Donte Stallworth

Donte Lamar Stallworth is a is a National Football League wide receiver for the New England Patriots. Was born on November 10, 1980 in Sacramento, California. He is 6 feet tall and weighs 196 pounds.

High School Football
Donte was voted California Player of the Year by California couches.... Played both defense back and wide receiver while attending Grant High School in Sacramento, California.

College Football
Donte attended the University of Tennessee and played wide receiver for the college football Tennessee Volunteers. As a sophomore (2000), he had a productive season as he caught 35 passes for 519 yards and two touchdowns. His 2001 junior year was very productive as well. In 2001, he started seven games and played in nine had 49 receptions for 940 yards and 10 touchdowns. In 2002 however, Donte opted to enter the NFL Draft instead of playing in what would have been his senior year with the Volunteers.

NFL Career
In 2002 Donte Stallworth was picked by the New Orleans Saints in the first round of the NFL Draft (13th overall). He had a productive four years with the Saints. Not only was he a realistic threat to make big plays but he was also an effective endzone target for Aaron Brooks (New Orleans quarterback during Stallworth's tenure as a Saint). During those four years he had a total of 195 receptions for 2791 yards and 23 touchdowns. Struggles with some character and team needs issues lead to Donte being traded to the Philadelphia Eagles in 2006 for a forth round draft pick and Philly linebacker Mark Simoneau. Despite fighting injures all season long in 2006, Stallworth still was very productive for the Eagles in the 12 games that he appeared in. In the 2006 season, Donte caught 38 passes for 725 and 5 touchdowns. He also had an incredible average of 19.1 yards per reception. In the 2006 playoffs he also caught a 75 yard pass for a touchdown from Eagles quarterback Jeff Garcia in the Division Playoff matchup. The touchdown put the Eagles ahead but they ended up loseing the game. Stallworth was entering the last year of his contract with the Saints when they traded him to the Eagles in 2006 and his contract expired as soon as the 2007 March free agency period began. He received offers for contracts from the Miami Dolphins, Tennessee Titans and New England Patriots. Even though the Titans offered him the most money, Donte chose to sign with the Patriots. He later said that taking to former and current Patriot players such as Deion Branch, Ty Law and Tebucky Jones helped him to make his decision to join the Patriots; plus he would be signing with a team at a very really chance of winning a Super Bowl. The deal that he signed with the Patriots is reportly worth up to 30 million and could last as long as 6 years.

Controversy
In 2006 the Philadelphia Inquirer reported that Stallworth was on the NFL's substance abuse program. Whether the substance abuse he was reportly put on the program for was intentional or not (some common over the counter drugs contain NFL prohibited substances), if he tests positive again the for any illegal substance he could possibly face a four game suspension.

Related Sites
* NFL Stats
* College Stats

Source Material
* Patriots Bio
* Philly Trade Report
* ESPN - Signs with Patriots
* Boston Globe - Interview