Tyrell Sutton

Tyrell Sutton
Born: (1986-12-19) December 19, 1986 (age 37)
Akron, Ohio, U.S.
Career information
CFL statusAmerican
Position(s)RB
Height5 ft 9 in (175 cm)
Weight190 lb (86 kg)
CollegeNorthwestern
Career history
As coach
2023Montreal Alouettes
(RB)
As player
2009Green Bay Packers*
2009–2011Carolina Panthers
2012Seattle Seahawks*
2012Sacramento Mountain Lions
2013–2018Montreal Alouettes
2018BC Lions
2019Toronto Argonauts
2019Hamilton Tiger-Cats
2020Montreal Alouettes*
*Offseason and/or practice squad member only
Career highlights and awards
CFL All-Star2015
CFL East All-Star2015
Career stats
Rushing attempts25
Rushing yards139
Receptions18
Receiving yards132

Tyrell DelShawn Sutton, (born December 19, 1986) is an American former professional gridiron football running back. He was signed by the Green Bay Packers as an undrafted free agent in 2009. He played college football at Northwestern. Sutton was also a member of the Carolina Panthers, Seattle Seahawks, Sacramento Mountain Lions, BC Lions, Toronto Argonauts, Hamilton Tiger-Cats, and Montreal Alouettes.

Early life

[edit]

Sutton is the son of Connie and Anthony Sutton Sr. His brother, Tony, played football at The College of Wooster.

Sutton attended Archbishop Hoban High. While attending, he rushed for 9,426 yards, an Ohio record. Also, his career high of 505 yards is the third most in Ohio history. Furthermore, Sutton broke the school rushing record three times.

Awards

College career

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While attending Northwestern University, he majored in Communications.

As a freshman, Sutton rushed for 1,474 yards and 16 touchdowns.[2] His rushing total was the third highest in Northwestern's history. He fell one game short of joining Emmitt Smith, Marshall Faulk, and Adrian Peterson as the only NCAA freshman players to achieve 1,000 yards in 7 games.[3] In addition to rushing, he caught 44 passes for 396 yards and 2 touchdowns. His freshman year awards included the Sporting News' Offensive Freshman of the Year and first-team Freshman All-American and Big Ten Freshman of the Year.

Although injured as a sophomore, he rushed for 1,000 yards and 5 touchdowns and caught 40 passes for 261 yards and 2 touchdowns. He was the team co-MVP and had an honorable mention at the All-Big Ten selection.

Because of a lower-leg injury early in his junior year, he played in only 5 games, and rushed for only 522 yards and 2 touchdowns, with 30 pass receptions for 282 yards.

As a senior, Sutton rushed for 776 yards and 6 touchdowns before a wrist injury sidelined him for the rest of the 2008 season. Sutton underwent surgery on October 28 and returned as the starting back for the Wildcats in the Alamo Bowl. He rushed for 114 yards in that game to bring his total to 890 yards. In addition, he caught 30 passes for 305 yards and 2 touchdowns.

Sutton concluded his career as the second all-time leading rusher at Northwestern with 3,886 yards, and second all-time with 5,138 all-purpose yards. Sutton is also the second player in Wildcat's history to achieve 1,000 receiving and rushing yards. Furthermore, his 149 receptions for 1,244 yards is the most for any back.[4]

Professional career

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Pre-draft

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Pre-draft measurables
Height Weight 40-yard dash 20-yard shuttle Three-cone drill Vertical jump Broad jump
5 ft 8 in
(1.73 m) 		211 lb
(96 kg) 		4.75 s 4.32 s 6.94 s 33 in
(0.84 m)		 9 ft 6 in
(2.90 m)
All values from NFL Combine[5]

Green Bay Packers

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Though he was invited to the NFL Combine, he was not drafted. On May 1, 2009, the Green Bay Packers signed him as an undrafted free agent. On September 5, 2009, he was released when the Packers trimmed their roster to 53 players.[6]

Carolina Panthers

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Although the Packers intended to re-sign Sutton to the practice squad if he cleared waivers, Sutton was claimed by the Carolina Panthers on September 6, 2009. Sutton played 16 games for Carolina over two seasons, and put up 139 yards on 25 carries for an impressive 5.6 average. He also returned kick-offs for the Panthers, but was cut from the team on September 3, 2011[7]

Seattle Seahawks

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On January 4, 2012, Sutton signed a reserve/future contract with the Seattle Seahawks. On August 26, 2012, the Seahawks released Sutton as they trimmed their roster from 90 to 75 players in preparation for the 2012 season.[8]

Montreal Alouettes

[edit]

Sutton signed with the Montreal Alouettes of the Canadian Football League, and began playing for them in August 2013, early in the 2013 CFL season. In his first season in the CFL Sutton played in 8 of the 18 regular season games, totaling 342 yards on 55 carries (6.3 yards per carry) with 3 rushing touchdowns: He also contributed 156 receiving yards. In the Al's only playoff game that year Sutton had a monster game, rushing for 142 yards on 21 carries. In the following season, Sutton played in 10 of the 18 regular season games for the Alouettes. His carries increased from 55 to 96, with 500 rushing yards, but his rushing averaged dipped to 5.2 yards per carry. Following the season Sutton and the Al's agreed to a 3-year contract extension.[9]

2015 was a breakout season for Tyrell Sutton as he eclipsed the 1000 yard mark (1,059) on 180 carries with 5 rushing touchdowns. His efforts were good enough to lead the league in rushing yards, edging out Andrew Harris by 20 yards. Sutton began the 2016 season as the team's leading rusher, but sustained an injury early in the season resulting in him being placed on the 6-game injured list.[10] He wound up only playing in seven games in 2016, rushing for 412 yards on 74 attempts (5.6 avg). Sutton played most of the 2017 season and regained his status as Montreal's number one running back, carrying the ball 152 times for 843 yards with 5 touchdowns. Following the season the team and Sutton agreed to a one-year extension.[11] In total, he played six seasons for the Alouettes (69 games) and recorded 643 carries for 3,573 rushing yards and 15 rushing touchdowns along with 173 receptions for 1,507 receiving yards and three receiving touchdowns.

BC Lions

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On September 25, 2018, Montreal traded Tyrell Sutton and the Alouettes' third-round draft pick in the 2019 CFL Draft for the BC Lions' second-round draft pick in the 2019 CFL draft.[12] This effectively demoted incumbent Jeremiah Johnson as Sutton took over as the lead back for the remaining 4 regular season games, and one playoff game.

Toronto Argonauts

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Sutton signed with the Toronto Argonauts for the 2019 season on the second day of free agency on February 13, 2019.[13] At the beginning of the season, he spent four weeks on the injured list before being released on July 10, 2019.[14]

Hamilton Tiger-Cats

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Sutton signed onto the Hamilton Tiger-Cats' practice roster on September 9, 2019.[15] During his four games played with Hamilton, Sutton managed to pass the 4,000 career rushing mark, and caught all 11 of his targets for 126 yards and a touchdown. In the playoffs, Sutton was the most effective rusher for Hamilton with 11 carries for 86 yards in a losing effort.

Montreal Alouettes (II)

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After becoming a free agent, Sutton signed with the Montreal Alouettes on February 19, 2020.[16] He announced his retirement on March 11, 2021.[17]

Coaching career

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On February 28, 2023, the Alouettes announced they had hired Sutton as their running backs coach for the 2023 season.[18] That year, the Alouettes finished with an 11–7 record and a victory in the 110th Grey Cup game, giving Sutton his first Grey Cup championship. However, he was not retained on the coaching staff for 2024.[19]

CFL statistics

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Year Team GP Carries Yards TDs Avg Long Rec Yards TDs
2013 MTL 12 55 342 3 6.2 20 14 156 0
2014 MTL 12 96 500 1 5.2 24 15 190 0
2015 MTL 15 180 1,059 5 5.9 54 43 334 2
2016 MTL 7 74 412 0 5.6 27 27 206 0
2017 MTL 14 152 843 5 5.5 43 44 312 1
2018 MTL 9 86 417 1 4.8 44 30 309 0
BC 4 55 268 2 4.9 31 5 32 0
2019 HAM 4 35 203 0 5.8 19 11 126 1
Total 77 733 4,044 17 5.5 54 189 1,665 4

References

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  1. ^ "NFL Events: Combine Player Profiles – Tyrell Sutton". NFL.com.
  2. ^ "Tyrell Sutton Bio – NFL Draft – ESPNDB".
  3. ^ "NU Sports". Archived from the original on August 21, 2009. Retrieved August 23, 2009.
  4. ^ Packers' Bio: Tyrell Sutton
  5. ^ "Tyrell Sutton Combine Profile". NFL.com. Retrieved September 9, 2019.
  6. ^ Packers released 18 players Archived 2009-09-09 at the Wayback Machine
  7. ^ "Panthers cut roster to 53, but more moves expected | CharlotteObserve…". www.charlotteobserver.com. Archived from the original on July 24, 2012. Retrieved February 3, 2022.
  8. ^ "Owens released by Seahawks". FOX Sports. August 26, 2012. Retrieved January 8, 2018.
  9. ^ Zurkowsky, Herb (December 9, 2014). "Tyrell Sutton re-signs for next 3 years with Als". Montreal Gazette. Retrieved December 31, 2014.
  10. ^ "SJ Green sidelined for the season; Sutton placed on six-game". CFL.ca. July 2, 2016. Retrieved July 4, 2016.
  11. ^ "Als sign versatile RB Sutton to one-year deal - Article - TSN". TSN. January 8, 2018. Retrieved January 8, 2018.
  12. ^ Lions acquire RB Tyrell Sutton in trade with Als
  13. ^ "Argos ink former Lion, Alouette RB Tyrell Sutton". February 13, 2019.
  14. ^ "Argos make roster moves". July 10, 2019.
  15. ^ TSN ca Staff (September 9, 2019). "Veteran running back Tyrell Sutton joins Hamilton Tiger-Cats - TSN.ca". TSN. Retrieved September 9, 2019.
  16. ^ "Tyrell Sutton is back in the nest". Montreal Alouettes. February 19, 2020.
  17. ^ "Hanging up the cleats: Tyrell Sutton retires from the CFL". CFL.ca. March 11, 2021. Retrieved March 11, 2021.
  18. ^ "Tyrell Sutton returns to Montreal Alouettes as running backs coach". TSN. The Canadian Press. February 28, 2023. Retrieved March 1, 2023.
  19. ^ "Back in 2024!". Montreal Alouettes. Retrieved December 21, 2023.

2006 Northwestern Football Final Notes & Season Wrapup Archived 2016-03-04 at the Wayback Machine

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