John Wetzel

BIOGRAPHY

John Wetzel was born on July 18th, 1991, in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. He is an offensive tackle in the NFL. 

During high school he was a two-time All-City selection at Brashear; lined up at offensive tackle and defensive end for the Bulls. Wetzel led his team to consecutive City League titles (2007 and 2008) and paved the way for his team's 306 points in eight City League contests in 2008; the Bulls defense allowed just 83 points. He recorded 70 tackles (52 solos), including seven sacks, in his senior season. He also played on the school's basketball, volleyball, and track, and field teams.

In college, during his freshman year in 2009, he appeared in six games as a second-stringer. BC ranked 39th in the country in sacks allowed (1.54). Wetzel blocked for RB Montel Harris who had the fourth-most carries in the country (308), and the 10th-most rushing yards (1,457) and the line helped Harris record eight 100-yard games. On 2010, John made eight appearances on the year, spending much of his first two seasons as the backup to Anthony Castonzo, who was a first-round NFL draft selection. During his junior season in 2011, he started all 12 games at left tackle and played 715 snaps. The Eagles had six games with more than 100 yards rushing; including a 372-yard performance at Maryland. BC did not give up a sack and scored a season-high four rushing touchdowns versus Maryland. Wetzel helped Montel Harris eclipse BC's rushing record with a 108-yard performance against Wake Forest. At the senior season on 2012, Wetzel started all 12 games at right tackle and played 886 snaps, passing blocked for an offense that averaged 259.3 passing yards per game - the most since the 2007 team averaged 329.7 yards per game through the air, and helped in allowing Chase Rettig to throw for 300 or more yards in a game three times. He paved the way for the Eagles to rack up 542 yards of total offense (441 passing, 101 rushing) with no sacks allowed against Miami, and a run blocked for Andre Williams' 191-yard, two-touchdown rushing performance against Army.

On April 29th, 2013, Wetzel was signed as an undrafted free agent by the Oakland Raiders. He was on the practice squad from the Dallas Cowboys and the Indianapolis Colts during 2013, 2014 and 2015, right before signing with the Arizona Cardinals on December 9th, 2015. The Arizona Cardinals began starting Wetzel as their left tackle after October 31st, 2016. He started 11 games at left tackle for the Cardinals in 2017 in place of the injured D. J. Humphries.

On April 16th, 2019, Wetzel signed a one-year contract with the Atlanta Falcons.