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Chad Wheeler

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Chad Wheeler
refer to caption
Wheeler with the New York Giants in 2017
No. 63, 75
Position:Offensive tackle
Personal information
Born: (1994-01-19) January 19, 1994 (age 30)
Santa Monica, California, U.S.
Height:6 ft 7 in (2.01 m)
Weight:318 lb (144 kg)
Career information
High school:Santa Monica
(Santa Monica, California)
College:USC
Undrafted:2017
Career history
Career highlights and awards
Career NFL statistics
Games played:32
Games started:19
Stats at Pro Football Reference

Chad Wheeler (born January 19, 1994) is a former American football offensive tackle. 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] In college, he suffered multiple concussions, a torn ACL, and a bout of plantar fasciitis. He was not drafted out of college due to injuries and off-the-field issues, was signed by the New York Giants as an undrafted free agent, and made his NFL debut in 2017. He played for the Seattle Seahawks from 2019 to 2020. He was waived from the team after being charged with three counts of felony domestic violence.[3]

Early years

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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.[4] He had a shoulder surgery in 2011, during his senior year.[5]

College career

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Wheeler committed to the University of Southern California (USC) to play college football.[6] He suffered multiple concussions throughout his college career and also had a torn right ACL in 2014 that ended his season, and a bout of plantar fasciitis in 2016 that caused him to miss two games.[7][5]

Professional career

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Pre-draft

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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 a 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.[8] 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 jump (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.[9] 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.

Pre-draft measurables
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 24 in
(0.61 m)		 8 ft 9 in
(2.67 m)		 15 reps
All values from NFL Combine/USC's Pro Day[10]

New York Giants

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Wheeler was not drafted out of college due to injuries and off-the-field issues.[5] 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.[11][12] As one of the top undrafted free agents, Wheeler received multiple offers and opted to sign with New York, who gave him one of the largest contracts among undrafted free agents.[13]

He competed with Adam Bisnowaty and Michael Bowie throughout training camp for the job as the backup offensive tackle.[14] Head coach Ben McAdoo named Wheeler the backup left tackle, behind Ereck Flowers, to begin the regular season.[15]

On October 1, 2017, Wheeler made his regular season debut in the Giants' 25–23 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.[16]

Wheeler entered the 2018 season as a backup tackle behind left tackle Nate Solder and right tackle Ereck Flowers. In Week 3, Wheeler was named the starting right tackle after struggles from Ereck Flowers, and remained there the rest of the season.[17]

Wheeler was waived/injured by the Giants during final roster cuts on August 31, 2019,[18] and reverted to the team's injured reserve list the next day. He was waived from injured reserve with an injury settlement on September 9.[19]

Seattle Seahawks

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On October 15, 2019, Wheeler was signed to the practice squad of the Seattle Seahawks.[20] He was promoted to the active roster on January 8, 2020.[21]

On September 5, 2020, Wheeler was waived by the Seahawks and signed to the practice squad the next day.[22][23] He was elevated to the active roster on September 12 and December 5 for the team's weeks 1 and 13 games against the Atlanta Falcons and New York Giants, and reverted to the practice squad after each game.[24][25] He was promoted to the active roster on December 12.[26] He was waived on January 27, 2021, after a domestic violence arrest.[27]

Personal life

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On December 19, 2015, Wheeler was involved in an incident on the USC campus. Los Angeles Police responded to a call at 8:45 AM at an apartment in South Los Angeles near the USC campus. The police arrived and a suspect, who was identified as Wheeler, was confronted by police who were concerned he might grab a weapon and got into an altercation with them that led the police to shoot him with multiple bean bag rounds, a type of non-lethal force.[28] Wheeler was detained by the police but not arrested, and was instead transported to a local hospital to be held under protective custody for a psychiatric evaluation.[29] As a result of the incident, Wheeler missed the Holiday Bowl.[5] Wheeler later apologized for the incident.[30]

On January 23, 2021, Wheeler was arrested in Kent, Washington, on domestic violence charges. He was charged with three counts of felony domestic violence and later released on $400,000 bail.[3][31] Wheeler said he would temporarily retire to "get his life together" after the incident.[32] He pleaded not guilty to the charges on February 1, 2021.[33]

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On November 9, 2023, Wheeler was found guilty of a domestic violence assault against his then-girlfriend by a jury in King County, Washington. He was sentenced to 6 1/2 years in prison.[34]

References

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  1. ^ "Pac-12 Football Awards And All-Conference Team Announced". Pac-12 Conference. November 29, 2016. Archived from the original on November 1, 2017. Retrieved April 4, 2017.
  2. ^ De Artola, Alicia (December 16, 2016). "USC Left Tackle Chad Wheeler Named First-team All-American". Fox Sports. Archived from the original on March 29, 2019. Retrieved February 19, 2021.
  3. ^ a b Condotta, Bob (January 27, 2021). "Seahawks waive Chad Wheeler as he is charged with three counts in felony domestic violence case". Seattle times. Archived from the original on January 27, 2021. Retrieved January 29, 2021.
  4. ^ "Chad Wheeler, New York Giants, Offensive Tackle". Archived from the original on September 17, 2017. Retrieved December 11, 2017.
  5. ^ a b c d Nawrocki, Nolan (April 2017). NFL Draft 2017 – Nolan Nawrocki – Google Books. ACTA Publications. ISBN 9780879466503. Archived from the original on October 26, 2023. Retrieved March 14, 2023.
  6. ^ McKinney, Erik (September 17, 2011). "Offensive lineman Chad Wheeler commits to USC". ESPN. Archived from the original on June 18, 2018. Retrieved February 19, 2021.
  7. ^ Richard Mejia (April 29, 2017). "2017 NFL Draft: Chad Wheeler gets snagged by the New York Giants". ninersnation.com. Archived from the original on November 7, 2017. Retrieved November 7, 2017.
  8. ^ "All 32 NFL teams represented at USC Pro Day". March 23, 2017. Archived from the original on November 7, 2017. Retrieved November 6, 2017.
  9. ^ "Chad Wheeler, DS #12 OT, Southern California". nfldraftscout.com. Archived from the original on November 7, 2017. Retrieved November 7, 2017.
  10. ^ "NFL Draft Profile: Chad Wheeler". NFL.com. Archived from the original on November 8, 2017. Retrieved November 7, 2017.
  11. ^ "Chad Wheeler contract". spotrac.com. Archived from the original on November 7, 2017. Retrieved November 7, 2017.
  12. ^ Salomone, Dan (May 11, 2017). "Complete guide to Giants' 2017 undrafted free agents". Giants.com. Archived from the original on March 25, 2018. Retrieved May 12, 2017.
  13. ^ Dan Schneider (May 9, 2017). "Chad Wheeler gets 1st-round grade from The Huddle Report". 247sports.com. Archived from the original on October 26, 2023. Retrieved November 7, 2017.
  14. ^ "Ourlads.com: New York Giants' depth chart: 08/01/2017". ourlads.com. Archived from the original on November 7, 2017. Retrieved November 7, 2017.
  15. ^ "New York Giants: Depth chart". foxsports.com. Archived from the original on November 8, 2017. Retrieved November 7, 2017.
  16. ^ "NFL Player Profile: Chad Wheeler". NFL.com. Archived from the original on November 7, 2017. Retrieved November 7, 2017.
  17. ^ Knoblauch, Austin (September 23, 2018). "Giants benching Ereck Flowers for Chad Wheeler". NFL.com. Archived from the original on October 18, 2018. Retrieved October 9, 2018.
  18. ^ Eisen, Michael (August 31, 2019). "New York Giants announce 53-man roster". Giants.com. Archived from the original on September 2, 2019. Retrieved September 4, 2019.
  19. ^ Ulrich, Logan (September 9, 2019). "Giants cut three from IR with settlements". NFL Trade Rumors. Archived from the original on August 4, 2020. Retrieved September 12, 2019.
  20. ^ Boyle, John (October 15, 2019). "Seahawks Make Practice Squad Moves, Including Addition Of TE Tyrone Swoopes & S Adrian Colbert". Seahawks.com. Archived from the original on October 16, 2019. Retrieved October 16, 2019.
  21. ^ Boyle, John (January 8, 2020). "Seahawks Promote OT Chad Wheeler From Practice Squad; Place Mychal Kendricks On Injured Reserve". Seahawks.com. Archived from the original on January 9, 2020. Retrieved January 9, 2020.
  22. ^ Boyle, John (September 5, 2020). "Seahawks Make Roster Moves To Establish Initial 53-Man Roster". Seahawks.com. Archived from the original on September 6, 2020. Retrieved September 9, 2020.
  23. ^ Boyle, John (September 6, 2020). "Seahawks Sign 14 Players to Practice Squad, Including LB Shaquem Griffin". Seahawks.com. Archived from the original on September 7, 2020. Retrieved September 9, 2020.
  24. ^ Williams, Charean (September 12, 2020). "Seahawks elevate Chad Wheeler from practice squad". NBCSports.com. Archived from the original on September 25, 2020. Retrieved October 1, 2020.
  25. ^ Boyle, John (December 5, 2020). "Seahawks CB Tre Flowers Placed On IR; OT Chad Wheeler Elevated From Practice Squad". Seahawks.com. Archived from the original on January 20, 2021. Retrieved January 14, 2021.
  26. ^ Mathews, Liz (December 12, 2020). "Seahawks sign Chad Wheeler off practice squad, elevate Ray-Ray Armstrong". USAToday.com. Archived from the original on January 26, 2021. Retrieved January 27, 2021.
  27. ^ Smith, Michael David (January 27, 2021). "Seahawks cut Chad Wheeler". NBCSports.com. Archived from the original on January 27, 2021. Retrieved January 27, 2021.
  28. ^ "Report: USC OT in protective custody for psychiatric evaluation after police altercation". December 19, 2015. Archived from the original on April 18, 2018. Retrieved February 19, 2021.
  29. ^ Emert, Jacob (December 19, 2015). "Southern Cal offensive lineman Chad Wheeler detained by police, under psychiatric evaluation". The Washington Post. Archived from the original on June 18, 2018. Retrieved February 19, 2021.
  30. ^ Andrew Blankstein (December 19, 2015). "USC Football Player Chad Wheeler Gets Into Scuffle With Police". nbcnews.com. Archived from the original on November 7, 2017. Retrieved November 7, 2017.
  31. ^ "OT Wheeler held on suspicion of domestic violence". ESPN.com. January 26, 2021. Archived from the original on January 26, 2021. Retrieved January 26, 2021.
  32. ^ "OT Wheeler charged in domestic violence case". ESPN.com. January 27, 2021. Archived from the original on January 31, 2021. Retrieved February 1, 2021.
  33. ^ Henderson, Brady (February 1, 2021). "Former Seattle Seahawks OT Chad Wheeler enters not guilty plea in domestic violence case". ESPN.com. Archived from the original on February 24, 2021. Retrieved March 3, 2021.
  34. ^ "Former NFL OL Chad Wheeler found guilty of domestic violence assault". NBC Sports. November 10, 2023. Retrieved November 10, 2023.
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