Ryan Whalen (born July 26, 1989) is an American former 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 ...

who 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 ...

Stanford Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University, is a private research university in Stanford, California, United States. It was founded in 1885 by railroad magnate Leland Stanford (the eighth governor of and th ...

. He was selected by 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 ...

in the sixth round, 167th overall of the

2011 NFL draft The 2011 NFL draft was the 76th installment of the annual National Football League draft, NFL draft, where the franchises of the National Football League select newly eligible football players. Like the 2010 draft, the 2011 draft was held at Rad ...

Early life

A native of

Alamo, California Alamo ( Spanish: ''Álamo''; meaning " Poplar tree") is an unincorporated community and census-designated place (CDP) in Contra Costa County, California, in the United States. It is a suburb located in the San Francisco Bay Area's East Bay r ...

, Whalen graduated from Monte Vista High School in

Danville, California The Town of DanvillePronounced is located in the San Ramon Valley in Contra Costa County, California, United States. It is one of the List of municipalities in California, incorporated municipalities in California that use "town" in their nam ...

, where he played for former Santa Clara quarterback Craig Bergman. As a senior, he hauled in 80 passes for over 1,200 yards and scored 14

touchdowns A touchdown (abbreviated as TD) is a scoring play in gridiron football. Scoring a touchdown grants the team that scored it 6 points. Whether running, passing, returning a kickoff or punt, or recovering a turnover, a team scores a touchd ...

playing

, earning all-state honors. He was also named first team all-county, all-East Bay, all-metro by the

San Francisco Chronicle The ''San Francisco Chronicle'' is a newspaper serving primarily the San Francisco Bay Area of Northern California. It was founded in 1865 as ''The Daily Dramatic Chronicle'' by teenage brothers Charles de Young and M. H. de Young, Michael H. ...

and was named Scholar-Athlete of the Year. Following his senior season, he was named by Cal-Hi Sports as one of the Top 10 football/basketball players in the state of

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

. Whalen was also an all-state

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 ...

player at Monte Vista. He earned East Bay Athletic League Player of the Year and first team all-Alameda County honors and also earned first team all-East Bay and second team all-Metro honors after leading his team to its first North Coast Section championship.

College career

Whalen played at

Stanford University Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University, is a Private university, private research university in Stanford, California, United States. It was founded in 1885 by railroad magnate Leland Stanford (the eighth ...

for the

Stanford Cardinal football The Stanford Cardinal football program represents Stanford University in college football at the NCAA Division I FBS level and is a member of the Atlantic Coast Conference. The program was previously in the Pac-12 Conference. The team is known as ...

team.

Professional career

Cincinnati Bengals

Whalen was selected in the sixth round with the 167th overall pick of the

by the

. He became the first

to be drafted since 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 ...

selected

Teyo Johnson Teyo Johnson (born November 29, 1981) is a Canadian former 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. Unqua ...

in the second round of the

2003 NFL draft The 2003 NFL draft was the procedure by which National Football League (NFL) teams selected amateur college football players. The draft is known officially as the "NFL Annual Player Selection Meeting" and has been conducted annually since 1936 NF ...

. Multiple news outlets, including Rotoworld.com and Bengals.com, reported that the Bengals had signed 167th overall pick WR Ryan Whalen on a four-year contract. The Bengals waived Whalen on August 25, 2014.

Minnesota Vikings

On August 2, 2015, Whalen joined the

Minnesota Vikings The Minnesota Vikings are a professional American football team based in Minneapolis. The Vikings compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC North, North division. Founded in 1960 as ...

as a free agent entering the 2015 season.

San Francisco 49ers

On August 23, 2016, Whalen was signed by the 49ers. On September 3, 2016, he was released by the 49ers.

NFL career statistics

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Whalen, Ryan 1989 births Living people American football wide receivers Cincinnati Bengals players Minnesota Vikings players Sportspeople from Alamo, California Players of American football from Danville, California San Francisco 49ers players Stanford Cardinal football players Monte Vista High School (Danville, California) alumni