Professional Career
Stubblefield was drafted in the first round (26th overall) of the 1993 NFL Draft by the San Francisco 49ers. In his rookie year, Stubblefield led the 49ers with 10.5 sacks (making himself The NFL Defensive Rookie of the Year), and recorded 8.5 the following year. He appeared in the Pro Bowl in 1994 and 1995. The 1996 season was, by all counts, a failure for Stubblefield, but his 1997 season found him recording 15 sacks. He was rewarded for his efforts by being named 1997's NFL Defensive Player of the Year by the Associated Press.
After the 1997 season, he was granted unconditional free agency and signed with the Washington Redskins where his numbers greatly diminished despite the fact that he played opposite Dan Wilkinson, who often drew double-teams. He returned to San Francisco in 2001 and 2002, and played with the Oakland Raiders as a free agent in 2003. In 2004 he was signed by the New England Patriots, but he was injured and got released before the start of the season.
Read more about this topic: Dana Stubblefield
Famous quotes containing the words professional and/or career:
“Men seem more bound to the wheel of success than women do. That women are trained to get satisfaction from affiliation rather than achievement has tended to keep them from great achievement. But it has also freed them from unreasonable expectations about the satisfactions that professional achievement brings.”
—Phyllis Rose (b. 1942)
“Whether lawyer, politician or executive, the American who knows whats good for his career seeks an institutional rather than an individual identity. He becomes the man from NBC or IBM. The institutional imprint furnishes him with pension, meaning, proofs of existence. A man without a company name is a man without a country.”
—Lewis H. Lapham (b. 1935)