Earl Watford

Earl Watford (born June 24, 1990) is a former American football guard.

Watford attended James Madison University in Harrisonburg, Virginia, where he played for the James Madison Dukes football team from 2008 to 2012.

He started in 37 games over his college career, and was a first-team All-Colonial Athletic Association (CAA) selection as a junior in 2011, and again as a senior in 2012.

He played college football at James Madison, and was drafted by the Arizona Cardinals in the fourth round of the 2013 NFL Draft.

He attended Simon Gratz High School in Philadelphia, and played high school football for the Gratz Bulldogs.

He was a first-team all-city selection as a senior, and was named to the second-team All-Decade Public Team on the defensive line by the Philadelphia News.

Watford did not begin playing football until his junior year and played defensive end for Simon Gratz High School.

Head coach Mickey Matthews stated that the main reason they recruited Watford was his large size.

He was originally recruited as a defensive end, but the coaching staff realized he would be better suited to be an offensive linemen.

On January 8, 2013, it was announced that Watford had accepted his invitation to play in the 2013 East–West Shrine Game.

On January 19, 2013, Watford played for former Atlanta Falcons' head coach Jerry Glanville's East team that lost 28-13 to the West.

Watford was one of 57 collegiate offensive linemen to attend the NFL Scouting Combine in Indianapolis, Indiana.

He completed all of the combine drills and finished fifth among all offensive linemen in the vertical and ninth in the 40-yard dash.

On March 18, 2013, Watford attended James Madison's pro day, but chose to stand on his combine numbers and only perform positional and blocking drills.

During the draft process, attended private workouts and meetings with a few teams, including the Philadelphia Eagles, Cleveland Browns, and Arizona Cardinals.

At the conclusion of the pre-draft process, NFL draft experts and scouts projected Watford would be a fourth or fifth round pick.

He was ranked the seventh best offensive guard in the draft by NFLDraftScout.com.

The Arizona Cardinals selected Watford in the fourth round (116th overall) of the 2013 NFL Draft.

On June 4, 2013, the Arizona Cardinals signed Watford to a four-year, $2.59 million contract.

Throughout training camp, Watford competed against Chilo Rachal, Daryn Colledge, Jonathan Cooper, Paul Fanaika, Mike Gibson, and Senio Kelemete for the starting offensive guard role.

Head coach Bruce Arians named Watford the backup offensive guard behind starters Daryn College and Paul Fanaika to begin the regular season.

Watford spent the entire 2013 season on the bench and was inactive for all 16 regular season games.

The following season, Watford competed against Jonathan Cooper for the vacant starting left guard role after the departure of Daryn College to the Miami Dolphins in free agency.

Watford and Cooper were named the backup offensive guards behind starters Paul Fanaika and Ted Larsen to start the regular season.

Watford was the 14th player ever selected in the NFL Draft from James Madison.

He also became the fourth highest selection in the school's history.

Earlier in the draft, the Arizona Cardinals also selected North Carolina's guard Jonathan Cooper in the first round (seventh overall).

On September 18, 2014, he made his professional regular season debut during the Arizona Cardinals' 25-14 victory over the New York Giants.

He missed five games during the season (Weeks 8-12) after suffering a high ankle sprain.

He finished the season with ten games and zero starts as the Arizona Cardinals finished second in the NFC West with an 11-5 record.

On January 3, 2015, Watford played in his first career playoff game as the Arizona Cardinals lost to the Carolina Panthers 27-16 in the NFC Wildcard game.

During the off season, the Arizona Cardinals saw the departure of Paul Fanaika, signed free agent guard Mike Iupati, and moved Ted Larsen to center.

With Iupati slated as the starting right guard, Watford competed against Jonathan Cooper for the vacant starting left guard position.

In an unexpected move, the Arizona Cardinals named Watford the starting right tackle, ahead of Bradley Sowell.

He would replace Bobby Massie who was in the midst of serving a two-game suspension after an incident during the week of the Super Bowl.

He made his first career start in the Arizona Cardinals' season-opening 31-19 victory over the New Orleans Saints.

On December 8, 2015, the Cardinals placed Watford on injured/reserve after he suffered a hand injury, effectively ending his season.

He finished the season with two starts and appeared in eight games.

Watford also missed three games during the season (Weeks 6-8).

The Arizona Cardinals signed Evan Mathis to be the starting offensive guard opposite Mike Iupati.