Chad Wheeler
 Wheeler with the Giants in 2017. | |
| No. 63 – New York Giants | |
|---|---|
| Position: | Offensive tackle |
| Personal information | |
| Born: | January 19, 1994 Santa Monica, California |
| Height: | 6 ft 7 in (2.01 m) |
| Weight: | 310 lb (141 kg) |
| Career information | |
| High school: | Santa Monica (CA) |
| College: | USC |
| Undrafted: | 2017 |
| Career history | |
| |
| Roster status: | Active |
| Career highlights and awards | |
| Career NFL statistics | |
| Player stats at NFL.com | |
Chad Wheeler (born January 19, 1994) is an American football offensive tackle for the New York Giants of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football for the USC Trojans football team from 2012 to 2016. At the end of the 2016 season, he was selected as a first-team All-Pac-12 player.[1] He was also chosen by Campus Insiders.[2]
Early years
Wheeler attended Santa Monica High School in Santa Monica, California. He played offensive tackle and defensive end. Wheeler was rated by Rivals.com as a three-star recruit and was ranked as the 114th offensive tackle in his class.[3] He committed to the University of Southern California (USC) to play college football.[4]
College career
Statistics
| Year | Team | G | GS | Special Team |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Blk | ||||
| 2013 | USC | 14 | 14 | 1 |
| 2014 | USC | 8 | 8 | 0 |
| 2015 | USC | 12 | 12 | 0 |
| 2016 | USC | 12 | 10 | 0 |
| Career | 46 | 44 | 1 | |
Source:[5]
Professional career
Coming out of USC, Wheeler received mixed draft projections from NFL draft experts and scouts. Some analysts projected him to be a fourth or seventh round pick, while others projected him to go undrafted and be signed immediately as an priority undrafted free agent. Wheeler received an invitation to the NFL combine and completed all of the required positional and combine drills. On March 22, 2017, he opted to participate at USC's Pro Day along with JuJu Smith-Schuster, Zach Banner, Justin Davis, Taylor McNamara, Stevie Tu'ikolovatu, Adoree Jackson, Leon McQuay III, Damien Mama, and six other prospects.[6] Team representatives and scouts from all 32 NFL teams attended as Wheeler opted to run all of his combine drills again. He was able to produce a better vertical (24"), 40-yard dash (5.28), and 20-yard dash (3.05). Wheeler was ranked the 12th best offensive tackle prospect in the draft by NFLDraftScout.com.[7] Wheeler was regarded as a top prospect based solely on talent, but received mid to late round draft grades due to his history of multiple injuries and off-field incidents. He suffered multiple concussions throughout his college career and also had a torn ACL and a bout of plantar fasciitis.[8]
| 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 7 in (2.01 m) |
306 lb (139 kg) |
33+1⁄8 in (0.84 m) |
9+1⁄2 in (0.24 m) |
5.42 s | 1.89 s | 3.14 s | 5.01 s | 7.95 s | 20+1⁄2 in (0.52 m) |
8 ft 9 in (2.67 m) |
15 reps | |
| All values from NFL Combine/USC's Pro Day[9] | ||||||||||||
On April 30, 2017, the New York Giants signed Wheeler as an undrafted free agent. He received a three-year, $1.68 million contract that includes $30,000 guaranteed and a signing bonus of $20,000.[10][11] As one of the top prized undrafted free agent, Wheeler received multiple offers and opted to sign with New York who gave him one of the largest contracts among undrafted free agent.[12]
He competed with Adam Bisnowaty and Michael Bowie throughout training camp for the job as the backup offensive tackle.[13] Head coach Ben McAdoo named Wheeler the backup left tackle, behind Ereck Flowers, to begin the regular season.[14]
On October 1, 2017, Wheeler made his regular season debut in the Giants' 23-25 loss to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. He earned his first career start against the Kansas City Chiefs in relief of injured Justin Pugh, and backup Bobby Hart. [15]
Personal life
On December 19, 2015, Wheeler was involved in an incident on the USC campus. Los Angeles Police responded to a call at 8:45AM at an apartment in South Los Angeles near the USC campus. The arrived and a suspect, who was identified as Chad Wheeler, was possibly under the influence of drugs and alcohol and was punching walls and windows on the apartment. After injuring his hand and running out of the apartment, Wheeler was confronted by police and got into an altercation that led to police shooting him with multiple bean bag rounds, a type of less-lethal force. Wheeler was not arrested and was instead transported to a local hospital to be held under protective custody for a psychiatric evaluation. His girlfriend and her seven-month old son were also present during the altercation. Wheeler later apologized for the incident.[16]
References
- ^ "Pac-12 Football Awards And All-Conference Team Announced". Pac-12 Conference. November 29, 2016. Retrieved April 4, 2017.
- ^ "USC Left Tackle Chad Wheeler Named First Team All-American". Fox Sports. December 16, 2016. Retrieved April 4, 2017.
- ^ [1]
- ^ Offensive lineman Chad Wheeler commits to USC
- ^ "Chad Wheeler". usctrojans.com. USC Trojans. Retrieved December 13, 2016.
- ^ Jennifer Lee Chan (March 23, 2017). "All 32 NFL teams represented at USC Pro Day". ninersnation.com. Retrieved November 6, 2017.
- ^ "Chad Wheeler, DS #12 OT, Southern California". nfldraftscout.com. Retrieved November 7, 2017.
- ^ Richard Mejia (April 29, 2017). "2017 NFL Draft: Chad Wheeler gets snagged by the New York Giants". ninersnation.com. Retrieved November 7, 2017.
- ^ "NFL Draft Profile: Chad Wheeler". NFL.com. Retrieved November 7, 2017.
- ^ "Spotrac.com: Chad Wheeler contract". spotrac.com. Retrieved November 7, 2017.
{{cite web}}: line feed character in|title=at position 13 (help) - ^ Salomone, Dan (May 11, 2017). "Complete guide to Giants' 2017 undrafted free agents". Giants.com.
- ^ Dan Schneider (May 9, 2017). "Chad Wheeler gets 1st-round grade from The Huddle Report". 247sports.com. Retrieved November 7, 2017.
- ^ "Ourlads.com: New York Giants' depth chart: 08/01/2017". ourlads.com. Retrieved November 7, 2017.
- ^ "New York Giants: Depth chart". foxsports.com. Retrieved November 7, 2017.
- ^ "NFL Player Profile: Chad Wheeler". NFL.com. Retrieved November 7, 2017.
- ^ Andrew Blankstein (December 19, 2015). "USC Football Player Chad Wheeler Gets Into Scuffle With Police". nbcnews.com. Retrieved November 7, 2017.
External links
- USC Trojans bio
Media related to Chad Wheeler at Wikimedia Commons
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