Tyrell DelShawn Sutton, (born December 19, 1986) is an American former professional

gridiron football Gridiron football,"Gridiron football"
''Encyclopædia Britannica''. Ret ...

running back A running back (RB) is a member of the offensive backfield in gridiron football. The primary roles of a running back are to receive handoffs from the quarterback to rush the ball, to line up as a receiver to catch the ball, and block. The ...

. He was signed by the

Green Bay Packers The Green Bay Packers are a professional American football team based in Green Bay, Wisconsin. The Packers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the National Football Conference (NFC) North division. It is the th ...

as an

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 ...

in 2009. He played college football at Northwestern. Sutton was also a member of 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. ...

Seattle Seahawks The Seattle Seahawks are a professional American football team based in Seattle. The Seahawks compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) West, which they rejoined in 2002 a ...

Sacramento Mountain Lions The Sacramento Mountain Lions was a professional American football team based in Sacramento, California that played in the United Football League (2009–2012), United Football League. The franchise originated as the California Redwoods, and playe ...

BC Lions The BC Lions are a professional Canadian football team based in Vancouver, British Columbia. The Lions compete in the West Division of the Canadian Football League (CFL), and play their home games at BC Place. The Lions played their first season ...

Toronto Argonauts The Toronto Argonauts (officially the Toronto Argonaut Football Club and colloquially known as the Argos) are a professional Canadian football team competing in the East Division of the Canadian Football League (CFL), based in Toronto, Ontario ...

Hamilton Tiger-Cats The Hamilton Tiger-Cats are a professional Canadian football team based in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. They are currently members of the East Division of the Canadian Football League (CFL). The Tiger-Cats play their home games at Tim Hortons Fiel ...

, and

Montreal Alouettes The Montreal Alouettes (Canadian French, French: Les Alouettes de Montréal) are a professional Canadian football team based in Montreal, Quebec. Founded in 1946, the team has folded and been revived twice. The Alouettes compete in the Canadian F ...

Early years

Sutton is the son of Connie and Anthony Sutton Sr. His brother, Tony, played football at

The College of Wooster The College of Wooster is a private liberal arts college in Wooster, Ohio. Founded in 1866 by the Presbyterian Church as the University of Wooster, it has been officially non-sectarian since 1969 when ownership ties with the Presbyterian Church ...

. Sutton attended Archbishop Hoban High. While attending, he rushed for 9,426 yards, an Ohio record. Also, his career high of 505 yards is the third most in Ohio history. Furthermore, Sutton broke the school rushing record three times. Awards *2004 Mr. Football Award. *2004 Team and Offensive

MVP In team sports, a most valuable player award, abbreviated 'MVP award', is an honor typically bestowed upon an individual (or individuals, in the instance of a tie) whose individual performance is the greatest in an entire league, for a particu ...

. *Two-time

Akron Beacon Journal The ''Akron Beacon Journal'' is a morning newspaper in Akron, Ohio, United States. Owned by Gannett, it is the sole daily newspaper in Akron and is distributed throughout Northeast Ohio. The paper's coverage focuses on local news. The Beacon J ...

Player of the Year. *Two-time first-team all-state selection.

College career

While attending

Northwestern University Northwestern University is a private research university in Evanston, Illinois. Founded in 1851, Northwestern is the oldest chartered university in Illinois and is ranked among the most prestigious academic institutions in the world. Chart ...

, he majored in Communications. As a freshman, Sutton rushed for 1,474 yards and 16 touchdowns. His rushing total was the third highest in Northwestern's history. He fell one game short of joining

Emmitt Smith Emmitt James Smith III (born May 15, 1969) is an American former professional football player who was a running back in the National Football League (NFL) for 15 seasons, primarily with the Dallas Cowboys. Among other accolades, he is the le ...

Marshall Faulk Marshall William Faulk (born February 26, 1973) is an American former football running back who played in the National Football League (NFL) for 13 seasons with the Indianapolis Colts and St. Louis Rams. He is widely regarded as one of the grea ...

, and

Adrian Peterson Adrian Lewis Peterson (born March 21, 1985) is an American football running back who is a free agent. He is widely considered to be one of the greatest running backs in football history. He played college football at Oklahoma, where he set t ...

as the only

NCAA The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico. It also organizes the athletic programs of colleges and ...

freshman players to achieve 1,000 yards in 7 games. In addition to rushing, he caught 44 passes for 396 yards and 2 touchdowns. His freshman year awards included the '' Sporting News''' Offensive Freshman of the Year and First-Team Freshman All-American and

Big Ten The Big Ten Conference (stylized B1G, formerly the Western Conference and the Big Nine Conference) is the oldest Division I collegiate athletic conference in the United States. Founded as the Intercollegiate Conference of Faculty Representati ...

Freshman of the Year. Although injured as a sophomore, he rushed for 1,000 yards and 5 touchdowns and caught 40 passes for 261 yards and 2 touchdowns. He was the team co-MVP and had an honorable mention at the All-Big Ten selection. Because of a lower-leg injury early in his junior year, he played in only 5 games, and rushed for only 522 yards and 2 touchdowns, with 30 pass receptions for 282 yards. As a senior, Sutton rushed for 776 yards and 6 touchdowns before a wrist injury sidelined him for the rest of the 2008 season. Sutton underwent surgery on October 28 and returned as the starting back for the

Wildcats The wildcat is a species complex comprising two small wild cat species: the European wildcat (''Felis silvestris'') and the African wildcat (''F. lybica''). The European wildcat inhabits forests in Europe, Anatolia and the Caucasus, while the ...

in the

Alamo Bowl The Alamo Bowl is an NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision college football bowl game played annually since 1993 in the Alamodome in San Antonio, Texas. Since 2010 it matches the second choice team from the Pac-12 Conference and the second c ...

. He rushed for 114 yards in that game to bring his total to 890 yards. In addition, he caught 30 passes for 305 yards and 2 touchdowns. Sutton concluded his career as the second all-time leading rusher at Northwestern with 3,886 yards, and second all-time with 5,138 all-purpose yards. Sutton is also the second player in Wildcat's history to achieve 1,000 receiving and rushing yards. Furthermore, his 149 receptions for 1,244 yards is the most for any back.

Professional career

Pre-draft

Green Bay Packers

Though he was invited to the

NFL 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 ...

, he was not drafted. On May 1, 2009, the Green Bay Packers signed him as an undrafted free agent. On September 5, 2009, he was released when the Packers trimmed their roster to 53 players.

Carolina Panthers

Although the Packers intended to re-sign Sutton to the practice squad if he cleared waivers, Sutton was claimed by the

on September 6, 2009. Sutton played 16 games for Carolina over two seasons, and put up 139 yards on 25 carries for an impressive 5.6 average. He also returned kick-offs for the Panthers, but was cut from the team on September 3, 2011

Seattle Seahawks

On January 4, 2012, Sutton signed a reserve/future contract with the

. On August 26, 2012, the Seahawks released Sutton as they trimmed their roster from 90 to 75 players in preparation for the 2012 season.

Montreal Alouettes

Sutton signed with the

of the

Canadian Football League The Canadian Football League (CFL; french: Ligue canadienne de football—LCF) is a professional sports league in Canada. The CFL is the highest level of competition in Canadian football. The league consists of nine teams, each located in a ...

, and began playing for them in August 2013, early in the

2013 CFL season The 2013 CFL season was the 60th season of modern-day Canadian football. Officially, it was the 56th season of the Canadian Football League. The pre-season began on June 12, 2013 and the regular season began on June 27, 2013. Regina, Saskatchewa ...

. In his first season in the CFL Sutton played in 8 of the 18 regular season games, totaling 342 yards on 55 carries (6.3 yards per carry) with 3 rushing touchdowns: He also contributed 156 receiving yards. In the Al's only playoff game that year Sutton had a monster game, rushing for 142 yards on 21 carries. In the following season, Sutton played in 10 of the 18 regular season games for the Alouettes. His carries increased from 55 to 96, with 500 rushing yards, but his rushing averaged dipped to 5.2 yards per carry. Following the season Sutton and the Al's agreed to a 3-year contract extension.

2015 File:2015 Events Collage new.png, From top left, clockwise: Civil service in remembrance of November 2015 Paris attacks; Germanwings Flight 9525 was purposely crashed into the French Alps; the rubble of residences in Kathmandu following the April ...

was a breakout season for Tyrell Sutton as he eclipsed the 1000 yard mark (1,059) on 180 carries with 5 rushing touchdowns. His efforts were good enough to lead the league in rushing yards, edging out Andrew Harris by 20 yards. Sutton began the 2016 season as the team's leading rusher, but sustained an injury early in the season resulting in him being placed on the 6-game injured list. He wound up only playing in seven games in 2016, rushing for 412 yards on 74 attempts (5.6 avg). Sutton played most of the 2017 season and regained his status as Montreal's number one running back, carrying the ball 152 times for 843 yards with 5 touchdowns. Following the season the team and Sutton agreed to a one-year extension. In total, he played six seasons for the Alouettes (69 games) and recorded 643 carries for 3,573 rushing yards and 15 rushing touchdowns along with 173 receptions for 1,507 receiving yards and three receiving touchdowns.

BC Lions

On September 25, 2018, Montreal traded Tyrell Sutton and the Alouettes' third-round draft pick in the

2019 CFL Draft The 2019 CFL Draft took place on May 2, 2019 at 8:00 pm ET and was broadcast on TSN and RDS. 73 players were chosen from among eligible players from Canadian universities, as well as Canadian players playing in the United States on NCAA or ...

for the BC Lions' second-round draft pick in the 2019 CFL draft.Lions acquire RB Tyrell Sutton in trade with Als
/ref> This effectively demoted incumbent Jeremiah Johnson as Sutton took over as the lead back for the remaining 4 regular season games, and one playoff game.

Toronto Argonauts

Sutton signed with the

for the 2019 season on the second day of free agency on February 13, 2019. At the beginning of the season, he spent four weeks on the injured list before being released on July 10, 2019.

Hamilton Tiger-Cats

Sutton signed onto the

' practice roster on September 9, 2019. During his four games played with Hamilton, Sutton managed to pass the 4,000 career rushing mark, and caught all 11 of his targets for 126 yards and a touchdown. In the playoffs, Sutton was the most effective rusher for Hamilton with 11 carries for 86 yards in a losing effort.

Montreal Alouettes

After becoming a

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 ...

, Sutton signed with the

on February 19, 2020. He announced his retirement on March 11, 2021.

CFL statistics

References

2006 Northwestern Football Final Notes & Season Wrapup

External links

Montreal Alouettes bio

Carolina Panthers bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sutton, Tyrell 1986 births Living people American football running backs Canadian football running backs American players of Canadian football BC Lions players Carolina Panthers players Montreal Alouettes players Northwestern Wildcats football players Players of American football from Akron, Ohio Seattle Seahawks players Green Bay Packers players Hamilton Tiger-Cats players