Ryan Craig Denney (born June 15, 1977) 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 ...

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 formations over the years have substantially changed how the position is p ...

. He was drafted by the

Buffalo Bills The Buffalo Bills are a professional American football team based in the Buffalo metropolitan area. The Bills compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) East division ...

in the second round (61st overall) of the

2002 NFL Draft The 2002 NFL draft was the 67th annual meeting of National Football League (NFL) franchises to select newly eligible football players. The draft is known officially as the "NFL Annual Player Selection Meeting" and has been conducted annually sinc ...

. He played college football at BYU. Denney also played for the Houston Texans.

Early years

Denney attended Horizon High School (

Thornton, Colorado The City of Thornton is a home rule municipality located in Adams and Weld counties, Colorado, United States. The city population was 141,867, all in Adams County, at the 2020 United States Census, an increase of +19.44% since the 2010 United ...

) and won three varsity letters in football and two in basketball. In football, as a senior, he was named the Denver Post Defensive Player of the Year, won All-Conference honors as both an offensive lineman and as a defensive lineman, and won All-State honors as a defensive lineman. Denney graduated from Horizon High School in 1995. He served as a

Mormon missionary Missionaries of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church)—widely known as Mormon missionaries—are volunteer representatives of the church who engage variously in proselytizing, church service, humanitarian aid, and commu ...

for two years in

Argentina Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, t ...

before playing for Brigham Young University in college.

College career

Denney was two-year starter at BYU and finished his career with 156 tackles (92 solos), 16 quarterback sacks, 40 stops behind the line of scrimmage and 13 pass deflections. As a senior, was a Second-team All-America selection by The NFL Draft Report, earning fourth-team honors from The Sporting News He was an Academic All-American and a First-team All-Mountain West Conference selection. He started all year at right defensive end and recorded 68 tackles (45 solos) as he led the team with seven sacks and 19 tackles for losses and intercepted a pass and ranked second on the squad with eight pass deflections. In 2000, he earned Academic All-Mountain West Conference honors. He missed the 1996-97 season while serving on a mission in Buenos Aires, Argentina.

Professional career

Buffalo Bills

Ryan had a spectacular game against the

Miami Dolphins The Miami Dolphins are a professional American football team based in the Miami metropolitan area. They compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member team of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) East division. The team pl ...

on September 17, 2006, when he recorded 3 sacks on Miami quarterback,

Daunte Culpepper Daunte Rachard Culpepper (born January 28, 1977) is a former American football quarterback who played in the National Football League (NFL) for 11 seasons, primarily with the Minnesota Vikings. He played college football at UCF and was selected ...

in just the first half of the game. On August 17, 2007, during the opening kickoff of a preseason game against the Atlanta Falcons, Denney suffered a broken bone in his foot. He was one of three Bills position players to play in every year since 2003. At the end of the 2007 NFL season he had played in the league for six years. He caught a touchdown in the Bills season opener September 7, 2008 from a

Brian Moorman Brian Donald Moorman (born February 5, 1976) is an American former football punter in the National Football League (NFL). He played college football for Pittsburg State University, and was signed by the Seattle Seahawks as an undrafted free a ...

pass on a fake field goal and one more in 2009, again on a fake field goal. On February 27, 2010, the

announced that they would not be offering Ryan Denney a contract which rendered him an unrestricted free agent.

Houston Texans

On September 15, 2010, the Houston Texans announced they had signed Denney to an undisclosed contract. On October 7, 2010, the Texans waived Denney.

NFL career statistics

Family

Ryan is the brother of

long snapper In American football, the long snapper (or deep snapper) is a center on special teams whose duty is to snap the football over a longer distance, typically around 15 yards during punts, and 7–8 yards during field goals and extra point at ...

John Denney John Sifford Denney (born December 13, 1978) is an American football long snapper who is a free agent. He played college football for Brigham Young University (BYU), and was signed by the Miami Dolphins as an undrafted free agent in 2005. Ear ...

, who also wears number 92 on his jersey. Ryan and his wife, Laura have four daughters, Kyle, Kate, Alli and Samantha, and two sons, Tyler and Will. He is also the brother-in-law of

Doug Jolley Doug Jolley (born January 2, 1979) is a former American football tight end in the National Football League. He was drafted by the Oakland Raiders in 2002, where he played three years. He would also play single seasons for the NY Jets and Tampa Ba ...

, former

NFL The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the maj ...

tight end for the New York Jets.

References

External links

Buffalo Bills bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Denney, Ryan 1977 births Living people Players of American football from Denver American football defensive ends American Mormon missionaries in Argentina 20th-century Mormon missionaries BYU Cougars football players Buffalo Bills players Houston Texans players Latter Day Saints from Colorado People from Thornton, Colorado