Tony Dye

Anthony Scott "Tony" Dye (born February 11, 1990) is a former American football free safety. He played college football at UCLA. He was signed by the Cincinnati Bengals as an undrafted free agent in 2012, coming off a broken neck at UCLA. After missing the entire 2012 season due to ankle surgery, Dye was activated against the Cleaveland Browns the following year, scoring a touchdown for Cincinnati on a 24-yard return of a blocked punt in his NFL debut.

Tony Dye
No. 44
Position:Free safety
Personal information
Born: (1990-02-11) February 11, 1990
San Jose, California
Height:6 ft 0 in (1.83 m)
Weight:205 lb (93 kg)
Career information
High school:Corona (CA) Santiago
College:UCLA
Undrafted:2012
Career history
 * Offseason and/or practice squad member only
Career NFL statistics
Touchdowns:1
Tackles:1
Interceptions:0
Sacks:0
Forced Fumbles:0
Player stats at NFL.com

Dye was the defensive coordinator for the Norco High School Varsity football team in Norco, California for 4 years. He then took the job as Defensive Coordinator at San Bernardino Valley College. Most recently he completed a coaching fellowship with the SF 49ers.

Early years

Anthony Scott Dye, commonly known as "Tony," attended Santiago High School in Corona, California. He was a PrepStar Dream Team selection in high school.[1] He was selected to the SuperPrep All-American team.[1] He was selected and participated in the Under Armour All-America Game.[1] He was ranked the 9th nationally prospect at cornerback by Scout.com.[1] He was selected to the All-State second team by Cal-Hi Sports.[1]

College career

Dye played college football at UCLA where he wore the number 6. He was named co-winner of UCLA's Henry R. "Red" Sanders Award for Most Valuable Player in his junior season.[1] He was named as an Pac-10 honorable mention in his junior season.[1]

A serious injury struck Dye during his senior season, when he fractured his neck in practice.[2] The injury caused Dye to miss all but three games during his senior year, and took away any chance of being selected in the 2011 NFL draft.[2]

Professional career

Cincinnati Bengals

On May 2, 2012, Dye signed with the Cincinnati Bengals as an undrafted free agent.[3] On August 31, 2012, he was placed on Injured Reserve due to ankle injury in which causing him to miss the entire 2012 NFL season.[4] On August 31, 2013, he was released by the Bengals.

In September 2013 Dye resigned with Bengals, joining the team's practice squad.[5] On November 16, 2013, Dye was promoted to the active roster for a Week 11 game against the Cleveland Browns.[6]

Playing on special teams in the Cleveland game, Dye was charged with obstructing the speedy "gunner" at the outside of the line of the punting team near the line of scrimmage.[2] During the second quarter, Dye's Bengals teammate Jayson DiManche got his hand on a Browns punt, sending the ball sideways towards Dye.[2] Dye managed to scoop up the ball and return it 24 yards down the sideline to score a Cincinnati touchdown, en route to a 41-20 Bengals victory.[2] Dye was again deactivated for the Bengals' next game and never saw NFL game action again.[2]

On December 12, 2013, the Bengals waived Dye.[7]

2014 season

After his release by the Bengals, Dye visited the New York Giants in an effort to sign on with the club, but team physicians discovered a previously undiagnosed heart condition which prevented the Giants from offering him a contract.[2] Dye returned home to Los Angeles, only to be the called the next day by the Oakland Raiders, who invited him to try out with Oakland.[2]

Dye was signed by the Raiders as a reserve/future free agent on January 14, 2014,[8] but on May 14 he opted to medically retire, ending his NFL career as a player.

Coaching career

After leaving the NFL, Dye made the acquaintance of the head coach of the Norco High School team while picking a younger brother up at practice.[2] Dye was ultimately hired to a coaching position as defensive coordinator of the Norco squad and remained for 4 years.[2] He then took the job as Defensive Coordinator with San Bernardino Valley College for one year. Most recently he served in a coaching fellowship with the SF 49ers

Footnotes
  1. "UCLA Bruins Profile". uclabruins.com.
  2. Ben Shpigel, "One Game to Remember. Just One," New York Times, Nov. 22, 2017.
  3. "Cincinnati Bengals Announce Undrafted Free Agent Signings". cincyjungle.com. Retrieved May 2, 2012.
  4. "Tony Dye". kffl.com. Archived from the original on December 5, 2014. Retrieved August 31, 2012.CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
  5. "Bengals sign S Tony Dye to practice squad". espn.go.com. Retrieved September 24, 2013.
  6. "Bengals promote Tony Dye, cut Chris Lewis-Harris". sports.yahoo.com. Retrieved November 16, 2013.
  7. Roster move: We have signed CB Chris Lewis-Harris from the practice squad and waived S Tony Dye. #Bengals
  8. Raiders attempted to re-sign Dye to a Reserve/Future Contract
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