Jerricho Cotchery

Jerricho Cotchery (born June 16, 1982 in Birmingham) is a wide receiver for the Carolina Panthers of the National Football League.

Cotchery grew up with a large blended family in Norwood. His father, Bob ran a lawn care service and his mother worked in a nursing home. He was born with six fingers on his left hand, but the extra digit was surgically removed. He attended Phillips High School, where he played receiver and defensive back on the Red Raiders football team. He was named to the Alabama All-State football team after his junior and senior years. Cotchery also lettered for four years as a shooting guard for the basketball team.

Cotchery was injured in an automobile collision on May 30, 1998 and has numerous scars on his hands and wrists. In 1999 Phillips defeated Hartselle in the first round of the AHSAA 5-A football playoffs, then were eliminated by Athens High School, led by quarterback Philip Rivers.

Cotchery graduated from Phillips 2000 and accepted a scholarship offer from North Carolina State University, where he joined his former playoff rival, Philip Rivers. He played 49 games for the Wolfpack, finishing with a school record 200 receptions for 3,319 yards. He was selected to the All-Atlantic Coast Conference first team in 2002 and 2003 and broke or tied three Wolfpack records previously held by Torry Holt. He majored in sports management.

In the 2004 NFL draft, Cotchery was selected by the New York Jets in the fourth round as the 108th overall pick. He married his wife, Mercedes, that May. They have two sons, Joshua and Nicholas, and two adopted daughters, Jacey and Journey.

NFL career

In his rookies season, Cotchery caught six passes for 60 yards in 12 games as the Jets' fifth receiver. He also returned thirteen kicks for 362 yards and a score.

In 2005 he assumed the role of 3rd string reciever after Wayne Chrebet was injured. He appeared in 16 games with one start and caught 19 passes for 251 yards on the season. He also returned four kickoffs and 23 punts for 287 yards.

Coming into the 2006 season, coach Eric Mangini praised Cotchery's offseason production and moved him into the starting lineup opposite Laveranues Coles. He responded with 6 catches for 65 yards and a touchdown in the opener against the Tennessee Titans. He followed that up with 121 yards and another score on six receptions in week 2 against the Patriots. He helped the team make the playoffs as a wild card, ending the regular season with 82 catches for 961 yards.

Cotchery signed a contract extension with New York in March 2007. In their season opener against New England, the Patriots were found to have been using video cameras to record the Jets' defensive signals. Cotchery set a new high mark with 165 receiving yards in a loss to Baltimore in week 2, but did not score until week 7 as the team faltered to a 1-7 record. The Jets got their second win in notable fashion by beating the Pittsburgh Steelers, but Cotchery only contributed 5 yards on one catch. The following Monday he injured his right index finger during practice and missed a game. He came back from surgery with six catches for 119 yards against Cleveland, and then scored the only touchdown in a week 16 loss to Tennessee. Though Cotchery led the team in receptions, yards, receiving touchdowns and yards-per-catch, the Jets finished the year 4-12.

In August 2008 the Jets acquired Brett Favre from Minnesota. The veteran quarterback threw his first touchdown as a Jet to Cotchery in a game 1 victory over Miami. Cotchery continued to lead the team to wins over New England and Tennessee to reach 8-3 before stumbling to a 9-7 overall record.

Cotchery entered the 2009 season as the Jets primary receiver after Laveranues Coles was signed by Cincinnati. He made 57 catches for 821 yards as the Jets secured a wild card berth in the playoffs. Cotchery has 6 catches for 67 yards in their subsequent victory over the Bengals. After another win against the Chargers, the Jets fell to Indianapolis in the AFC Championship game.

In 2010 Cotchery was moved back to 3rd string behind new arrivals Santonio Holmes and Braylen Edwards. He suffered a groin injury during a 43-yard performance against Cleveland in November and missed two games. He finished the season with 41 catches for 433 yards and two scores, and was released on August 4, 2011.

Cotchery signed a one-year contract with the Pittsburgh Steelers a week later. After his first season he signed a two-year extension. He amassed 1,044 yards on 79 receptions with twelve touchdowns as a Steeler.

In March 2014 he signed a two-year contract with the Carolina Panthers. He started the season catching every one of the first 13 passes thrown his way over four weeks. In 2015 the Panthers exceeded expectations and reached Super Bowl 50.

As of January 2015, Cotchery has made 524 catches for 6,623 yards and 35 touchdowns in 175 NFL games over 12 seasons.

References

• "Jerricho Cotchery" (January 25, 2016) Wikipedia - accessed February 2, 2016
• Bean, Josh (February 2, 2016) "'The best wide receiver to ever come out of Birmingham': Jerricho Cotchery goes from Phillips High to Super Bowl." The Birmingham News

External links

• Jerricho Cotchery at panthers.com