Jimmy Kennedy (American football)

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Jimmy Kennedy
No. 73
Position: Defensive tackle
Personal information
Date of birth: (1979-11-15) November 15, 1979 (age 44)
Place of birth: Yonkers, New York
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Career information
College: Penn State
NFL draft: 2003 / Round: 1 / Pick: 12
Career history
 * Offseason and/or practice squad member only
Career highlights and awards
Career NFL statistics as of Week 13, 2011
Tackles: 129
Sacks: 8.5
Forced fumbles: 1
Player stats at NFL.com

Jimmy Wayne Kennedy (born November 15, 1979) is a former American football defensive tackle. He was drafted by the St. Louis Rams 12th overall in the 2003 NFL Draft. He played college football at Penn State. Kennedy has also been a member of the Denver Broncos, Chicago Bears, Jacksonville Jaguars, Minnesota Vikings, and New York Giants.

Early years

Kennedy attended Roosevelt High School in Yonkers, where he was a three-year starter on both offense and defense. Under Coach Tony DeMatteo, Kennedy earned All-American, All-city, All-conference, All-state, and team MVP honors. He also won a local High School Heisman trophy sponsored by the Downtown Athletic Club. In Kennedy's junior season, Roosevelt High was 12–0 and won the state championship. In his three years as a starter the team was 30–3. After his senior season of 1998 Kennedy played in the Governor's Bowl, in which the best prep players of New York played the best high school players in New Jersey.

College career

A four-year starter at Penn State University, Kennedy was named the 2002 Big Ten Defensive Lineman-of-the-Year and was a two-time first-team All-Big Ten selection. A semi-finalist for the Lombardi Award, Kennedy finished his career with 213 tackles, 14 sacks, and 39 tackles-for-loss. He earned a Bachelor of Science in rehabilitation services in 2002.

In his freshman season Kennedy played in 12 games, starting 6, and recorded 33 tackles and batted away 4 passes. In 2000, as a sophomore, Kennedy started all 11 games for Penn State and recorded 42 tackles and 6 sacks. As a junior, in 2001, he made 51 tackles and logged 1.5 sacks and was voted All-Big Ten for the first time.

As a senior in 2002 Kennedy was named a First-team All-America by The Sporting News, and Walter Camp Football Foundation, The NFL Draft Report, and third-team honors from the Associated Press. He recorded 87 tackles, 5.5 sacks and batted away 3 passes in 2002.

Professional career

Pre-draft

Pre-draft measurables
Ht Wt 40-yd dash 10-yd split 20-yd split 20-ss 3-cone Vert Broad BP Wonderlic
6 ft 4 in 323 lb 5.2 s 4.72 s 8.06 s 30 in 8 ft 3 in 23 reps 20
All values from Penn State Pro Day except Wonderlic (NFL Combine)[1]

St. Louis Rams

The 6'4", 320 lb. defensive tackle was the first round pick (#12 overall) of the St. Louis Rams in the 2003 NFL Draft. On July 30, 2003, Kennedy signed a 5-year $9 million contract that included a $5 million signing bonus. [2] With two defensive tackles, Ryan Pickett and Damione Lewis, taken in 2001, Kennedy played 13 games but did not make a start his rookie season, and made only 1 tackle, 1 assist, and 1 pass batted.

The following year, Kennedy played in the final 9 games of the season, starting 5 of them. During this time, he posted 16 tackles and one pass defensed. Kennedy started both postseason games where he registered nine tackles and one sack. On January 8, 2005 he recorded two tackles and one sack. He tracked down Matt Hasselbeck for a six-yard loss in the last minute of the fourth quarter of the Rams’ 27–20 win.

By 2005, Kennedy had earned a spot as the Rams' nose tackle, played in 15 games and started the first 9 games of the season. With a chance to finally play, Kennedy made a respectable 33 tackles, 3 sacks, and 1 forced fumble. On September 18, 2005, he posted four tackles with two sacks of Kurt Warner along with first career forced fumble.

In 2006 Kennedy started all 16 games at nose tackle for the Rams for the first time in his career and recorded 39 tackles, one sack, one pass defensed, one forced fumble and two fumble recoveries

Denver Broncos

Kennedy was traded to the Denver Broncos on June 8, 2007, for a 6th round pick in the 2008 NFL Draft. On September 1, 2007, the Broncos released him.

Chicago Bears

On December 11, 2007 the Chicago Bears signed Kennedy and he played in the final three games of the 2007 season, making three tackles. The Bears declined to match the Jacksonville Jaguars's offer to Kennedy in the offseason.[3]

Jacksonville Jaguars

Kennedy signed a one-year, $655,000 contract with the Jacksonville Jaguars on March 4, 2008.[3] He played six games with the Jaguars, making 5 tackles and a sack before being waived mid-season on November 24, 2008.[4]

Minnesota Vikings

The Minnesota Vikings signed Kennedy on December 3, 2008, to help fill the void created when Pro Bowl defensive tackles Pat Williams and Kevin Williams were suspended, but the NFL could not enforce their punishment after local judges stalled the matter indefinitely.[5] He had a solid year as the backup in the 2009 season recording 3 sacks in limited playing time. He became a free agent at the conclusion of the 2008 and 2009 season, but was re-signed both years. On July 28, 2011, he was released.[6]

New York Giants

The New York Giants signed Kennedy on August 23, 2011. After recording four tackles in the first five weeks of the season, Kennedy was suspended four games for violating the league's policy on performance-enhancing drugs on October 11.[7] He became a free agent after the season.

NFL stats

Year Team GP COMB TOTAL AST SACK FF FR FR YDS INT IR YDS AVG IR LNG TD PD
2003 STL 13 2 1 1 0.0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
2004 STL 9 16 13 3 0.0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
2005 STL 15 33 23 10 3.0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3
2006 STL 16 39 30 9 1.0 0 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 1
2007 CHI 3 2 0 2 0.0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
2008 JAX 6 6 5 1 1.0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
2008 MIN 2 1 1 0 0.0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
2009 MIN 13 18 15 3 3.0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1
2010 MIN 9 8 5 3 0.5 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
2011 NYG 6 4 2 2 0.0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Career 92 129 95 34 8.5 1 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 5

[8]

Key

  • GP: games played
  • COMB: combined tackles
  • TOTAL: total tackles
  • AST: assisted tackles
  • SACK: sacks
  • FF: forced fumbles
  • FR: fumble recoveries
  • FR YDS: fumble return yards
  • INT: interceptions
  • IR YDS: interception return yards
  • AVG IR: average interception return
  • LNG: longest interception return
  • TD: interceptions returned for touchdown
  • PD: passes defensed

References

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  2. Footballs Future.com
  3. 3.0 3.1 Rotoworld.com
  4. http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/players/profile?playerId=4470
  5. http://www.vikings.com/NewsArticle_signkennedy120308.aspx
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External links