Cortland Finnegan
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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| Tennessee Titans — No. 31 | |
| Cornerback | |
| Date of birth: February 2, 1984 | |
| Place of birth: Fayetteville, North Carolina | |
| Height: 5 ft 10 in (1.78 m) | Weight: 188 lb (85 kg) |
| National Football League debut | |
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| 2006 for the Tennessee Titans | |
| Career history | |
| College: Samford | |
| NFL Draft: 2006 / Round: 7 / Pick: 215 | |
Teams:
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| Career highlights and awards | |
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| Stats at NFL.com | |
Cortland Finnegan (born February 2, 1984) is an American football defensive back for the Tennessee Titans. He graduated in 2002 from Milton High School in Milton, Florida where he played Varsity and Junior Varsity football, as well as was the starting point guard all four years for the basketball team.
[edit] College career
During his freshman year at Samford he was named I-AA Independent Special Teams Player of the Year. He played in 11 games with seven starts for the Samford Bulldogs. Finnegan had 46 tackles, two interceptions, nine passes defensed (career-high) and one forced fumble. Finnegan also returned career-high 23 kickoffs for career-high 741 yards and two touchdowns.
During his sophomore year, Finnegan was named first-team All-OVC, third-team All-OVC as returner, third-team All-American by Sports Network and earned Ohio Valley Conference Defensive Player of the Year honors, while starting every game. Finnegan Totaled team and career-high 108 tackles, three tackles for loss, career-high three interceptions, eight passes defensed and two fumble recoveries, and he also returned 21 kickoffs for 577 yards (27.5 avg.) and one touchdown.
As a junior, Cortland Finnegan was named first-team All-OVC, while starting every game at free safety. He led his team with 86 tackles, two tackles for loss, three interceptions (tied career-high), two passes defensed and one fumble forced. Finnegan also returned 11 kickoffs for 286 yards (26.0 avg.).
During his senior year at Samford, Finnegan was named first-team All-American by NFL Draft Report, first-team All-American by American Football Coaches Association and first-team All-OVC for third consecutive year. He started every game at free safety and led team with 98 tackles for third consecutive season and added two tackles for loss, one interception, seven passes defensed, one fumble forced and one fumble recovery. Cortland Finnegan ranked first in OVC conference with 15.1 punt return average, while returning 14 punts for 212 yards and one touchdown. Ranked second in OVC conference with 25.1 kickoff return average on 15 returns for 376 yards.
[edit] Pro career
Finnegan was drafted by the Tennessee Titans with the seventh pick of the seventh round (215th overall) of the 2006 NFL Draft. He played in all 16 games with two starts (one October 15 at Washington as nickel back and again on November 19 at Philadelphia as left cornerback). Finnegan had 57 tackles, two sacks, three quarterback pressures, one tackle for a loss, seven passes defensed, one forced fumble, and he returned a fumble from David Garrard for a ninety-two yard touchdown during the December 17 game against Jacksonville. He also tied for fourth on the team with 15 special teams tackles with one fumble recovery.
Finnegan was a pleasant surprise for Tennessee in the 2006-07 season after starting at the beginning of the Titans' six-game win streak. He has been making plays left and right; most notably his 92 yard fumble return against the Jacksonville Jaguars on Sunday, December 17th. It was one of the 3 defensive touchdowns for the Titans in that game -- a franchise record. In his NFL debut against the Jets he had a sack and forced fumble.
On June 23, 2006 Finnegan was arrested for DUI and received a plea agreement requiring him to do 20 hours of community service, have his driver's license suspened for six months, and have to pay 150 dollar fine plus court costs.
