- Willie Ponder
NFL player
Color=#132456
fontcolor=#B8860B
DateOfBirth=birth date and age|1980|2|14
Birthplace=flagicon|USATulsa, Oklahoma
College=Southeast Missouri State
Position=Wide receiver Kick returner
DraftedYear=2003
DraftedRound=6
DraftedPick=199
years=2003-2005
2006
2006-"present"
teams=New York Giants Seattle Seahawks St. Louis Rams
Stats=y
DatabaseFootball=PONDEWIL01
CBS=396064Willie Columbus Ponder (born
February 14 ,1980 inTulsa, Oklahoma ) is anAmerican football wide receiver andkick returner currently playing for theSt. Louis Rams in theNational Football League .Pro career
He was originally a 6th round (199th pick overall) draft choice from
Southeast Missouri State University by theNew York Giants in the2003 NFL Draft . He has contributed askickoff returner in 2004, when he led the NFL with a kickoff return average of 26.9 yards, the first Giant to lead the NFL in average kickoff return yardage sinceClarence Childs in 1964 (David Meggett led the NFC in 1990). For New York, he returned two kickoffs for touchdowns, the first coming against the Pittsburgh Steelers in 2004 and second coming in the 2005 season opener against Arizona. Ponder was benched ten games into the 2005 season despite a kickoff return average of 25.9 yards, in favor ofChad Morton . This led to a decline in the success of Giants special teams. He has lost twofumble s in his career to date, and scored twotouchdowns on kick returns as well. He was released onSeptember 2 ,2006 . He was signed by the Seattle Seahawks onSeptember 5 , 2006 and released onOctober 24 , 2006. He was on the St. Louis Rams for the 2006 season but was not signed for2007 .
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