 Gray with the Buffalo Bills in 2014 | |||||||||||
| No. 47, 87, 48 | |||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Position: | Tight end | ||||||||||
| Personal information | |||||||||||
| Born: | (1989-11-07)November 7, 1989 (age 35) Indianapolis, Indiana, U.S. | ||||||||||
| Height: | 6 ft 4 in (1.93 m) | ||||||||||
| Weight: | 260 lb (118 kg) | ||||||||||
| Career information | |||||||||||
| High school: | Indianapolis (IN) Ben Davis | ||||||||||
| College: | Minnesota (2008–2012) | ||||||||||
| Undrafted: | 2013 | ||||||||||
| Career history | |||||||||||
| |||||||||||
| * Offseason and/or practice squad member only | |||||||||||
| Career NFL statistics | |||||||||||
| |||||||||||
MarQueis Gray (born November 7, 1989) is an American former professionalfootballtight end. He playedcollege football atMinnesota, and was originally signed by theSan Francisco 49ers as anundrafted free agent in 2013. He has also been a member of theCleveland Browns,Minnesota Vikings,Buffalo Bills,Miami Dolphins, andSan Francisco 49ers.
Gray went toBen Davis High School inIndianapolis, Indiana.[1] There, he was coached by Mike Kirschner, where he was a three-year starter.[2] He was rated as a four-star prospect byRivals.com, as well as the No. 3 dual-threat quarterback in the nation and the No. 1 player in the state ofIndiana by Rivals. He received four stars fromScout.com, which ranks him as the nation's No. 14 high school quarterback, andESPN.com's No. 13 quarterback nationally, where he was selected to participate in the Elite 11 Quarterback Camp, and played in the prestigiousU.S. Army All-American Bowl, completing 3-of-7 passes for 56 yards and a touchdown, while rushing for 41 yards and a touchdown. He missed the majority of his senior season after suffering a broken bone in his non-throwing arm, and saw action in just five games during 2007, including three after returning from the injury, and connected on 26-of-41 passes for 376 yards and three touchdowns while also rushing for 302 yards on 64 carries with four touchdowns and caught five passes for 86 yards and a score. As a junior, he completed 73 of 140 passes for 1,113 yards and 12 touchdowns, while rushing for 603 yards and seven touchdowns on 127 carries. He earned honorable mention class 5A all-state honors.
Gray committed toUniversity of Minnesota on January 5, 2008.[3] Gray also had offers of football scholarships from theUniversity of Cincinnati, theUniversity of Illinois,Indiana University, theUniversity of Iowa,Kentucky University,Michigan State University, theUniversity of Oregon, andPurdue University.[4]
| Name | Hometown | High school / college | Height | Weight | 40‡ | Commit date |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| MarQueis Gray QB | Indianapolis, Indiana | Ben Davis High School | 6 ft 4 in (1.93 m) | 220 lb (100 kg) | 4.48 | Jan 5, 2008 |
Star ratings:Scout: Rivals: 247Sports: N/A ESPN grade: 80 | ||||||
| Overall recruiting rankings:Scout:14 (QB) Rivals:3 (QB), 1 (IN) ESPN:13 (QB) | ||||||
Sources:
| ||||||
Gray was forced to sit out his true freshman season in 2008 after hisACT score was deemed invalid due to unspecified "irregularities."[5][6][7]
Gray returned to the team in the spring of 2009 and impressed observers in the Golden Gophers' spring game.[8][9] Gray played in 2009 as both a quarterback andwide receiver.[10][11] He had a breakout game againstOhio State going 5-of-6 passing for 51 yards and tossing his first touchdown pass, all career highs, he also had a career day running ball against the Buckeyes with career highs of 11 carries and 81 yards.[12][13][14] He scored his first collegiate touchdown on a reception againstCal.[15] He finished his freshman season with 265 yards rushing, he ended the regular season as the team's fourth-leading rusher.[16][17][18]
Gray played both positions in theInsight Bowl, inserted as a backup to starting quarterbackAdam Weber going 1-of-2 for 11 yards, with three carries for 34 yards.[19] One of those carries — in the fourth quarter — resulted in a fumble, recovered byIowa State who were able to run out the clock for a 14–13 victory.[20] Gray also caught two passes for 37 yards.[19][21]
As a sophomore in 2010, Gray made appearances in all 12 games including seven starts at wide receiver, where he tallied 42 catches for 587 yards and hauled in five touchdowns. He also had 119 rushing yards on 23 carries while completing two of eight passes for 24 yards.[22][23][24]
Gray was named the starting quarterback for the Gophers for the 2011 season.[25] On the season, he passed for 1,495 yards, eight touchdowns, and eight interceptions.[26]
In 2012, in the Gophers' second game againstNew Hampshire, Gray surpassedRickey Foggie and Billy Cockerham with the fifth 100-yard rushing game of his career. He was moved to wide receiver for the rest of the season to allowPhilip Nelson to start.[27]
| Season | Team | Passing | Rushing | Receiving | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rating | Att | Comp | Pct | Yds | TD | INT | Att | Yds | TD | Rec | Yds | TD | ||
| 2009 | Minnesota | 83.4 | 15 | 6 | 40.0 | 62 | 1 | 1 | 47 | 265 | 0 | 6 | 58 | 1 |
| 2010 | 50.2 | 8 | 2 | 25.0 | 24 | 0 | 0 | 23 | 110 | 1 | 42 | 587 | 5 | |
| 2011 | 114.5 | 213 | 108 | 50.7 | 1,495 | 8 | 8 | 199 | 966 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| 2012 | 146.0 | 59 | 34 | 57.6 | 472 | 5 | 2 | 72 | 390 | 5 | 12 | 121 | 0 | |
| Total | 117.5 | 295 | 150 | 50.8 | 2,053 | 14 | 11 | 341 | 1,731 | 12 | 60 | 766 | 6 | |
At theNFL Scouting Combine, Gray posted a 4.30-second 20-yard shuttle, a 7.25 three-cone drill, a 111.0-inch broad jump, a 30.0-inch vertical jump, a 15-repetition bench press, and ran a 4.73-second forty-yard dash, the fourth fastest time among quarterbacks. Though he played some wide receiver in college, Gray worked out with the quarterback group at theNFL Scouting Combine.[28][29]
After going undrafted at the2013 NFL draft, Gray signed with theSan Francisco 49ers.[30] Initially Gray worked out as a halfback[31] but soon moved to tight end.[32] Gray was later cut by the team on August 30.[33]
On September 1, 2013, Gray was claimed off waivers by theCleveland Browns.[34] He was used mostly as a blocking tight end and afullback/H-back, and was also the emergency third stringquarterback.[35][36] Gray was waived by the Browns on August 30, 2014, during the final round of roster cuts.[37]
On August 31, 2014, Gray was claimed off waivers by theMinnesota Vikings,[38] but was waived by the team on November 19, 2014, to make room for the newly acquiredBen Tate.[39] He caught one pass with the Vikings for 16 yards, in their loss against theGreen Bay Packers in Week 5.[40]
On November 20, 2014, Gray was claimed off waivers by theBuffalo Bills,[41] On October 6, 2015, the Bills sent Gray to season ending injured reserve with a broken forearm. He would finish the season with just one catch for two yards in four games.[42]
On March 31, 2016, Gray signed with theMiami Dolphins.[43] On December 29, 2016, he signed a two-year contract extension with the Dolphins.[44] Gray has taken snaps atfullback as well for the Dolphins, occasionally receiving short-yardage carries. Overall, in the 2016 season, he finished with 14 receptions for 174 yards in 16 games.[45] In the 2017 season, he appeared in all 16 games and finished with five carries for 14 yards and one reception for 10 yards.[46]
On September 6, 2018, Gray was placed on injured reserve after suffering atorn Achilles tendon in practice, ending his season before it began.[47] The injury did not heal correctly, so Gray underwent additional surgery in March 2019, forcing him to sit out that year's season as well; he has stated that he hopes to return to the NFL in 2020.[48]
On August 29, 2020, Gray signed with theSan Francisco 49ers.[49] He was released during final roster cutdowns on September 5.[50]
| Year | Team | Games | Rushing | Receiving | Fumbles | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| GP | GS | Att | Yds | Avg | Lng | TD | Rec | Yds | Avg | Lng | TD | Fum | Lost | ||
| 2013 | CLE | 12 | 2 | 6 | 43 | 5.2 | 18 | 0 | 2 | 8 | 4.0 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 2014 | MIN | 8 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 16 | 16.0 | 16 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| BUF | 5 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0.0 | 0 | 0 | 8 | 118 | 14.8 | 41 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| 2015 | BUF | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 2.0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 2016 | MIA | 16 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 0.0 | 0 | 0 | 14 | 174 | 12.4 | 53 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 2017 | MIA | 16 | 0 | 5 | 14 | 4.0 | 2.9 | 0 | 1 | 10 | 10.0 | 10 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Career | 61 | 14 | 11 | 57 | 5.2 | 18 | 0 | 27 | 328 | 12.1 | 53 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |