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| No. 54, 58, 57 | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Position | Linebacker | ||||||||||||
| Personal information | |||||||||||||
| Born | (1981-11-18)November 18, 1981 (age 44) Tulsa, Oklahoma, U.S. | ||||||||||||
| Height | 6 ft 1 in (1.85 m) | ||||||||||||
| Weight | 238 lb (108 kg) | ||||||||||||
| Career information | |||||||||||||
| High school | Fort Gibson(Fort Gibson, Oklahoma) | ||||||||||||
| College | Oklahoma | ||||||||||||
| NFL draft | 2004: 2nd round, 37th overall pick | ||||||||||||
| Career history | |||||||||||||
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* Offseason and/or practice squad member only | |||||||||||||
| Awards and highlights | |||||||||||||
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| Career NFL statistics | |||||||||||||
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Teddy Lehman (born November 18, 1981) is an American former professionalfootball player who was alinebacker for seven seasons in theNational Football League (NFL). He playedcollege football for theOklahoma Sooners, and was twice recognized as a consensusAll-American. TheDetroit Lions chose him in the second round of the2004 NFL draft, and he also played for theBuffalo Bills andJacksonville Jaguars of the NFL, and theLas Vegas Locomotives of theUnited Football League (UFL).
Lehman was born inTulsa, Oklahoma. He attendedFort Gibson High School inFort Gibson, Oklahoma, and playedhigh school football for the Fort Gibson Tigers. He started at bothlinebacker andrunning back, wearing number 34. As a senior, he helped the Tigers post their best-ever record of 13–1, and advance to the Oklahoma Class 4A state championship game.[citation needed]
He ended his senior season with 151 tackles, 3 interceptions, 2 sacks, and 3 forced fumbles.[citation needed] He ranked third in the state in rushing with 1,252 yards and 16 touchdowns on 206 carries (6.1 avg.) as a running back.[citation needed] He also shared the punting duties for the Tigers with an average of 39.6 yards.
He recorded more than 400 tackles and 7 interceptions during his four high school seasons.[citation needed] He was not highly recruited out of high school but ran a 4.4 40-yard dash at an Oklahoma football camp for high school players and was offered a scholarship shortly after.[1]
While attending theUniversity of Oklahoma, Lehman played for coachBob Stoops'sOklahoma Sooners football team from 2000 to 2003. As a freshman in 2000, he played in 12 games, mostly on special teams and as a reserve at linebacker.
During his 2001 sophomore season, he became the starting middle linebacker. Memorably, he caught the interception by Texas quarterbackChris Simms which was jarred loose byRoy Williams and Lehman took it into the endzone for the game clinching score. He finished the season with 83 tackles, including 2 sacks and 10 stops for losses.
In 2002, Lehman moved to weakside linebacker, replacing Butkus Award winner Rocky Calmus. Lehman was recognized as a consensus first-teamAll-American, after receiving first-team honors from theAssociated Press, theFootball Writers Association of America, theWalter Camp Foundation,The Sporting News, CNNSI, ESPN andSports Illustrated.[2] He posted six tackles (five unassisted) in theRose Bowl againstWashington State and sacked quarterbackJason Gesser twice for a loss of 17 yards. Both sacks ended scoring drives at the end of the second quarter and were instrumental in securing Oklahoma's first-ever Rose Bowl win.
During the 2003 season, the senior led the team in tackles, with 117, adding 1 forced fumbles, 2 interceptions, and 19 tackles for loss. Lehman closed out his college career in the 21–14Sugar Bowl loss against theLSU Tigers with eight tackles (six solo) and two stops behind the line of scrimmage, including one sack. He was recognized as a unanimous first-team All-American and a first-team All-Big 12 selection.[2] He was awarded the Dick Butkus Award, given to the nation's top linebacker, as well as theChuck Bednarik Award, given to the nation's top defensive player. Lehman was rated the top outside linebacker pro prospect in the country by The NFL Draft Report.[1]
| 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 ft1+1⁄2 in (1.87 m) | 240 lb (109 kg) | 31+3⁄8 in (0.80 m) | 8+3⁄8 in (0.21 m) | 4.53 s | 1.66 s | 2.70 s | 4.06 s | 6.85 s | 34.5 in (0.88 m) | 9 ft 5 in (2.87 m) | 26 reps | |
| All values fromNFL Combine/Pro Day[3][4] | ||||||||||||
Teddy Lehman was selected by theDetroit Lions with the fifth pick of the second round (37th overall) in 2004.[5]
Lehman was the only rookie linebacker in the NFL to start all 16 games in 2004. He also logged a total of 1,225 plays (1,054 on defense, 171 on special teams), more than any other member of the team. He finished the season with 102 tackles, the second-highest total on the team.
He signed with theTampa Bay Buccaneers as an unrestricted free-agent on March 4, 2008. However, he was released on July 25.
On July 26, 2008, Lehman re-signed with theDetroit Lions.[6] His No. 54 taken byGilbert Gardner, Lehman was assigned No. 58. He was placed on Injured Reserve on August 4. On August 8, he was taken off IR and released.
Lehman was signed by theBuffalo Bills on November 7, 2008, aftercornerbackAshton Youboty was placed oninjured reserve.
Lehman signed with theLas Vegas Locomotives of theUnited Football League on August 5, 2009.
On May 11, 2010, Teddy Lehman signed a contract with theJacksonville Jaguars. He was one of eight players that participated in the club's May 1–3mini-camp on a tryout basis.[7] On September 3, 2010, he was released by the Jaguars.[8]
| Legend | |
|---|---|
| Bold | Career high |
| Year | Team | Games | Tackles | Interceptions | Fumbles | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| GP | GS | Cmb | Solo | Ast | Sck | TFL | Int | Yds | TD | Lng | PD | FF | FR | Yds | TD | ||
| 2004 | DET | 16 | 16 | 103 | 76 | 27 | 1.0 | 7 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 2005 | DET | 5 | 0 | 13 | 8 | 5 | 0.0 | 1 | 1 | 21 | 0 | 17 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 2006 | DET | 4 | 0 | 5 | 4 | 1 | 0.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 2007 | DET | 16 | 0 | 27 | 17 | 10 | 0.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 2008 | BUF | 4 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 0.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Career | 45 | 16 | 151 | 106 | 45 | 1.0 | 8 | 2 | 22 | 0 | 17 | 5 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
Lehman and his wife Erin reside inNorman, Oklahoma. Teddy now has a local Sportstalk Radio show, "The Rush," on Sportstalk 1400AM and, he does an OU podcast with former OU player, Gabe Ikard. The name of the podcast is "The Oklahoma Breakdown". He's also the color radio analyst for the University of Oklahoma football games.