Former College Football National Champion Retires From Football
A former two-time College Football National Champion has called it a career. Former Alabama Crimson Tide and Miami Dolphins running back Kenyan Drake has announced his retirement from the NFL. The 30-year-old played four seasons with Alabama and ten seasons in the National Football League.
Kenyan Drake Wraps Up NFL Career After Eighth Stint In League
Kenyan Drake was drafted out of Alabama in the third round of the 2016 NFL Draft. This followed a four-year collegiate career where he was the backup running back, but he also helped the Crimson Tide win the 2012 BCS National Championship and 2015 CFB National Championship.
In his first year and a half in Miami, he was the backup to Jay Ajayi. Following Ajayi’s trade to the Philadelphia Eagles in 2017, Drake eventually took over the starting role for the rest of the season, where he had 644 rushing yards and three touchdowns.
Expected as the starting back in 2018, his snaps were limited as future Hall of Famer Frank Gore eventually led the team in rushing yards. Nonetheless, Drake’s role in the passing game earned him a career-high 1,012 combined rushing and receiving yards, along with nine total touchdowns. Drake was the hero on the famous “Miami Miracle” play, scoring the game-winning touchdown off a lateral.
The Dolphins eventually traded Drake in 2019 during the team’s “fire sale.” The team was far out of the playoff race, so he was traded to the Arizona Cardinals. His career would be positively impacted in the desert as he recorded 1,598 rushing yards in his first 21 games with the team.
With the signing of James Connor, Drake’s role diminished, and he was not re-signed in Arizona. He would later sign with the Las Vegas Raiders and bounce from team to team for the rest of his career. He last played in 2023 for the Baltimore Ravens and Green Bay Packers, where he recorded two rushing attempts.
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