Jump to content

Wes Welker

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This is an old revision of this page, as edited by Eddie17 (talk | contribs) at 13:15, 25 September 2006 (New information on current season.). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

{{NFL.com player}} template missing ID and not present in Wikidata. Wes Welker (Born May 1, 1981 in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma) is an NFL wide receiver for the Miami Dolphins.

College

Welker started his football career at Heritage Hall High School in Oklahoma City. In 1998 he was named The Daily Oklahoman All-State Player of the Year and Oklahoma State Player of the Year by USA Today. Welker was not recruited much as he was considered to be too small to play at the college level. However, after a recruit at Texas Tech University backed out of his scholarship, it was offered to Welker.

Welker's last minute signing was a bonanza for Texas Tech. Welker became known as "The Natural" for his ability to make big plays in the biggest games. Over his 4 year career, he had 259 receptions for 3019 yards and 21 touchdowns. He carried the ball 79 times for 456 yards and 2 touchdowns. He also scored 8 touchdowns returning punts in his career, still tied for the NCAA record.NCAA.

Pros

After his senior season at Texas Tech, Welker went undrafted in the 2004 National Football League Draft but ended up signing a free agent contract with the San Diego Chargers where he made the team. However, after the first week of the 2004 season, Welker was cut from the Chargers and signed with the Miami Dolphins, where he was mostly used in special teams. The same season Welker became the second player in NFL history to return a kickoff, return a punt, kick an extra point and a field goal, and make a tackle in the same game.

During training camp at the beginning of the 2005 season, Welker was promoted to the third wide receiver spot after Chris Chambers and Marty Booker. He finished the season with 29 receptions for 434 yards and no touchdowns. He also had 43 punt returns for 390 yards, a 9.1 average, and 61 kickoff returns for 1379 yards, a 22.6 average. These ranked 11th and 20th in the NFL, respectively.

After rumors that he would be cut during the preseason, Wes Welker is looking to have a breakout season. He's had 14 catches this season in the first 3 seasons of the game and will continue to be a big target of new quarterback Daunte Culpepper as long the injury-laden offesnsive line continues to develop.