Cameron Meredith

Cameron Meredith (born September 21, 1992) is an American football wide receiver who is a free agent. He was signed by the Chicago Bears as an undrafted free agent in 2015.[1] He played college football at Illinois State. He also played for the New Orleans Saints and New England Patriots.

Cameron Meredith
Free agent
Position:Wide receiver
Personal information
Born: (1992-09-21) September 21, 1992
Westchester, Illinois
Height:6 ft 3 in (1.91 m)
Weight:207 lb (94 kg)
Career information
High school:St. Joseph
(Westchester, Illinois)
College:Illinois State
Undrafted:2015
Career history
Career NFL statistics as of 2018
Receptions:86
Receiving yards:1,122
Receiving touchdowns:5
Player stats at NFL.com

Early years

Meredith was a three-year letter winner in football, playing at quarterback for St. Joseph High School (Westchester, Illinois). His parents are Lonnie and Tonjua Meredith.[2]

College career

Meredith attended and played college football for Illinois State. He redshirted his first season and then spent the 2011 and 2012 seasons as a backup quarterback. In 2013, he transitioned to wide receiver and led the team in receptions in both 2013 and 2014. In 2014, he led the team with 66 receptions for 1,061 yards receiving, with nine touchdowns in 15 games.[2] Being a redshirt senior with no eligibility remaining, he entered the 2015 NFL Draft, but he was not invited to the NFL Combine. He impressed scouts at the Northwestern University pro day enough to earn several free agent offers.[1]

Professional career

Chicago Bears

During the 2015 NFL Draft, Meredith was the victim of a prank call, a person pretending to be New England Patriots head coach Bill Belichick stating that the team would be taking him with the 97th overall pick; instead, the Patriots took defensive end Geneo Grissom and Meredith went undrafted.[3]

Meredith signed with the Chicago Bears as an undrafted free agent.[4]

2015 season

On September 20, 2015, Meredith recorded his first NFL reception against the Arizona Cardinals.[5] On October 11, Meredith caught a season-high four receptions for a season-high 52 yards against the Kansas City Chiefs.[6] At the end of the 2015 season, Meredith finished with 11 receptions for 120 yards.[7]

2016 season

Meredith began his second season as the Bears' fifth wide receiver on their depth chart behind Alshon Jeffery, Kevin White, Eddie Royal, and Joshua Bellamy.[8]

On September 25, 2016, he made his season debut against the Dallas Cowboys and finished with two receptions for 24 receiving yards. On October 9, 2016, Meredith received his first career start in place of Kevin White against the Indianapolis Colts and caught nine passes for 130 receiving yards and a touchdown. He caught his first career touchdown reception on a 14-yard pass from Brian Hoyer and fumbled twice, while losing one in the fourth quarter, costing the Bears the game.[9][10] The following game, he caught eleven passes for 113 receiving yards during a 17–16 loss to the Jacksonville Jaguars, his second consecutive career 100-yard game.[11][10] In Week 10, Meredith caught a season-long 50 yard touchdown reception during a 36–10 loss over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

On December 18, he caught nine passes for 104 receiving yards during a 30–27 loss to the Green Bay Packers.[12][10] The following week, Meredith caught nine passes for a season-high 135 receiving yards and a touchdown against the Washington Redskins. It marked his fourth game of the season with over 100 yards receiving.[13][10] In the Bears' 38–10 season finale loss to the Minnesota Vikings, Meredith threw his first career touchdown pass on a two-yard pass to quarterback Matt Barkley. He threw the pass to a wide open Barkley after receiving a handoff from running back Jeremy Langford, who, in turn, received it on a direct-snap.[14]

Meredith finished the 2016 season with 66 catches for 888 yards and four touchdowns.

2017 season

Meredith was the top wide receiver on the Bears' depth chart heading into the 2017 NFL season. He suffered a severe knee injury during the Bears' third preseason game against the Tennessee Titans.[15] Further medical review revealed that Meredith tore his ACL and also suffered "other damage" to his knee that will force him to miss the entire 2017 season.[16] He was placed on injured reserve on September 2, 2017.[17]

On March 12, 2018, the Bears assigned an original round tender on Meredith worth $1.907 million.[18]

New Orleans Saints

On April 6, 2018, the New Orleans Saints signed Meredith to a two-year offer sheet worth $9.6 million with $5.4 million in guarantees, giving the Bears five days to match the contract.[19] On April 11, 2018, the Bears declined to match the offer sheet, officially making Meredith a member of the Saints.[20] He was placed on injured reserve on November 8, 2018 with a knee injury.[21] In six games with the Saints in 2018, Meredith recorded just nine receptions for 114 yards and one touchdown.

On July 29, 2019, he was released by the Saints.[22]

New England Patriots

On August 2, 2019, Meredith signed a two-year contract with the New England Patriots.[23] He was put on the physically unable to perform list on August 31, 2019.[24] On October 1, 2019, he was released from PUP.[25]

Career statistics
YearTeamRecYardsAvgLngTD
2015Chicago Bears 1112010.9220
2016Chicago Bears 6688813.550T4
2018New Orleans Saints 911413.5461
Total861,12213.050T5

References
  1. "Bears' Cameron Meredith used to beating long odds". Chicago Sun-Times. August 14, 2015. Retrieved November 6, 2015.
  2. "Illinois State Athletics". Goredbirds.com. Retrieved November 6, 2015.
  3. "A Fake Bill Belichick Pranked Bears WR Cameron Meredith During The Draft". Deadspin.com. Retrieved November 6, 2015.
  4. "Bears add 15 undrafted free agents". ChicagoBears.com. Archived from the original on April 22, 2018. Retrieved May 3, 2016.
  5. LeGere, Bob (September 26, 2015). "Longshot receiver Cameron Meredith catching Bears' attention". Daily Herald. Retrieved December 25, 2016.
  6. Jahns, Adam (October 25, 2015). "Local Story: Cameron Meredith wins over hometown Bears". Chicago Sun-Times. Retrieved December 25, 2016.
  7. "Cameron Meredith: Career Stats at NFL.com". www.nfl.com. Retrieved May 3, 2016.
  8. "Ourlads.com: Chicago Bear's Depth Chart". ourlads.com. Retrieved December 28, 2016.
  9. Wiederer, Dan (October 9, 2016). "Cameron Meredith's big day for Bears marred by big turnover". chicagotribune.com. Retrieved December 9, 2016.
  10. "Cameron Meredith 100-Yard Receiving Games | The Football Database". FootballDB.com. Retrieved December 20, 2016.
  11. Krinch, Scott (October 16, 2016). "While Bears continue downward spiral, Cameron Meredith opening eyes in Chicago". CSN Chicago. Retrieved December 9, 2016.
  12. II, Gilbert R. Boucher (December 18, 2016). "Images: The Chicago Bears fall to the Green Bay Packers 30-27 in the frigid cold". Daily Herald. Retrieved December 20, 2016.
  13. Wiederer, Dan (December 24, 2016). "Turnovers, defensive ineptitude plague Bears in another lopsided loss". chicagotribune.com. Retrieved December 25, 2016.
  14. Smiley, Brett (January 1, 2017). "Matt Barkley catches touchdown after perfectly executed trick play". Foxsports.com. Retrieved January 1, 2017.
  15. Wolfe, Cameron (August 27, 2017). "Bears fear WR Cameron Meredith injured ACL vs. Titans". ESPN.com.
  16. Alper, Josh (August 28, 2017). "Cameron Meredith has torn ACL, other damage to knee". Pro-Football Talk. Retrieved August 28, 2017.
  17. Mayer, Larry (September 2, 2017). "Bears reach NFL's 53-man roster limit". ChicagoBears.com. Archived from the original on April 7, 2018.
  18. Zeglinski, Robert (March 12, 2018). "Bears assign original round tender to Cameron Meredith". Windy City Gridiron. Retrieved March 14, 2018.
  19. Lewis, Edward (April 6, 2018). "Saints signing Bears' Cameron Meredith to offer sheet". NFL.com.
  20. Sessler, Marc (April 11, 2018). "Bears not matching Cam Meredith's Saints offer sheet". NFL.com. Retrieved April 11, 2018.
  21. "Saints WR Cameron Meredith headed to IR". CanalStreetChronicles.com. November 8, 2018.
  22. Gordon, Grant (July 29, 2019). "Cameron Meredith released after 1 year with Saints". NFL.com.
  23. Patra, Kevin (August 2, 2019). "Cameron Meredith signs with New England Patriots". NFL.com.
  24. Yang, Nicole. "Patriots rumor roundup: Here's who won't make New England's 53-man roster". Boston.com. Retrieved August 31, 2019.
  25. Williams, Charean (October 1, 2019). "Patriots cut Cameron Meredith, Caleb Benenoch". ProFootballTalk.NBCSports.com. PFT. Retrieved October 1, 2019.
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