Dré Bly

Donald André Bly (born May 22, 1977) is a former American football cornerback who played in the National Football League (NFL) for eleven seasons. He played college football for the University of North Carolina (UNC), and earned All-American honors twice. Bly was drafted by the St. Louis Rams in the second round of the 1999 NFL Draft, and spent four seasons with the Rams, earning a Super Bowl ring with them in Super Bowl XXXIV over the Tennessee Titans. He was selected to two Pro Bowls during his four-year tenure with the Detroit Lions, and also played for the Denver Broncos and San Francisco 49ers.[1]

Dré Bly
Bly with the Denver Broncos in 2007
North Carolina Tar Heels
Position:Cornerbacks coach
Personal information
Born: (1977-05-22) May 22, 1977
Chesapeake, Virginia
Height:5 ft 10 in (1.78 m)
Weight:185 lb (84 kg)
Career information
High school:Chesapeake (VA) Western Branch
College:North Carolina
NFL Draft:1999 / Round: 2 / Pick: 41
Career history
As player:
 * Offseason and/or practice squad member only
As coach:
Career highlights and awards
Career NFL statistics
Total tackles:484
Sacks:5.0
Forced fumbles:20
Fumble recoveries:9
Interceptions:43
Total touchdowns:8
Player stats at NFL.com
Player stats at PFR

He currently serves as the cornerbacks coach for the University of North Carolina Tar Heels football team.

Early years

Bly was born in Portsmouth, Virginia. He graduated from Western Branch High School in Chesapeake, where he was an all-state high school football player as well as a decorated baseball player for Western Branch Bruins.

College career

Bly attended the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where he played for the North Carolina Tar Heels football team. In his redshirt freshman season at UNC, he led the nation with 11 interceptions. He received all-American honors, and at the time was only one of five players in NCAA history to achieve this honor as a freshman (Tony Dorsett, Herschel Walker, Bjorn Merten, and Marshall Faulk being the others).[2] Bly was the only football player in UNC and Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) history to receive consensus first-team All-America honors twice in his college career. In his sophomore year, he was one of three finalists for the Bronko Nagurski National Defensive Player of the Year Award. Bly set the ACC record for career interceptions (20), which was later broken by Alphonso Smith of Wake Forest (21).[3][4] He was elected to the College Football Hall of Fame in 2014.[5]

Professional career

Pre-draft
Pre-draft measurables
Height Weight 40-yard dash 10-yard split 20-yard split 20-yard shuttle Three-cone drill Vertical jump Broad jump Bench press Wonderlic
5 ft 9 7⁄8 in
(1.77 m)		 186 lb
(84 kg)		 4.51 s 1.58 s 2.63 s 4.09 s 7.10 s 35 1⁄2 in
(0.90 m)		 9 ft 8 in
(2.95 m)		 x reps x
All values from NFL Combine[6]

St. Louis Rams

The St. Louis Rams selected Bly in the second round of the 1999 NFL Draft. Bly started his career in St. Louis, playing there for four years. While with the Rams, Bly won a Super Bowl ring for Super Bowl XXXIV. Two years later in Super Bowl XXXVI, the Rams lost to the New England Patriots, marking Bly's second Super Bowl with St. Louis.

First stint with Lions

In 2003, Bly left the St. Louis Rams and signed as a free agent with the Detroit Lions. He made the Pro Bowl in two of his seasons with the team. Bly was the 2003 recipient of the Detroit Lions/Detroit Sports Broadcasters Association/Pro Football Writers Association's Media-Friendly "Good Guy" Award. The Good Guy Award is given yearly to the Detroit Lions player who shows consideration to, and cooperation with the media at all times during the course of the season.

On November 29, 2005, the day after Lions head coach Steve Mariucci was fired, Bly told the NFL Network that if their back-up quarterback, Jeff Garcia, had been healthy the entire season, the Lions would be in a better situation, and Mariucci would still be coaching the team. He has since apologized, albeit not to Joey Harrington, the Lions starting quarterback that season.

Denver Broncos

On March 1, 2007, Bly was traded by the Detroit Lions to the Denver Broncos for running back Tatum Bell, offensive tackle George Foster, and a 5th round draft pick. On March 28, 2007, the Denver Broncos and Bly agreed to a 5-year, $33 million contract. The contract included $18 million in bonus money and $16 million guaranteed.[7] Bly finished the 2007 season as the Broncos leader in interceptions with five.

The Broncos restructured Bly's contract on February 18, 2008 to free up salary cap space and keep Bly on the team. As of December 1, 2008, Bly had a total of 98 tackles and 7 interceptions with the Broncos.[8]

The Broncos released Bly on February 17, 2009.[9]

San Francisco 49ers

On May 21, 2009, Bly signed a one-year, $845,000 contract with the San Francisco 49ers.

Second stint with Lions

On July 2, 2010, Bly re-signed with the Detroit Lions. Bly was released on September 4, 2010.

NFL career statistics
YearTeamGPCombSoloAsstSacksFFFRYdsIntYdsAvgLngTDPD
1999STL 16191630.000035317.65318
2000STL 16433941.000034414.622010
2001STL 16292720.0110615025.09329
2002STL 16595451.0420200.00020
2003DET 14554781.052068914.848115
2004DET 13383260.0000410726.855119
2005DET 12423840.03106549.028015
2006DET 16574980.04103134.38018
2007DEN 165141101.000057114.237014
2008DEN 16625480.0100252.5508
2009SF 16292631.022236622.031013
Career167484423615.020924365215.2935149

[10]

Coaching career

In October 2018, Bly was named the defensive backs coach for the San Diego Fleet of the Alliance of American Football.[11] However, in December, he joined the North Carolina Tar Heels coaching staff as their cornerbacks coach.[12]

Personal life

Bly and his wife Kristyn, have four sons: Trey, Jordan, AJ, and Emanuel and a daughter, Peyton.[13] Bly also has an older sister Donna Mitchell, who is a high school teacher. Bly was voted into the Virginia Sports Hall of Fame in January 2017.[14]

References
  1. LaCanfora, Jason (November 21, 2011). "Jason LaCanfora's Twitter account". Twitter.com. Retrieved November 21, 2011. Former Pro Bowl CB Dre' Bly is retiring, according to his agent, Kennard McGuire. Former Super Bowl winner was most recently with Detroit
  2. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on April 7, 2005. Retrieved April 20, 2005.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  3. "University of North Carolina Athletics - Official Athletics Website". Archived from the original on December 10, 2007. Retrieved November 20, 2008.
  4. "Wake Forest Closes Season with 23-10 win over Vanderbilt". Archived from the original on December 2, 2008. Retrieved November 30, 2008.
  5. National Football Foundation (May 22, 2014). "NFF Proudly Announces Impressive 2014 College Football Hall of Fame Class". FootballFoundation.org. Retrieved May 22, 2014.
  6. NFL Draftscout.com
  7. ESPN - Broncos sign Bly to five-year, $33M contract - NFL
  8. Williamson, Bill. "Elam remains unsigned priority - The Denver Post". Denver Post.
  9. Broncos release Bly after two seasons. Retrieved on February 17, 2009.
  10. "Dre' Bly Stats". ESPN. ESPN Internet Ventures. Retrieved June 19, 2014.
  11. Krasovic, Tom (October 11, 2018). "San Diego Fleet hires former SDSU and Rams star". The San Diego Union-Tribune. Retrieved November 3, 2018.
  12. Alexander, Jonathan (December 11, 2018). "New coach Dré Bly, a former star cornerback, remembers his UNC 'rude boy' days (it's a mindset)". The News & Observer. Retrieved December 12, 2018.
  13. .Denver Broncos Bio
  14. https://pilotonline.com/sports/other/dre-bly-beth-anders-voted-into-virginia-sports-hall-of/article_57187b02-55d1-51e6-987e-3d8ddd7d1028.html
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