Jordan Whitehead

BIOGRAPHY

Jordan Tyler Whitehead was born on March 18, 1997, in Monaca, Pennsylvania. He is a safety in the NFL. He played college football at Pittsburgh.

Whitehead attended Central Valley High School in Monaca, Pennsylvania. In addition to playing football, he also ran track. He played on both sides of the ball for Central Valley and was a starter since his freshman year. As a senior, Whitehead caught 24 passes for 471 yards along with rushing for 1,933 yards on 148 attempts. He totaled 35 touchdowns along with tallying 97 tackles and seven interceptions. Whitehead committed to play football for the Pittsburgh Panthers on October 3, 2014, choosing the Panthers over the likes of Penn State and West Virginia.

During his high school career, he was Pennsylvania’s No. 1 overall prospect according to Rivals, earning Player of the Year honors from the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Pittsburgh Tribune-Review and Beaver Country Times, while being selected All- State Class AAA by the Pennsylvania Sports Writers, first-team All-Class AAA and Class AAA Defensive Player of the Year by by Pennsylvania Football News. Named to the Pennsylvania Football News 2014 #TeamPA, which recognizes the best players in the state regardless of school classification. He also received the Pittsburgh Athletics Association Mercury Award, honoring the top high school football player in Western Pennsylvania, and was selected to play in the Semper Fidelis All-American Bowl.

On his college career, Whitehead started 30-of-31 career games at Pittsburgh (2015-17), totaling 234 tackles (7.5 for loss), 12 passes defensed, three interceptions, three fumble recoveries, two forced fumbles and a half sack. Also saw time on offense, rushing 43 times for 362 yards (8.4 avg.) and three touchdowns. A Consensus Freshman All-American in 2015 after started 12-of-13 games, registering 109 tackles (six for loss), six passes defensed, one interception, one forced fumble, one fumble recovery (returned 22 yards for a touchdown) and a half-sack. Also rushed 12 times for 122 yards and two touchdowns.

He was named the ACC Rookie of the Year and Defensive Rooke of the Year by the Atlantic Coast Sports Media Association (ACSMA), becoming the first player to earn both awards since North Carolina cornerback Dre Bly in 1996. He was also named ACC Defensive Rookie of the Year by the league’s coaches and shared overall ACC Rookie of the Year with Pittsburgh running back Qadree Ollison. A third-team All-ACC selection by the league’s media and coaches and a three-time ACC Rookie of the Week, his 109 tackles established a new school record for a freshman. Jordan earned second-team All-ACC honors from the league’s coaches and media as a sophomore (2016), after starting nine games and tallying 65 tackles (1.5 for loss), two passes defensed, one interception (returned 59 yards for a touchdown), one forced fumble and one fumble recovery.

Jordan declared for the NFL Draft following his junior season (2017), when he started all nine games he played in, recording 60 tackles, four passes defensed, one interception and one fumble recovery. Also rushed for 142 yards and a touchdown. He earned honorable mention All-ACC honors from the league’s coaches and was named ACC Co-Defensive Back of the Week after recording a team-leading 10 tackles and a game-clinching interception in a win against Duke.

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers selected Whitehead in the fourth round (117th overall) of the 2018 NFL Draft. Whitehead was the 10th safety drafted in 2018. On May 10, 2018, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers signed Whitehead to a four-year contract. Has played in 15 games, with 11 starts, and ranked second on team with 76 tackles, including four for loss, while adding four passes defensed. Made NFL debut in reserve role at New Orleans (9/9). He Played 36 snaps in a reserve role in win vs. Philadelphia and recorded six tackles.

In March of 2022, he signed a two-year deal with the New York Jets.