Tim Crowder

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Tim Crowder
Crowder with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in 2009
No. 96
PositionDefensive end
Personal information
Born (1985-06-30) June 30, 1985 (age 40)
Tyler, Texas, U.S.
Height6 ft 4 in (1.93 m)
Weight260 lb (118 kg)
Career information
High schoolJohn Tyler (Tyler, Texas)
CollegeTexas
NFL draft2007: 2nd round, 56th overall pick
Career history
Awards and highlights
Career NFL statistics
Total tackles105
Sacks10.5
Forced fumbles2
Fumble recoveries4
Defensive touchdowns1
Stats at Pro Football Reference

Timothy C. Crowder (born June 30, 1985) is an American former professional football player who was a defensive end with the Denver Broncos and Tampa Bay Buccaneers in the National Football League (NFL) from 2007 to 2011. He won a college football championship with the Texas Longhorns and was selected by the Broncos in the second round of the 2007 NFL draft.

Early life

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Crowder attended John Tyler High School where he primarily played defensive end and posted 127 tackles, 22 tackles for loss (TFLs) and 14 sacks in his final two seasons.

College career

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Crowder played college football at the University of Texas at Austin for the Longhorns from 2003 to 2006.

As a freshman, he played in all 13 games and started 9 at left defensive end. For the season, he recorded 35 tackles, 3 TFLs, one sack, one interception, 14 pressures, five passes deflected and two forced fumbles. Following the season, he was named third-team Freshman All America by the Sporting News and shared UT's Outstanding Newcomer of the Year award. He helped the Longhorns make it the 2003 Holiday Bowl, in which he had an interception, and finish ranked #12 in the AP Poll.

As a sophomore, he started all 12 games at left defensive end. For the season, he recorded 47 tackles, 10 TFLs, one forced fumble, 22 quarterback pressures and a team leading 4.5 sacks.[1] He was named honorable mention All-Big 12 by the Associated Press. He was a starter in the 2005 Rose Bowl where he recorded two tackles and the Longhorns beat #13 Michigan.[2]

As a junior in 2005, he started all 13 games, including the Big 12 and BCS championship games, at left defensive end. He led the team with 20 QB pressures, while recording 50 tackles, nine TFLs, three sacks, an interception and, a forced fumble. He was a first-team All-Big 12 selection by the league's coaches, a second-team All-Big 12 selection by The Kansas City Star, an honorable mention All-Big 12 pick by the Associated Press, and a member of the Ted Hendricks Award watch list. He helped the Longhorns win the Big 12 Championship and recorded 4 tackles to help Texas upset #1 USC and win the 2005 BCS Championship.[3]

In his senior year in 2006, he was a team captain and started all 13 games at defensive end, including the 2006 Alamo Bowl. He was 3rd in the Big 12 with 14 TFLs, 4th with 8.5 sacks and 4th with 3 fumbles forced. He also recorded 32 tackles, 2 pass deflections and led the team with 19 tackles for a loss (TFL), 4 forced fumbles and 10.5 sacks.[1][4] Against Rice that year, he set the school record, and tied the Big 12 Conference record, for TFLs with 7 and also scored a touchdown on a fumble recovery.[1][5] He was chosen as first team All-Big 12 by the AP and second team by the coaches and was twice named the conference's defensive player of the week.[5][6]

When his college career was over, he played in the 2006 Senior Bowl.[6]

Professional career

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Pre-draft measurables
Height Weight 40-yard dash 10-yard split 20-yard split 20-yard shuttle Three-cone drill Vertical jump Broad jump Bench press Wonderlic
6 ft 3+1⁄2 in
(1.92 m) 		272 lb
(123 kg) 		4.69 s 1.59 s 2.71 s 4.43 s 7.28 s 30+1⁄2 in
(0.77 m)		 9 ft 3 in
(2.82 m)		 32 reps 30

Denver Broncos

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Crowder was selected in the second round (56th overall) of the 2007 NFL draft by the Denver Broncos to fit into new defensive coordinator Jim Bates system.[7][8] He was the second defensive end selected by the club in that draft, and the second player to come from a recent BCS Championship team.[9]

In his rookie year he played in 13 games with 1 start after missing the first three games with an ankle injury.[10] On October 21, 2007, against the Pittsburgh Steelers on Sunday Night Football, Crowder returned a recovered fumble 50 yards for his first and only career touchdown after Ben Roethlisberger was strip sacked by Elvis Dumervil, as Denver would go on to win 31–28. He finished his rookie year with 16 tackles, 1 forced fumble, 3 TFLs, 3 QB hits, 2 fumble recoveries and 4.0 sacks.

In 2008, Bates left the Broncos and Crowder found his role significantly reduced. He played in only 6 games, recording 1 tackle and 2 QB hits.[11][7]

He was waived by the Broncos at the final cutdown after camp on September 5, 2009.

Tampa Bay Buccaneers

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Crowder was signed by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on September 14, 2009. In his first year with the Buccaneers, he played in 15 games with 4 starts and recorded a career high 43 tackles, including 37 solo tackles anda career-high 7 QB hits.

The 2010 season was Crowder's most productive. He set career highs for games played (16), starts (9), fumbles forced (1), assists on tackles (9) and tackles for loss (4) as the Bucs went 10-6 and missed the playoffs on the strength of schedule tie-breaker. In a highlight for the season, crowder recovered a Drew Brees fumble to set up the game-winning touchdown against New Orleans.[12]

In 2011, Crowder played in 10 of the Buccaneers first 12 games, but suffered a head injury against Carolina on December 5th and finished the season on the injured reserve.[13]

He was released in the early offseason, on March 22, 2012.[14]

He had tryouts with the New Orleans Saints in September 2012, the Patriots in December 2012 and the Jacksonville Jaguars, at their mini-camp, in June 2013 but never signed with another NFL team.[15][16][17]

NFL career statistics

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Legend
Bold Career high
Year Team Games Tackles Interceptions Fumbles
GP GS Cmb Solo Ast Sck TFL Int Yds TD Lng PD FF FR Yds TD
2007 DEN 13 1 16 13 3 4.0 3 0 0 0 0 0 1 2 50 1
2008 DEN 6 0 1 1 0 0.0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
2009 TAM 15 4 43 37 6 3.5 2 0 0 0 0 2 0 1 0 0
2010 TAM 16 9 31 22 9 3.0 4 0 0 0 0 4 1 1 0 0
2011 TAM 10 0 14 10 4 0.0 2 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0
60 14 105 83 22 10.5 11 0 0 0 0 7 2 4 50 1

Later Life

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After retiring from football in 2013, Crowder created a training company called Nuclear Athletes in Round Rock, Texas[18].

References

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  1. ^ a b c "Texas Football Record Book" (PDF). Retrieved November 14, 2025.
  2. ^ "Texas vs MICHIGAN (Jan 01, 2005)". Retrieved November 13, 2025.
  3. ^ "Rose Bowl - Texas at USC Box Score, January 4, 2006". Retrieved November 13, 2025.
  4. ^ "Tim Crowder College Stats". Retrieved November 12, 2025.
  5. ^ a b "Big 12 2025 Football Record Book" (PDF). Retrieved November 14, 2025.
  6. ^ a b "Texas Football History and Honors" (PDF). Retrieved November 13, 2025.
  7. ^ a b Kils, Mike. "Mailbag: Plea for Pittman to carry load". The Denver Post. Retrieved November 17, 2025.
  8. ^ "2007 NFL Draft Listing". Pro-Football-Reference.com. Retrieved May 11, 2023.
  9. ^ Broncos Take Crowder in Round 2 BroncoTalk. Retrieved on 2007-07-12
  10. ^ "2008 Denver Broncos - Breaking Down The Roster #4 - Defensive End". Retrieved November 14, 2025.
  11. ^ "Tim Crowder". Retrieved November 17, 2025.
  12. ^ Martel, Brett (January 2, 2011). "Freeman leads Bucs past Saints, 23-13". Houma Today. Retrieved November 19, 2025.
  13. ^ "Black Promoted as Crowder Hits I.R." Retrieved November 19, 2025.
  14. ^ Buccaneers sign OT Meredith, cut DEs Crowder, Reed Archived 2012-03-25 at the Wayback Machine
  15. ^ Crow, Alfie. "Jaguars to host Tim Crowder, 3 other players for try out". Retrieved November 20, 2025.
  16. ^ @@blacketernals (September 19, 2012). "The #Saints are bracing for Will Smith being gone by working out veteran DE's" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
  17. ^ @@tomecurran (December 3, 2012). "The Patriots worked out DL Marcus Benard, DL Tim Crowder, LB Brian Rolle and LB Quinton Spears on Monday" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
  18. ^ Golden, Cedric (April 6, 2017). "Golden: Tim Crowder has turned his love of training into a post-NFL career". Retrieved November 20, 2025.
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