DeAndré Washington
DeAndré Washington is an American former professional football running back. He played college football for the Texas Tech Red Raiders and was selected by the Oakland Raiders of the National Football League in the fifth round of the 2016 NFL draft. Washington also played for the Kansas City Chiefs and Miami Dolphins.
Early life
Washington attended and played high school football at Thurgood Marshall High School. He committed to play college football at Texas Tech after receiving offers from schools such as Arizona, Baylor, Colorado, and Boise State.College career
Washington suffered a knee injury as a true freshman in 2011 after rushing for 366 yards and three touchdowns.Washington redshirted in 2012 and came back and rushed for 450 yards and four touchdowns in 2013.
As a junior in 2014, Washington rushed for 1,103 yards and two touchdowns and finished with 328 receiving yards and two touchdowns.
As a senior, Washington rushed for 248 yards, including a career-long 80-yard touchdown run, against Kansas State on November 14, 2015. He finished his senior year leading the Big 12 Conference with 1,492 yards and 14 touchdowns along with 385 receiving yards and two touchdowns which was good enough for 1st-team All-Big 12 honors.
Washington finished his collegiate career fifth on Texas Tech's all-time rushing list behind Byron Hanspard, James Gray, Ricky Williams, and Bam Morris.
Professional career
Pre-draft
Coming out of college, Washington was projected by many analysts to be a fifth to seventh round draft selection. He was rated the 16th best running back out of the 204 available by NFLDraftScout.com. Washington was invited to the NFL Combine and was able to complete the entire workout and all the positional drills. He was satisfied enough with his combine performance that he chose to only do positional drills at Texas Tech's Pro Day. Representatives and scouts from all 32 NFL teams showed up at the Pro Day to watch Washington, Jakeem Grant, Le'Raven Clark, and Branden Jackson.Oakland Raiders
2016 season
Washington was selected by the Raiders in the fifth round in the 2016 NFL draft. The Raiders previously traded wide receiver Brice Butler to the Dallas Cowboys to obtain the selection used to select Washington.On May 10, 2016, the Raiders signed Washington to a four-year, $2.60 million contract with a signing bonus of $269,195. He entered training camp competing for the backup running back position with George Atkinson III, Jalen Richard, Roy Helu, and Taiwan Jones. Washington was named the Raider's third running back on their depth chart behind Latavius Murray and Taiwan Jones.
Washington made his professional regular season debut in the narrow 35–34 season opening road victory over the New Orleans Saints, finishing with five carries for 14 yards and a 10-yard reception. Two weeks later, Washington had six carries for 57 yards and a five-yard reception in a 17–10 road victory over the Tennessee Titans.
On October 16, Washington earned his first career start during a 26–10 loss to the Kansas City Chiefs and finished the game with a season-high 10 carries for 49 yards. Washington scored his first two touchdowns in Week 16 against the Indianapolis Colts. He finished his rookie year with 87 carries for 467 yards and two touchdowns. During the Wild Card Round, Washington had four carries for 16 yards in the 27–14 road loss to the Houston Texans.