Quick Facts
Biography
Chad Greenway (born January 12, 1983) is a former American football linebacker who spent his entire 11-year career with the Minnesota Vikings of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football at Iowa, and was drafted by the Vikings in the first round of the 2006 NFL Draft.
Early years
Greenway attended Mount Vernon High School in Mount Vernon, South Dakota, where he was a three-time South Dakota All-state performer, earning first team honors as a junior and senior and third team honors as a sophomore. He was named Gatorade Football Player of the Year as a senior in 2001. also Argus Leader and Sports Max Player of the Year. He also earned first team All-conference honors for three straight seasons, as well as MVP honors. He played quarterback and free safety and returned punts and kickoffs, helping prep team win two consecutive state titles as a junior and senior. His career totals include 364 rushing attempts for 3,118 yards and 171-290 passes for 2,572 yards. On defense, he recorded 407 tackles and 23 interceptions. As a senior, he completed 62-114 passes for 1,147 yards and rushed for 1,320 yards at quarterback, and also added 132 tackles and four interceptions at safety. Greenway also lettered in basketball, baseball and track & field at Mount Vernon.
College career
Greenway attended the University of Iowa, and played for the Iowa Hawkeyes football team from 2002 to 2005. He redshirted his freshman season in 2001. As a redshirt freshman in 2002, he suffered a knee injury that required surgery and did not play in the first four games. In 2003, he started at outside linebacker in all 13 games and was named second-team All-Big Ten. Greenway was named the Big Ten Conference co-Defensive Player of the Week vs. Arizona State, and won the Hustle Team Award at Iowa.
In 2004, he was named a first-team All-American by Pro Football Weekly, a second-team All-American by CNNSI.com, and a third team All-American by CollegeSportsReport.com. Within the conference, Greenway was named first team All-Big Ten and selected as a first-team all-Big Ten player by Collegefootballnews.com. Greenway was selected by the team as Iowa's Special Teams Player of the Year, won the Hustle Team Award for defense, and was one of three juniors selected to the team Leadership Council for 2004 season.
In 2005, Greenway was named preseason All-America by The Sporting News, NationalChamps.net, and was named to the preseason honorable mention All-America squad selected by NationalChamps.net. He was ranked as the No. 2 outside linebacker by The Sporting News, and named to the Bronko Nagurski and Lott Trophy watch lists.
Professional career
| Ht | Wt | 40-yd dash | 10-yd split | 20-yd split | 20-ss | 3-cone | Vert | Broad | BP | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 6 ft 3 in | 242 lb | 4.60 s | 4.22 s | 7.01 s | 38 in | 10 ft 0 in | 19 reps | ||||||||||||
| All values from NFL Combine and Pro Day | |||||||||||||||||||
Minnesota Vikings
Chad Greenway entered the 2006 NFL Draft, where he was drafted by the Vikings with the 17th pick in the first round. Greenway selected #52 as his jersey number for the Minnesota Vikings. In training camp, he was listed as a second string linebacker on the depth chart.
In Minnesota's first preseason game against Oakland, Greenway tore his ACL playing special teams on a kickoff return. He missed the entire 2006 NFL season with the injury. Greenway started the 2007 season as the Minnesota Vikings starting weakside linebacker. In Greenway's first NFL game on September 9, 2007 against the Atlanta Falcons Greenway recorded 10 tackles. Greenway completed the 2007 season with 105 tackles with two forced fumbles along with two interceptions with one touchdown. In 2008, Greenway had another impressive season finishing with 5.5 sacks and led the team with 115 tackles. He also deflected 5 passes.
On February 21, 2011, the Vikings announced that Greenway was designated as their franchise player for 2011. Greenway was selected to his first Pro Bowl after a career-high 154 tackles, 13 tackles for loss, 2 sacks and a fumble recovery during the 2011 season.
On October 5, 2012, Greenway was fined $21,000 for unnecessary roughness. He struck Calvin Johnson in the head and neck area.
On March 31, 2016, Greenway announced that he is returning for an eleventh season with the Vikings and that the upcoming season would be his last.
On March 6, 2017, Greenway officially announced his retirement from the National Football League.
NFL stats
| Year | Team | GP | COMB | TOTAL | AST | SACK | FF | FR | FR YDS | INT | IR YDS | AVG IR | LNG | TD | PD |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2007 | MIN | 16 | 105 | 78 | 27 | 0.0 | 2 | 4 | 0 | 2 | 39 | 20 | 37 | 1 | 4 |
| 2008 | MIN | 16 | 115 | 86 | 29 | 5.5 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 |
| 2009 | MIN | 16 | 99 | 80 | 19 | 0.0 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 3 | 49 | 16 | 36 | 0 | 6 |
| 2010 | MIN | 16 | 144 | 109 | 35 | 1.0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 |
| 2011 | MIN | 16 | 154 | 89 | 65 | 2.0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| 2012 | MIN | 16 | 148 | 98 | 50 | 3.0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 4 |
| 2013 | MIN | 16 | 134 | 83 | 51 | 3.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 23 | 8 | 23 | 0 | 4 |
| 2014 | MIN | 12 | 93 | 56 | 37 | 1.0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 |
| 2015 | MIN | 16 | 68 | 55 | 13 | 2.5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 91 | 91 | 91 | 1 | 1 |
| 2016 | MIN | 7 | 11 | 7 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Career | 147 | 1071 | 741 | 330 | 18.0 | 8 | 11 | 0 | 10 | 205 | 20.5 | 91 | 2 | 32 |
Personal
Greenway married in July 2006 to Jennifer Capista, a former track and field athlete at Iowa. The couple has four daughters.
In 2008, Greenway established his charitable foundation, Chad Greenway’s Lead The Way Foundation, with the primary focus of providing seriously ill and physically challenged children throughout the Twin Cities with daily support and life-changing experiences. The mission of Chad Greenway’s Lead The Way Foundation is to enrich the lives of individuals and families in need.
Chad Greenway's Lead the Way Foundation has three signature programs. Through these programs, Chad's Lead the Way Foundation has touched the lives of nearly 375,000 people in the Twin Cities. These programs are:
- TendHER Heart Luncheon The TendHER Heart Luncheon is hosted each year to honor mothers of chronically and critically ill children for the sacrifices they make in caring for their ill child. The brunch provides these women with the opportunity to "take a minute" for themselves and enjoy each other's company and support. The mothers are served gourmet breakfast and lunch dishes and are sent home with a few special treats to enjoy.
- Field of Dreams The Field of Dreams program was established to present critically and chronically ill children and their families with magical memories by fulfilling sports wishes and vacation dreams. The foundation foots the bill for a day of fun activities, tickets and food at a nice getaway like Kalahari or Mall of America.
7th Chad’s Locker - Hutchinson Health Chad’s Locker is an electronic hub that provides access to iPads, laptops, Leap Frog Readers, DVDs, games and other electronics to patients and their families. In addition to the entertainment devices, Chad provided toys, coloring supplies, dolls, action figures, and board games. - Chad's Locker Chad's Locker provides patients and their families access to notebook computers, movies and video game systems to occupy their time during their hospital stay. March 2012, Chad launched his first locker at the University of Minnesota Amplatz Children's Hospital. October 2012, Chad launched his second locker at Children's Minneapolis Hospital located in the Geek Squad Precinct. March 2013, Chad launched his third locker at Hudson Hospital and Clinics. October 2013, Chad launched his fourth locker at Children's Hospitals & Clinics of Minnesota St. Paul. April 2014, Chad launched his fifth locker at Gillette Children's Specialty Healthcare in the Ronald McDonald Family Room. April 2015, Chad launched his sixth locker in Sioux Falls, South Dakota at Sanford Children's Hospital. October 2015 - Chad launched his seventh locker at Hutchinson Health.
In the 2016 season, Greenway was named the Vikings' Community Man-of-the-Year for the their consecutive year.
On December 2, 2015, Greenway was named the Minnesota Vikings' nominee for the Walter Payton Man of the Year award.