Patrick Jeffers
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| Position: | Fort Campbell, Kentucky, U.S. | ||||||||
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| High school: | Fort Worth (TX) Country Day | ||||||||
| College: | Virginia | ||||||||
| NFL draft: | 1996 / Round: 5 / Pick: 159 | ||||||||
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| Player stats at NFL.com · PFR | |||||||||
Patrick Christopher Jeffers (born February 2, 1973) is a former American football wide receiver in the National Football League (NFL) for the Denver Broncos, Dallas Cowboys, and Carolina Panthers. With the Broncos, he won Super Bowl XXXII over Brett Favre and the world champion Green Bay Packers. He played college football at the University of Virginia.
Early years
Jeffers attended
He was a two-time All-conference selection in
College career
Jeffers
As a sophomore, he played in the first 9 games (2 starts), before suffering a broken clavicle against Wake Forest University and missing 2 games. He led the team with 32 receptions for 580 yards and 6 touchdowns.
As a junior in 1994, he played in 11 games (4 starts), registering 33 receptions for 560 yards (17 yards avg.) and 3 touchdowns. His best game came against North Carolina State University, where he had 6 receptions for 153 yards, including a 52-yard touchdown.
As a senior, he missed 4 games with a hamstring injury, but still led the team with 34 receptions for 517 yards (15.2 yards avg.) and 3 touchdowns. At the time, he finished his college career with 108 receptions (fourth in school history) for 1,785 yards (fourth in school history) and 15 touchdowns. He also holds the school record for the longest streak of games with at least one reception (31).
Professional career
Denver Broncos
Jeffers was selected by the
The next year, he was the team's fourth
Dallas Cowboys
In 1998, Jeffers spent the first half of the season learning the Dallas Cowboys offense and playing mainly on the scout team. He appeared in 8 games, finishing with 18 receptions for 330 yards and 2 touchdowns.[4] He also led the team with 7 receptions for 92 yards, in the first-round playoff loss against the Arizona Cardinals.
He was declared a restricted free agent at the end of the season and although he was seen as a player on the rise, the Cowboys gambled and tendered him a qualifying offer at his original draft round. The Carolina Panthers signed him to a one-year offer sheet for a $1.2 million base salary,[5] that the Cowboys did not to match. The team received a fifth round pick as compensation, that was eventually used to trade up to select Ebenezer Ekuban.[6]
Carolina Panthers
Jeffers' new contract made him the highest paid wide receiver on the Carolina Panthers roster, but he still had to work his way into the starting lineup. He played in 15 games (10 starts) and had a breakout season, registering 63 receptions for 1,082 yards (17.2 yards avg.) and 12 touchdowns.
He finished strong, recording 5 straight 100-yard receiving games (two short of the
- 17.2 yards per reception average.
- 6 consecutive games with a touchdown reception.
- 12 touchdown receptions in a season (tied the team record).
- 88-yard reception against the Pittsburgh Steelers (second longest in team history)
- Teamed with Muhsin Muhammad (1,253 yards) to become the first tandem in Panthers history to each register 1,000 receiving yards in the same season.
On August 10, 2000, he was lost for the year after tearing his right anterior cruciate ligament, while playing in a preseason game against the Pittsburgh Steelers.[8] Besides repairing the ligament, he had additional procedures performed in both knees and although he was able to rehabilitate his right knee, the left one deteriorated until needing microfracture surgery.[9]
Jeffers returned in 2001 to play 9 games in a reserve role, but was not able to regain his previous form. He was released on August 23, 2002.[10]
Personal life
His sister is Allison Jeffers Dooley, who is married to
References
- ^ "1996 NFL Draft Listing". Pro-Football-Reference.com. Retrieved 2023-03-30.
- ^ "Time for guard to operate". Star-News. Retrieved February 19, 2018.
- ^ "NFL transactions". The Baltimore Sun. Retrieved February 19, 2018.
- NewspaperArchive.
- ^ "Leaf, slow to recover, placed on IR". The Spokesman-Review. Retrieved February 19, 2018.
- ^ "NFL". The Oklahoman. 13 April 1999. Retrieved February 19, 2018.
- ^ "Hot streak earns Jeffers big money". Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. Retrieved February 19, 2018.
- ^ "Panthers lose major part of high-powered passig game". Star-News. Retrieved February 19, 2018.
- ^ "Panthers' Jeffers has more surgery". Star-News. Retrieved February 19, 2018.
- ^ "Panthers release receiver Jeffers, 3 others". The Item. Retrieved February 19, 2018.
- ^ "Dooley Will Not Return As Vols' Head Coach". University of Tennessee. Retrieved February 19, 2018.