Adrian Clayborn

Adrian Jarrell Clayborn (born July 6, 1988) is a former American football defensive end.

He played college football for the University of Iowa, and earned consensus All-American honors.

Clayborn attended the University of Iowa, and played for the Iowa Hawkeyes football team from 2006 to 2010.

He took a redshirt year in 2006, his first season at Iowa.

In 2007, Clayborn became a second-string defensive lineman and saw action in several games on special teams.

In 2008, Clayborn saw substantial playing time, recording eight tackles for loss and 50 total tackles.

In 2009, Clayborn had a breakout year with 20 tackles for loss.

In a dominant effort against Georgia Tech, Clayborn was named Orange Bowl MVP.

Heading into the 2010 season, Clayborn was listed on the preseason watch list for several awards.

ESPN, Playboy Magazine, Sporting News, College Football Insiders, Lindy's, and Phil Steele all selected Clayborn for their pre-season first-team All-American lists.

On October 2, 2010, Clayborn had his first break-out game of 2010.

He had three tackles for loss against Penn State despite being triple-teamed for parts of the game.

His play earned him Big Ten Defensive Player of the Week.

On November 10, 2010, Clayborn was named one of four finalists for the Lombardi Award.

While preparing for the 2010 Insight Bowl, Iowa head coach Kirk Ferentz announced that Clayborn was one of three Hawkeyes invited to attend the Senior Bowl, college football's pre-draft event featuring seniors with NFL prospects.

He was drafted by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in the first round of the 2011 NFL Draft.

Clayborn also played for the Atlanta Falcons, the Cleveland Browns and the New England Patriots.

With the Patriots, he won Super Bowl LIII over the Los Angeles Rams.

Clayborn was born in St. Louis, Missouri.

At birth, he suffered from a condition known as Erb's Palsy, something that is caused during birth by an injury to the nerves surrounding a child's shoulder.

Because his head and neck were pulled to the side as his shoulders passed through the birth canal, he suffered nerve damage resulting in the loss of some movement and weakness in his right arm.

Clayborn underwent physical therapy throughout his young life and eventually overcame the limitations caused by the disability.

When Adrian was 10, his older brother Anthony was shot and killed in northern St. Louis.

He was survived by his seven children.

Clayborn attended high school at Webster Groves High School, where he was a four-year letterman in football and basketball.

Clayborn was drafted in the first round (20th overall) of the 2011 NFL Draft by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

Clayborn recorded his first sack in week 3 of the 2011 season against the Atlanta Falcons.

His sack on Matt Ryan also caused a fumble recovered by teammate Michael Bennett.

He finished the 2011 season with 7.5 sacks, 42 total tackles, and three forced fumbles.

In 2012, Clayborn was placed on injured reserve after injuring his knee.

He played in three games on the year.

In the 2013 season, Clayborn had 5.5 sacks, 64 total tackles, one pass defended, and two forced fumbles.

Before the 2014 season, it was announced by new general manager Jason Licht that the Buccaneers would not be picking up the fifth year option on his rookie contract.

He was also moved to the left side since the team signed Michael Johnson for the right side.

He suffered yet another season-ending injury after playing in one game.

He was placed him on IR and his future in Tampa in doubt since he would be an unrestricted free agent in 2015.

On March 12, 2015, Clayborn signed with the Atlanta Falcons.

In the 2015 season, Clayborn had three sacks, 15 total tackles, and one fumble recovery in 16 games and four starts.

On March 9, 2016, he re-signed with the Falcons on a two-year deal worth $9 million.

He played in 13 games with seven starts recording 22 tackles and 4.5 sacks.