Akeem Christopher Ayers (born July 10, 1989) is an American former professional football player who was a linebacker in the National Football League (NFL). He played college football for the UCLA Bruins, earning second-team All-American honors in 2010. Ayers was selected by the Tennessee Titans in the second round of the 2011 NFL draft. He has also played for the New England Patriots, St. Louis Rams, Indianapolis Colts, New York Giants. He won Super Bowl XLIX with the Patriots.
 Ayers with the Colts in 2016 | |||||||||||||||
| No. 56, 55, 48 | |||||||||||||||
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| Position: | Linebacker | ||||||||||||||
| Personal information | |||||||||||||||
| Born: | July 10, 1989 Los Angeles, California, U.S. | ||||||||||||||
| Height: | 6 ft 3 in (1.91 m) | ||||||||||||||
| Weight: | 247 lb (112 kg) | ||||||||||||||
| Career information | |||||||||||||||
| High school: | Verbum Dei (Los Angeles) | ||||||||||||||
| College: | UCLA | ||||||||||||||
| NFL draft: | 2011 / round: 2 / pick: 39 | ||||||||||||||
| Career history | |||||||||||||||
| Career highlights and awards | |||||||||||||||
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| Career NFL statistics | |||||||||||||||
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Early life
editAyers attended Verbum Dei High School in Los Angeles, where he played for the Verbum Dei Eagles high school football team. He won a CIF championship during his senior season.
College career
editAyers played for UCLA in college. Ayers is known for his athletic interceptions for touchdowns, one in the 2009 season against Oregon and one against Temple in the 2009 EagleBank Bowl. The latter was the game-winning score of the bowl game and helped him earn MVP honors.[1] In a post-game interview, he admitted that he slipped, and was just trying to rush the passer on his game-changing play. As he got up, he saw the quarterback looking to pass, jumped up, and pulled in the pass for an interception and score.
On September 18, 2010, Ayers had a key interception against #23 Houston in UCLA's first win against a ranked opponent since 2008.[2] The following week on September 25, he played a key role in the Bruins' second upset against a ranked opponent in a victory over No. 7 ranked Texas Longhorns 34–12 in front of more 101,000 fans in Austin, Texas. Ayers had a key interception, seven tackles, a forced fumble, and a sack. He was named Lott IMPACT Player of the Week on September 27. At the end of the 2010 season, his junior year, he entered for the NFL draft.[3]
College statistics
edit| Year | Total Tackles | Solo Tackles | Sacks | Tackles for Loss | Interceptions | DefTD |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | 40 | 28 | 4.0 | 5.0 | 0 | 0 |
| 2009 | 75 | 55 | 6 | 13.0 | 4 | 3* |
| 2010 | 68 | 45 | 4 | 10 | 2 | 0 |
| TOTALS | 183 | 128 | 13 | 29.5 | 6 | 3 |
*Had two interceptions for touchdown and one fumble recovery for touchdown
Professional career
edit| Height | Weight | Arm length | Hand span | 40-yard dash | 10-yard split | 20-yard split | 20-yard shuttle | Three-cone drill | Vertical jump | Broad jump | Bench press | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 6 ft 2+1⁄2 in (1.89 m) |
254 lb (115 kg) |
33 in (0.84 m) |
9 in (0.23 m) |
4.70 s | 1.62 s | 2.83 s | 4.28 s | 7.19 s | 34+1⁄2 in (0.88 m) |
9 ft 5 in (2.87 m) |
22 reps | |
| All values from UCLA Pro Day[4] | ||||||||||||
Tennessee Titans
editAyers was selected 39th overall by the Tennessee Titans in the 2011 NFL draft.[5][6]
New England Patriots
editOn October 21, 2014, the Titans traded Ayers along with a seventh round draft pick in the 2015 NFL draft to the New England Patriots for a sixth round draft choice.[7] In each of his first two games with New England, Ayers recorded a sack.
Ayers won Super Bowl XLIX with the Patriots after they defeated the Seattle Seahawks 28-24.
St. Louis Rams
edit
On March 12, 2015, Ayers signed a two-year contract with the St. Louis Rams.[8] On September 3, 2016, he was released by the Rams as part of final roster cuts.[9]
Indianapolis Colts
editAyers signed a two-year contract with the Indianapolis Colts on September 6, 2016.[10] On September 2, 2017, Ayers was released during final roster cuts.[11]
New York Giants
editOn November 14, 2017, Ayers signed with the New York Giants.[12]
NFL career statistics
edit| Legend | |
|---|---|
| Bold | Career high |
Regular season
edit| Year | Team | Games | Tackles | Interceptions | Fumbles | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| GP | GS | Cmb | Solo | Ast | Sck | TFL | Int | Yds | TD | Lng | PD | FF | FR | Yds | TD | ||
| 2011 | TEN | 16 | 16 | 76 | 50 | 26 | 2.0 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| 2012 | TEN | 16 | 13 | 104 | 66 | 38 | 6.0 | 8 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 8 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 2013 | TEN | 16 | 14 | 49 | 37 | 12 | 1.0 | 5 | 1 | 5 | 0 | 5 | 5 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 2014 | TEN | 2 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 0.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| NWE | 9 | 4 | 20 | 16 | 4 | 4.0 | 6 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| 2015 | STL | 16 | 10 | 47 | 35 | 12 | 0.5 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 1 | 3 | 45 | 1 |
| 2016 | IND | 16 | 0 | 21 | 14 | 7 | 2.0 | 1 | 1 | 25 | 0 | 25 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 2017 | NYG | 6 | 0 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 97 | 57 | 323 | 221 | 102 | 15.5 | 29 | 4 | 32 | 0 | 25 | 22 | 4 | 4 | 45 | 1 | ||
Playoffs
edit| Year | Team | Games | Tackles | Interceptions | Fumbles | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| GP | GS | Cmb | Solo | Ast | Sck | TFL | Int | Yds | TD | Lng | PD | FF | FR | Yds | TD | ||
| 2014 | NWE | 3 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 3 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||
References
edit- ^ "UCLA at Temple | 2009-12-29 | College Football | Yahoo! Sports". sports.yahoo.com. Archived from the original on April 26, 2014.
- ^ "UCLA-Houston Game Notes". September 18, 2010. Retrieved September 28, 2010.
- ^ "Akeem Ayers Stats, News and Video - LB". NFL.com.
- ^ "Akeen Ayers". NFL.com. Archived from the original on September 6, 2015. Retrieved May 9, 2014.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link) - ^ "2011 NFL Draft Listing". Pro-Football-Reference.com. Retrieved February 26, 2019.
- ^ Tennessee Titans select Akeem Ayers
- ^ Patra, Kevin (October 21, 2014). "Titans trade linebacker Akeem Ayers to Patriots". NFL.com. Retrieved October 21, 2014.
- ^ Former Patriot Akeem Ayers Signs Two-Year Contract With Rams
- ^ "Rams Make 53-Man Roster Decisions". TheRams.com. September 3, 2016. Archived from the original on August 31, 2017.
- ^ "Veteran Linebacker Akeem Ayers Joins Colts". Archived from the original on September 9, 2016. Retrieved September 7, 2016.
- ^ Walker, Andrew (September 2, 2017). "Colts Announce Final 2017 Roster Cuts". Colts.com. Archived from the original on September 6, 2017. Retrieved September 8, 2017.
- ^ Eisen, Michael (November 14, 2017). "Giants roster moves: Keenan Robinson placed on IR; Three players signed". Giants.com. Archived from the original on November 17, 2017. Retrieved November 15, 2017.
External links
edit- Career statistics from NFL.com · ESPN · Pro Football Reference
- Los Angeles Rams bio
- Tennessee Titans bio
- UCLA Bruins bio