessee Volunteers, and was selected by the Pitt ...

, played college football at

Tennessee Tennessee (, ), officially the State of Tennessee, is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders Kentucky to the north, Virginia to the northeast, North Carolina t ...

and was drafted by 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 of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC North, North division. Founded in 1933 P ...

in the fourth round of 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 f ...

. Dobbs also played for the Jaguars in 2019. Another cousin,

Tyler Tolbert Tyler Mangual Tolbert (born January 27, 1998) is an American professional baseball infielder and outfielder for the Kansas City Royals of Major League Baseball (MLB). He made his MLB debut in 2025. Career Tolbert attended Hewitt-Trussville High ...

, is a professional

player in the

Kansas City Royals The Kansas City Royals are an American professional baseball team based in Kansas City, Missouri. The Royals compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League Central, Central Division. The team ...

organization.

References

External links

*
Jacksonville Jaguars bioPenn State Nittany Lions bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Washington, Parker 2002 births Living people Players of American football from Richmond, Texas American football wide receivers Penn State Nittany Lions football players Jacksonville Jaguars players