Chad Wheeler

Chad Wheeler (born January 19, 1994) is an American football offensive tackle for the Seattle Seahawks of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football for the USC Trojans football team from 2012 to 2016.At the end of the 2016 season, he was selected as a first-team All-Pac-12 player.He was also chosen by Campus Insiders. In college he suffered multiple concussions, a torn ACL, and a bout of plantar fasciitis. He was not drafted out of college due to injuries and off-the-field issues, was signed by the New York Giants as an undrafted free agent, and made his NFL debut in 2017.

Wheeler attended Santa Monica High School in Santa Monica, California. He played offensive tackle and defensive end. Wheeler was rated by Rivals.com as a three-star recruit and was ranked as the 114th offensive tackle in his class. He had a shoulder surgery in 2011, during his senior year.

Wheeler committed to the University of Southern California (USC) to play college football. He suffered multiple concussions throughout his college career and also had a torn right ACL in 2014 that ended his season, and a bout of plantar fasciitis in 2016 that caused him to miss two games.

Violent incident

On December 19, 2015, Wheeler was involved in an incident on the USC campus. Los Angeles Police responded to a call at 8:45 AM at an apartment in South Los Angeles near the USC campus. The police arrived and a suspect, who was identified as Wheeler, was possibly under the influence of drugs and alcohol and was punching walls and windows in the apartment. After Wheeler injured his hand he ran out of the apartment, and then—ignoring the commands of police—ran back into the apartment. He was confronted by police who were concerned he might grab a weapon and got into an altercation with them that led the police to shoot him with multiple bean bag rounds, a type of less-lethal force. Wheeler was detained by the police but not arrested, and was instead transported to a local hospital to be held under protective custody for a psychiatric evaluation. His friend and her seven-month old son were present during the altercation; she was detained and released, the child was given to a family member. As a result of the incident, Wheeler missed the Holiday Bowl.Wheeler later apologized for the incident.

Statistics

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Coming out of USC, Wheeler received mixed draft projections from NFL draft experts and scouts. Some analysts projected him to be a fourth or seventh round pick, while others projected him to go undrafted and be signed immediately as a priority undrafted free agent. Wheeler received an invitation to the NFL combine and completed all of the required positional and combine drills. On March 22, 2017, he opted to participate at USC's Pro Day along with JuJu Smith-Schuster, Zach Banner, Justin Davis, Taylor McNamara, Stevie Tu'ikolovatu, Adoree Jackson, Leon McQuay III, Damien Mama, and six other prospects. Team representatives and scouts from all 32 NFL teams attended as Wheeler opted to run all of his combine drills again. He was able to produce a better vertical (24"), 40-yard dash (5.28), and 20-yard dash (3.05). Wheeler was ranked the 12th best offensive tackle prospect in the draft by NFLDraftScout.com. Wheeler was regarded as a top prospect based solely on talent, but received mid to late round draft grades due to his history of multiple injuries and off-field incidents.

New York Giants

Wheeler was not drafted out of college due to injuries and off-the-field issues. On April 30, 2017, the New York Giants signed Wheeler as an undrafted free agent. He received a three-year, $1.68 million contract that includes $30,000 guaranteed and a signing bonus of $20,000. As one of the top undrafted free agents, Wheeler received multiple offers and opted to sign with New York, who gave him one of the largest contracts among undrafted free agents.

He competed with Adam Bisnowaty and Michael Bowie throughout training camp for the job as the backup offensive tackle. Head coach Ben McAdoo named Wheeler the backup left tackle, behind Ereck Flowers, to begin the regular season.

On October 1, 2017, Wheeler made his regular season debut in the Giants' 23-25 loss to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. He earned his first career start against the Kansas City Chiefs in relief of injured Justin Pugh, and backup Bobby Hart.

Wheeler entered the 2018 season as a backup tackle behind left tackle Nate Solder and right tackle Ereck Flowers. In Week 3, Wheeler was named the starting right tackle after struggles from Ereck Flowers, and remained there the rest of the season.

Wheeler was waived/injured by the Giants during final roster cuts on August 31, 2019, and reverted to the team's injured reserve list the next day. He was waived from injured reserve with an injury settlement on September 9.

Seattle Seahawks

On October 15, 2019, Wheeler was signed to the Seattle Seahawks practice squad. He was promoted to the active roster on January 8, 2020.

On September 5, 2020, Wheeler was waived by the Seahawks and signed to the practice squad the next day. He was elevated to the active roster on September 12 and December 5 for the team's weeks 1 and 13 games against the Atlanta Falcons and New York Giants, and reverted to the practice squad after each game.

On January 25, 2021, Wheeler was arrested in Kent, Washington for domestic violence and held on $400,000 bail. His girlfriend said he choked her, dislocated her arm and smashed in her face after she refused to bow to him. She said he had choked her unconscious and that when she regained consciousness, he seemed surprised she was not dead.