Reggie Rogers

Reggie Rogers
No. 60, 77, 75, 90
Position:Defensive tackle
Personal information
Born:(1964-01-21)January 21, 1964
Sacramento, California, U.S.
Died:October 24, 2013(2013-10-24) (aged 49)
Seattle, Washington, U.S.
Height:6 ft 6 in (1.98 m)
Weight:278 lb (126 kg)
Career information
High school:Norte Del Rio (Sacramento)
College:Washington
NFL draft:1987 / round: 1 / pick: 7
Career history
Career highlights and awards
Career NFL statistics
Sacks:2.0
Stats at Pro Football Reference

Reginald O'Keith Rogers (January 21, 1964 – October 24, 2013) was an American professional football player who was a defensive tackle who played four seasons in the National Football League (NFL) for the Detroit Lions (1987–1988), Buffalo Bills (1991), and Tampa Bay Buccaneers (1992).

A consensus All-American for the Washington Huskies in Seattle under head coach Don James, Rogers was chosen seventh overall in the 1987 NFL draft by the Lions.[1] However, he only played six games of his rookie season due to a slew of emotional problems, even spending time in a counseling center.[2] His second season in 1988 ended after only five games when his car struck another vehicle and killed three teenagers early on Thursday, October 20.[3][4][5] He was later found to have a blood alcohol content of 0.15, the legal limit in Michigan being 0.10 at the time.[6] The Lions waived him in July 1989, not because of the felony charges, but because he broke his neck in the collision.[7] In 1990, he was convicted of vehicular homicide and spent 13 months in prison.[6]

Following his sentence, Rogers had brief stints with Buffalo and Tampa Bay, but was out the NFL after the 1992 season. He made his way to the Canadian Football League and played for the Hamilton Tiger-Cats (1993–94) and one of the U.S. expansion teams, the Shreveport Pirates (1995). He played 33 games in the CFL and accumulated 18 sacks and 91 tackles in three-down football.

Rogers is often considered among the biggest draft busts in NFL history. In 2008, ESPN named him the 13th-biggest bust since the AFL-NFL merger.[8] A year earlier, Yahoo! Sports named him the worst #7 pick since the merger.[9]

On November 26, 2008, Rogers was involved in a hit-and-run collision in Tukwila that resulted in his arrest and a charge of DUI. It was his fifth arrest for DUI in the state of Washington, dating back to his college days at UW.[10]

Rogers also played three seasons for the Husky basketball team under head coach Marv Harshman.[11]

  1. ^ "1987 NFL Draft Listing". Pro-Football-Reference.com. Retrieved September 24, 2023.
  2. ^ Woes pile up for Lions' Rogers. Chicago Sun-Times, 1987-11-15.
  3. ^ "Reggie Rogers charged in crash". Milwaukee Sentinel. Associated Press. October 22, 1988. p. 4, part 2.[permanent dead link]
  4. ^ "Police wait for arrest of Rogers". Eugene Register-Guard. (Oregon). Associated Press. October 22, 1988. p. 9C.
  5. ^ Wojciechowski, Gene (December 4, 1988). "One more nightmare: Reggie Rogers, haunted by the past, faces an uncertain future". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved August 16, 2019.
  6. ^ a b Former Lion sentenced. The New York Times, 1990-01-17
  7. ^ HighBeam
  8. ^ ESPN - Phillips couldn't outrun off-the-field troubles - NFL
  9. ^ Robinson, Charles (April 24, 2007). "Worst all-time first-round picks - Yahoo Sports". Sports.yahoo.com. Retrieved October 25, 2013.
  10. ^ Jon Nait (December 2, 2008). "Former UW football star charged in DUI case". seattlepi.com. Retrieved October 25, 2013.
  11. ^ "Switching uniforms". Eugene Register-Guard. (Oregon). news services. November 28, 1984. p. 2C.