 | Thisbiography of a living personneeds additionalcitations forverification. Please help by addingreliable sources.Contentious material about living persons that is unsourced orpoorly sourcedmust be removed immediately from the article and its talk page, especially if potentiallylibelous. Find sources: "Adam Archuleta" – news ·newspapers ·books ·scholar ·JSTOR(October 2023) (Learn how and when to remove this message) |
 Archuleta in 2023 | |||||||||||||||
| No. 31, 40, 20 | |||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Position | Safety | ||||||||||||||
| Personal information | |||||||||||||||
| Born | (1977-11-27)November 27, 1977 (age 47) Rock Springs, Wyoming, U.S. | ||||||||||||||
| Height | 5 ft 11 in (1.80 m) | ||||||||||||||
| Weight | 215 lb (98 kg) | ||||||||||||||
| Career information | |||||||||||||||
| High school | Chandler (Chandler, Arizona) | ||||||||||||||
| College | Arizona State (1996–2000) | ||||||||||||||
| NFL draft | 2001: 1st round, 20th overall pick | ||||||||||||||
| Career history | |||||||||||||||
* Offseason and/or practice squad member only | |||||||||||||||
| Awards and highlights | |||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||
| Career NFL statistics | |||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||
Adam Jason Archuleta (born November 27, 1977) is an American former professionalfootball player who was asafety for seven seasons in theNational Football League (NFL). He playedcollege football for theArizona State Sun Devils, and was selected in the first round of the2001 NFL draft by theSt. Louis Rams with the 20th overall pick.
After five seasons with the Rams, Archuleta played a season each for theWashington Redskins andChicago Bears, and was in camp with theOakland Raiders in2008.
Born inRock Springs, Wyoming, Archuleta attendedChandler High School inChandler, Arizona, a suburb southeast ofPhoenix. He was aletterman infootball in which he was a two-time first-team All-Central Region honoree and a two-time All-State Honorable Mention honoree. Jerry Loper was his high school head football coach.
Archuleta played college football at nearbyArizona State University, where he started three years as alinebacker. Initially without ascholarship, heredshirted as a true freshman in1996 after making the team as awalk-on.
Archuleta played in every game during his redshirt freshman season in1997 as a reserve inside linebacker, recording 17 tackles (11 solos) while appearing mostly on special teams.
He moved into the starting lineup as a sophomore at weakside linebacker, playing in every game in1998 and finished with 75 tackles (39 solos), five sacks and 18 stops for losses. As a junior in1999, he was named to the All-Pac-10 Conference First Team as well as team most valuable player. He started the final eleven games at weakside outside linebacker and led the team with 111 tackles (59 solos) with five sacks and 21 stops for losses.
As a senior in2000, he was named the Pac-10 Defensive Player of the Year and was a First-team All-Pac-10 Conference selection as a linebacker. He also was one of three finalists for theButkus Award, given annually to the top linebacker in college football. As a senior, he started at weakside outside linebacker and led ASU with a career-high 127 tackles (93 solos) with four sacks and 15 stops for losses. He was a First-teamAll-America selection byThe Sports Xchange and earned Second-team All-American from theWalter Camp Foundation.
During his four-year career Archuleta ranks fourth in school history with 54 stops behind the line of scrimmage while recording 330 tackles (202 solos) with 14 quarterback sacks, six fumble recoveries and five forced fumbles.
| Height | Weight | Arm length | Hand span | 40-yard dash | Bench press | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 5 ft11+7⁄8 in (1.83 m) | 211 lb (96 kg) | 30+1⁄2 in (0.77 m) | 7+3⁄4 in (0.20 m) | 4.46 s | 31 reps | |||||||
| All values fromNFL Combine[1][2] | ||||||||||||
TheSt. Louis Rams drafted Archuleta in the first round with the 20th overall selection in the2001 NFL draft.[3] He spent his first five years in St. Louis, where he excelled inLovie Smith'sCover 2 base defense. He signed a five-year $7 million contract with the Rams, with a signing bonus of $3 million.
In 2001 Archuleta was named to All-rookie teams by The Football News andPro Football Weekly after playing in 13 games and starting 12 at strong safety. He finished sixth on the Rams with 81 tackles (43 solo) and tied for second with seven tackles for loss while notching two sacks, five passes defensed, two forced fumbles and one fumble recovery.[4] In 2002, he started all 16 contests, 15 at strong safety, one at weakside linebacker and he led team with 149 tackles (101 solo) with 2.5 sacks, one interception, four passes defensed, three QB pressures, one fumble recovery, three tackles for loss, and eight special teams tackles. In 2003, he started 13 games at strong safety and had his second consecutive 100-plus tackle season, collecting 101 stops (77 solo) and had five sacks, five tackles for loss, one interception, eight passes defensed, nine QB pressures, one forced fumble, and one fumble recovery. His Five sacks led all NFL defensive backs in 2003, was the most sacks by an NFL defensive back since 2000. He was also named NFC Defensive Player of the Month for November 2003.[5]
In 2004 Archuleta played in all 16 regular season games, starting 14, and started both playoff games despite being hampered by a back injury. He had his third consecutive 100-plus tackle season, collecting 123 tackles (73 solo) and had two sacks, five tackles for loss, three passes defensed, one forced fumble, one fumble recovery, and nine special teams tackles. He earned Co-"Horse Trailer Player of the Game" honors (along withTorry Holt) for his performance onMonday Night Football vs.Tampa Bay Buccaneers 10/18, as he collected six tackles (three solo) and forced Bucs' RBMichael Pittman to fumble, recovering the fumble, and returned it 93 yards for a touchdown. Had 10 tackles (six solo), and earned NFC Special Teams Player of the Week honors with two solo special teams tackles vs.Seattle Seahawks November 14, 2004. In 2005 Archuleta appeared in and started 14 games and collected 93 tackles (66 solo), 3.5 sacks, five pass deflections and one interception. In Week 3 against theTennessee Titans, he intercepted a pass and returned it 85 yards for a touchdown. He also recorded six tackles, all solo, in that game. A month later, in Week 7 vs.New Orleans Saints, he recorded two sacks, seven tackles (six solo) and logged a fumble recovery.
After the2005 season ended, he was one of the most sought afterfree agent safeties. The Redskins made him the highest paid safety, up to that point, in NFL history by signing Archuleta to a six-year, $30 million contract (with approximately $10 million guaranteed) on March 14, 2006[6] Archuleta started at strong safety for 7 of 16 games played with the Redskins, registering 50 tackles and one sack to go along with career-high 17 special teams tackles. He appeared in all 16 regular season contests for the third time in his career, registering a sack for sixth consecutive season, the longest active streak for an NFL safety. However, after struggles in the deep passing game for the Redskins, Archuleta was replaced at the strong safety position withTroy Vincent, and played only onspecial teams the last half of the season. On December 28, 2006, Archuleta expressed his displeasure with the way the Redskins were using him, and the lack of communication from the coaching staff, under head coachJoe Gibbs.
On March 20, 2007, the Redskins traded Archuleta to theChicago Bears for their sixth round selection in the upcoming2007 NFL draft.[7] The Bears agreed to pay him $8.1 million over three years.[8] Archuleta was reunited withLovie Smith, but never lived up to the expectations the team had for him during the2007 season. Archuleta played 15 games with only ten starts and he intercepted a pass, forced a fumble and recovered a fumble. He knocked down three passes and had 61 tackles, numbers that were below his career averages. The Bears released him on May 6, 2008.[9][10] In his season with the Bears, Archuleta was paid $5.1 million of his contract, which the Bears picked up from the Redskins.[11]
On August 11, 2008, theOakland Raiders signed Archuleta with the intention of moving him tolinebacker.[12] He was released on August 30 in final roster cuts, to comply with the 53-man roster requirement.[13]
Archuleta is a local and national sports commentator forESPN andFox, and was inducted intoASU's SportsHall of Fame in 2011.[14]
Archuleta joined the newPac-12 Network in2012 as a game analyst forcollege football telecasts.[15] After one season Archuleta joinedCBS Sports Network as an analyst forConference USA andMountain West Conference games; despite declining to play for the UFL, he did call the league's games when they aired onCBS Sports Network in 2012. He also joined theNFL on CBS in 2013 as a game analyst alongsideAndrew Catalon, in 2014-16 alongsideTom McCarthy, in 2021–22 withGreg Gumbel, and in 2017–19, and 2023 alongsideSpero Dedes, replacingRandy Cross.[16]
As of the 2023 season, Archuleta is partnered withSpero Dedes.
| Year | Team | Games | Tackles | Fumbles | Interceptions | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| G | GS | Comb | Total | Ast | Sack | FF | FR | Yds | FT | Int | Yds | Avg | Lng | TD | PD | ||
| 2001 | STL | 13 | 12 | 56 | 47 | 9 | 2.0 | 1 | 1 | 24 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 |
| 2002 | STL | 16 | 16 | 116 | 102 | 14 | 2.5 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 5 |
| 2003 | STL | 13 | 13 | 79 | 72 | 7 | 5.0 | 1 | 1 | 45 | 1 | 1 | 22 | 22 | 22 | 0 | 7 |
| 2004 | STL | 16 | 14 | 88 | 75 | 13 | 2.0 | 1 | 1 | 93 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 |
| 2005 | STL | 14 | 14 | 70 | 53 | 17 | 3.5 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 85 | 85 | 85 | 1 | 4 |
| 2006 | WAS | 16 | 7 | 60 | 49 | 11 | 1.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 2007 | CHI | 15 | 10 | 61 | 54 | 7 | 2.0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 0 | 2 |
| Career | 103 | 86 | 530 | 452 | 78 | 18.0 | 4 | 6 | 162 | 2 | 4 | 113 | 28.25 | 85 | 1 | 25 | |
Archuleta marriedPlayboyPlaymateJennifer Walcott in 2010.[17][18] They had their first child, a son, on April 10, 2008.[19] The family was featured on an episode ofFootball Wives onE! True Hollywood Story in 2009.[20] He was also featured inMoves magazine alongside his wife, Jennifer.