Rashaad Coward

BIOGRAPHY

Rashaad Coward was born on November 6th, 1994, in Brooklyn, New York. He is an  offensive tackle for the Chicago Bears of the NFL. 

During high school, he was rated 2-stars by Rivals.com and earned First-Team All-Brooklyn honors. He was selected MSG Varsity All-Metro Second-Team; he finished the year with 31 tackles and three sacks and helped lead his team to the second round of the PSAL City Playoffs. He was Big 44 All-Star and All-Borough All-Star, 2011 Vince Carbonaro Award Winner, Sheepshead Bay Lineman of the Year, Two-time All-City Team honors and was coached by Fred Snyder.

He played college football as a defensive end at Old Dominion.  As a freshman he saw action in 10 games at defensive tackle and recorded 13 tackles, two tackles for a loss and half a sack.

As a sophomore he appeared in all 12 games, tallying 25 tackles, 2.5 tackles for a loss and one sack; as a junior, he started all 12 games at defensive tackle. He led the DOU defensive line with 47 tackles, 2.5 tackles for a loss and 1.5 sacks and added an extra blocked point on special teams.

During his senior year, he started all 13 games at defensive tackle; he finished fourth on the team with 50 tackles, added 7.5 tackles for a loss and 1.5 sacks. He also scored a touchdown on a seven-yard fumble recovery and was named team captain.

Coward signed with the Chicago Bears as an undrafted free agent on May 11, 2017. He was waived on September 2, 2017, and was signed to the practice squad the next day. He was promoted to the active roster on December 9, 2017, and made his regular-season debut in the Week 14 game against the Cincinnati Bengals; that was the only game he played during the season.

Although Coward was a defensive end during his rookie year, head coach Matt Nagy announced that Coward would be moved to the offensive line for the 2018 season. He was an exclusive-rights free agent after the year but returned to the Bears after being tendered a contract.