Derrick Willies
![]() Willies with the Cleveland Browns in 2018 | |||||
No. 16, 84 | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Position: | Wide receiver | ||||
Personal information | |||||
Born: | Banning, California, U.S. | October 17, 1994||||
Height: | 6 ft 4 in (1.93 m) | ||||
Weight: | 207 lb (94 kg) | ||||
Career information | |||||
High school: | Rock Island (Rock Island, Illinois) | ||||
College: | Texas Tech | ||||
Undrafted: | 2018 | ||||
Career history | |||||
Career NFL statistics | |||||
| |||||
Derrick Willies (born October 17, 1994) is a former American football wide receiver. He played college football at Texas Tech and played professionally for the Cleveland Browns of the National Football League (NFL).
Early life
[edit]Willies attended and played high school football and ran track at Burlington High School in Iowa before transferring Rock Island High School during his junior year and was named all-state at both schools. In track, Willies won the Illinois Class 3A state championship in the 110-meter hurdles.[1]
College career
[edit]Willies began his college career at the University of Iowa. After sitting out his first year, Willies had 4 catches for 71 yards and a touchdown as a redshirt freshman before leaving the team in late October.[2] Willies transferred to Trinity Valley Community College where he was a first-team Junior College Athletic Association All-American and subsequently transferred to Texas Tech.[3] Willies caught 36 passes for 592 yards and five touchdowns over two seasons with the Red Raiders.[4]
Professional career
[edit]Cleveland Browns
[edit]Willies was signed by the Cleveland Browns as an undrafted free agent on May 4, 2018.[5] Willies made the Browns 53-man roster and made his NFL debut on September 9, 2018, during the team's season opener against the Pittsburgh Steelers.[6] On October 7 against the Baltimore Ravens, Willies caught his first career NFL pass, a 13-yard reception, and had a pivotal 39-yard reception in overtime to set up the Browns' game-winning field goal.[7][8] After fracturing his collarbone during practice on October 12, Willies was placed on injured reserve on October 13, 2018.[9]
On August 31, 2019, Willies was waived by the Browns and was signed to the practice squad the next day.[10][11] His practice squad contract with the team expired on January 6, 2020,[12] and he was not invited to training camp by any team.
Willies was re-signed to the Browns' practice squad on November 17, 2020.[13] He was elevated to the active roster on December 26 for the team's week 16 game against the New York Jets, and reverted to the practice squad after the game.[14]
Willies was signed to a reserve/futures contract by the Browns on January 18, 2021.[15] The Browns placed Willies on the reserve/retired list on July 30, 2021.[16] He was waived from the reserve/retired list on February 17, 2022.[17]
Tampa Bay Bandits
[edit]Willies was selected in the 14th round of the 2022 USFL draft by the Tampa Bay Bandits.[18] He was transferred to the team's inactive roster on April 22, 2022.[19] He was moved to the inactive roster again on May 11.[20] He was moved back to the active roster on May 20.[21]
NFL statistics
[edit]Year | Team | Games | Receiving | Fumbles | |||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
GP | GS | Tgt | Rec | Pct | Yds | TD | 1D | Fum | Lost | ||
2018 | CLE | 5 | 0 | 5 | 3 | 60% | 61 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 0 |
2020 | CLE | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Career | 6 | 0 | 5 | 3 | 60% | 61 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 0 |
References
[edit]- ^ Batterson, Steve (May 6, 2018). "RI grad Willies gets a shot with Browns". Dispatch-Argus-QCOnline. Retrieved October 30, 2018.
- ^ Morehouse, Marc (October 27, 2018). "Willies announces transfer on Instagram". The Gazette. Retrieved October 7, 2018.
- ^ Caplan, Jeff (March 28, 2016). "Transfer receiver Derrick Willies is giving Texas Tech high hopes". Fort Worth Star-Telegram. Retrieved October 7, 2018.
- ^ Levins, Matt (April 30, 2018). "Willies signs with Cleveland". The Hawk Eye. Retrieved October 7, 2018.
- ^ "Browns sign 13 undrafted free agents". ClevelandBrowns.com. May 4, 2018. Archived from the original on May 5, 2018.
- ^ "Pittsburgh Steelers at Cleveland Browns – September 9th, 2018-Snap counts". Pro-Football-Reference.com. Retrieved October 8, 2018.
- ^ "Ravens vs. Browns:Play-by-Play". ESPN.com. Retrieved October 7, 2018.
- ^ McDonald, Charles (October 7, 2018). "The Browns finally won a Sunday game, but not without plenty of drama". SB Nation. Retrieved October 3, 2019.
- ^ "Browns sign WR Breshad Perriman, place Derrick Willies on IR, make other roster moves". ClevelandBrowns.com. October 13, 2018.
- ^ "Browns cut roster to 53 players". ClevelandBrowns.com. August 31, 2019.
- ^ "Browns announce nine additions to practice squad". ClevelandBrowns.com. September 1, 2019. Archived from the original on September 3, 2019. Retrieved September 4, 2019.
- ^ @HBalzer721 (January 7, 2020). "Browns practice-squad contracts expired Monday: DB Tigie Sankoh; WR Derrick Willies" (Tweet). Retrieved January 9, 2020 – via Twitter.
- ^ Smith, Pete (November 17, 2020). "Browns Sign WR Derrick Willies to Practice Squad". SI.com. Retrieved November 17, 2020.
- ^ "Browns place 5 on COVID-19 list". ClevelandBrowns.com. December 26, 2020.
- ^ "Browns sign 14 players". ClevelandBrowns.com. January 18, 2021.
- ^ "Browns place WR Derrick Willies on Reserve/Retired list". WEWS. July 30, 2021. Retrieved July 31, 2021.
- ^ Mueller, Jared (February 17, 2022). "Browns waive WR Derrick Willies along with other smaller NFL moves". Browns Wire. USA Today. Retrieved February 23, 2022.
- ^ Camenker, Jacob (February 23, 2022). "USFL rosters 2022: Complete draft results, team-by-team picks for new football league". The Sporting News. Retrieved March 5, 2022.
- ^ @USFLBandits (April 22, 2022). "Roster Updates" (Tweet). Retrieved April 23, 2022 – via Twitter.
- ^ @USFLBandits (May 11, 2022). "Transferred to inactive roster" (Tweet). Retrieved May 12, 2022 – via Twitter.
- ^ @USFLBandits (May 20, 2022). "Roster Updates" (Tweet). Retrieved May 24, 2022 – via Twitter.
External links
[edit]![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/4/4a/Commons-logo.svg/30px-Commons-logo.svg.png)
- 1994 births
- Living people
- American football wide receivers
- Cleveland Browns players
- Iowa Hawkeyes football players
- Sportspeople from Rock Island, Illinois
- Players of American football from San Bernardino, California
- Texas Tech Red Raiders football players
- Trinity Valley Cardinals football players
- Tampa Bay Bandits (2022) players