Tyron Vrede (born 18 September 1996) is a Dutch professional

gridiron football Gridiron football ( ),"Gridiron football"
''Encyclopædia Britannica'' ...

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 ...

for 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 ...

(CFL). He was the tenth overall pick by the Redblacks in the

2021 CFL Global Draft The 2021 CFL global draft took place on April 15, 2021 and was the first CFL draft that pooled all of the global players together after previously having separate drafts for Mexican players and European players in 2019. 36 players were chosen f ...

Early life

Vrede grew up playing

association football Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 Football player, players who almost exclusively use their feet to propel a Ball (association football), ball around a rectangular f ...

in his hometown of

Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , ; ; ) is the capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, largest city of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. It has a population of 933,680 in June 2024 within the city proper, 1,457,018 in the City Re ...

, describing himself as a physical player, but got interested in

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 ...

after he was gifted a copy of the video game Madden 2000 for the

PlayStation is a video gaming brand owned and produced by Sony Interactive Entertainment (SIE), a division of Japanese conglomerate Sony. Its flagship products consists of a series of home video game consoles produced under the brand; it also consists ...

. Since the Netherlands does not allow kids to play tackle football until they are 17, he played

flag football Flag football is a variant of gridiron football (American football or Canadian football depending on location) where, instead of Tackle (football move)#Gridiron football, tackling players to the ground, the defensive team must remove a flag or ...

for a few months before he could join a full-contact team. However, with no exposure to international recruiters, Vrede did not receive any offers to play

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 ...

after graduating from high school. Over the next two years, he carried luggage at an Amsterdam airport, coached flag football, and managed a gym to make enough money for a potential move to the United States. Vrede played with the

Amsterdam Crusaders The Amsterdam Crusaders are an American football club from Amsterdam, Netherlands founded in 1984. Together with the Rotterdam Trojans and Alphen Eagles, the Amsterdam Crusaders are the oldest surviving Dutch American Football club. Beginnings ...

in his hometown, even serving as the team's

placekicker In gridiron football, the placekicker (PK), or simply kicker (K), is the player responsible for attempts at scoring Field goal (football), field goals and extra points. In most cases, the placekicker also serves as the team's kickoff specialist ...

. He played in the EFL Bowl in 2016, which they lost to the

Frankfurt Universe The Frankfurt Universe, which is part of AFC Universe Frankfurt, are a German American football team from Frankfurt, Hesse. The club, formed in 2007, won promotion to the German Football League 2, the second tier of league football in Germany, ...

. Vrede was also called up to the Dutch junior national teams on several occasions. He was eventually selected to play in the

International Bowl The International Bowl was a National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) collegiate American football bowl game played in Toronto from 2007 through 2010. During its run, it was the only post-season bowl game played outside the United States ...

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Arlington, Texas Arlington is a city in Tarrant County, Texas, Tarrant County, Texas, United States. It is part of the Mid-Cities region of the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, Dallas–Fort Worth–Arlington metropolitan statistical area, and is a principal c ...

, representing Team World against Team USA under-19s. "That's when I knew I could play at an American level," Vrede said of the experience. He began sending his highlight film to American

junior college A junior college is a type of post-secondary institution that offers vocational and academic training that is designed to prepare students for either skilled trades and technical occupations or support roles in professions such as engineering, a ...

s and attended football camps in Germany to attract attention from coaches.

College career

Vrede enrolled at

West Hills College Coalinga Coalinga College, formerly West Hills College Coalinga, is a public community college in Coalinga, California, with a satellite facility in Firebaugh. Both locations serve students in the central San Joaquin Valley. Established in 1932, Coaling ...

with the help of fellow Amsterdam native Dylan Bakker, who had played at West Hills and

North Dakota North Dakota ( ) is a U.S. state in the Upper Midwest, named after the indigenous Dakota people, Dakota and Sioux peoples. It is bordered by the Canadian provinces of Saskatchewan and Manitoba to the north and by the U.S. states of Minneso ...

. As a freshman, Vrede recorded 36

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 five

pass breakups In American football, a pass deflected, also known as a pass deflection, a pass defended, a pass , a pass knockdown, or a pass breakup, is an incomplete pass that is caused by a defensive player. This is done by slapping or blocking the ball with ...

in nine games at

defensive back In gridiron football, defensive backs (DBs), also called the secondary, are the players on the defensive side of the ball who play farthest back from the line of scrimmage. They are distinguished from the other two sets of defensive players, the ...

. He also helped the Falcons upset an unbeaten

Shasta College Shasta College is a public community college in Redding, California, with branch campuses in Burney, Weaverville, and Red Bluff. It was founded in 1950 and later moved to a much larger campus while the original campus became the new locatio ...

team in the 2016 American Division Bowl, tallying nine tackles in the 20–14 comeback victory. However, the coaching staff was fired in the offseason, leading Vrede to transfer to

Garden City Community College Garden City Community College (Garden City CC or GCCC) is a public community college in Garden City, Kansas. It was established in 1919 to provide a means for post-secondary education for area residents. The school initially shared facilities i ...

Garden City, Kansas Garden City is a city in and the county seat of Finney County, Kansas, United States. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population of the city was 28,151. The city is home to Garden City Community College and the Lee Richa ...

. Now listed as a

, he recorded 28 tackles, two sacks, and a forced fumble in his lone season with the Broncbusters. His performance helped him land a scholarship to play

NCAA Division I NCAA Division I (D-I) is the highest division of intercollegiate athletics sanctioned by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) in the United States, which accepts players globally. D-I schools include the major collegiate athlet ...

football at the

University of North Dakota The University of North Dakota (UND) is a Public university, public research university in Grand Forks, North Dakota, United States. It was established by the Dakota Territory, Dakota Territorial Assembly in 1883, six years before the establishm ...

. Vrede played in all 11 games for the Fighting Hawks during his junior year in

2018 Events January * January 1 – Bulgaria takes over the Presidency of the Council of the European Union, after the Estonian presidency. * January 4 – SPLM-IO rebels loyal to Chan Garang Lual start a raid against Juba, capital of ...

, logging 23 tackles, six tackles for loss and two sacks as a reserve linebacker. Because of differences between the Dutch and American education systems, he was originally labelled a senior throughout the season by the NCAA and was not cleared to play his actual senior year until spring break. In

2019 This was the year in which the first known human case of COVID-19 was documented, preceding COVID-19 pandemic, the pandemic which was declared by the World Health Organization the following year. Up to that point, 2019 had been described as ...

, Vrede played in all 12 games and recorded 33 tackles, four tackles for loss and 1.5 sacks. He tallied five tackles in their season opening win against

Drake Drake may refer to: Animals and creatures * A male duck * Drake (mythology), a term related to and often synonymous with dragon People and fictional characters * Drake (surname), a list of people and fictional characters with the family ...

. Vrede graduated

summa cum laude Latin honors are a system of Latin phrases used in some colleges and universities to indicate the level of distinction with which an academic degree has been earned. The system is primarily used in the United States. It is also used in some Sout ...

with a bachelor's degree in business administration in 2020.

Professional career

Vrede was selected by the

with the tenth overall pick in the

. Before the draft, JC Abbott of 3DownNation.com had rated him as the second-best linebacker available after

Les Maruo Les Maruo (, ''Maruo Resuri'', born February 14, 1996) is a Japanese professional gridiron football linebacker for the Ottawa Redblacks of the Canadian Football League (CFL). Early life Maruo attended Goddard High School in Wichita, Kansas. A ...

. Vrede signed with the Redblacks in late April, and officially made the roster after final cuts were announced a week before the start of the

2021 season 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number, numeral, and glyph. It is the first and smallest positive integer of the infinite sequence of natural numbers. This fundamental property has led to its unique uses in other fields, ranging from science to sp ...

. He recorded four special teams tackles in his first four games and finished the year third on the team with ten special teams tackles in 14 games played. He also broke into the defensive rotation towards the end of the season, where he recorded five defensive tackles. In

2022 The year began with another wave in the COVID-19 pandemic, with SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant, Omicron spreading rapidly and becoming the dominant variant of the SARS-CoV-2 virus worldwide. Tracking a decrease in cases and deaths, 2022 saw ...

, Vrede played in 12 regular season games where he recorded seven special teams tackles. At the start of the 2023 season, he played in the first four games where he had 18 defensive tackles, including a career-high 11 defensive tackles on July 8, 2023, against the

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 (CFL), East Division of the Canadian Football League (CFL). The Tiger-Cats play their home game ...

. He also recorded two special teams tackles in those games, but suffered a season-ending injury and was out for the remainder of the year. In

2024 The year saw the list of ongoing armed conflicts, continuation of major armed conflicts, including the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Myanmar civil war (2021–present), Myanmar civil war, the Sudanese civil war (2023–present), Sudane ...

, Vrede played in 10 regular season games where he had 16 defensive tackles, three special teams tackles, and one sack. He also played in the team's East Semi-Final loss to the

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

where he recorded two special teams tackles. After becoming a

free agent In professional sports, a free agent is a player or manager 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 a contract at present ...

in the following offseason, Vrede re-signed with the Redblacks to a one-year contract.

References

External links

North Dakota Fighting Hawks bio

Garden City Broncbusters bio

West Hills Falcons bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Vrede, Tyron Living people 1996 births Dutch players of American football Dutch players of Canadian football American football linebackers Canadian football linebackers West Hills Falcons football players Garden City Broncbusters football players North Dakota Fighting Hawks football players Ottawa Redblacks players Sportspeople from Amsterdam