Vance McDonald

Last updated

Vance McDonald
Vance McDonald 2019.jpg
McDonald in 2019
No. 89
Position: Tight end
Personal information
Born: (1990-06-13) June 13, 1990 (age 33)
Winnie, Texas, U.S.
Height:6 ft 4 in (1.93 m)
Weight:267 lb (121 kg)
Career information
High school: East Chambers (Winnie, Texas)
College: Rice (2009–2012)
NFL draft: 2013  / Round: 2 / Pick: 55
Career history
Career highlights and awards
  • First-team All-C-USA (2012)
Career NFL statistics
Receptions:181
Receiving yards:2,036
Receiving touchdowns:15
Player stats at NFL.com  ·  PFR

Vance Coman McDonald (born June 13, 1990) is a former American football tight end who played for eight seasons in the National Football League (NFL). He was drafted by the San Francisco 49ers in the second round of the 2013 NFL Draft, and spent four seasons with the team. McDonald also played four seasons with the Pittsburgh Steelers. He played college football at Rice.

Contents

Early years

McDonald was born in Winnie, Texas. He attended East Chambers High School in Winnie, and played for the East Chambers Buccaneers high school football team. [1] He was a three-year letterman, earning all-district 24-2A honors as both a tight end and defensive end as a senior. East Chambers won district titles in both his junior and senior year. He also competed in basketball and was a standout athlete for the East Chambers High School track team. He was a member of the relay team. He also had personal bests of 6.28 meters in the long jump and 12.53 meters in the triple jump. [2]

College career

McDonald attended Rice University, where he played for the Rice Owls football team from 2009 to 2012 under head coach David Bailiff. [3] [4] He earned Conference USA All-Freshman honors after catching 12 passes in his first season. [5] As a sophomore, he posted a career-high eight touchdowns, to go along with 396 yards receiving on 28 receptions. In his final two seasons, he recorded 999 receiving yards on 80 receptions and seven touchdowns. [6] He was a first-team All-Conference-USA selection at tight end as a senior. [7]

Collegiate statistics

SeasonTeamConfClassPosGPReceiving
RecYdsAvgTD
2009 Rice CUSA FRTE10121189.80
2010 Rice CUSA SOTE102839614.18
2011 Rice CUSA JRTE124353212.45
2012 Rice CUSA SRTE103645812.72
Career 421191,50412.615

Professional career

San Francisco 49ers

2013 season

Coming out of college, McDonald was projected by many analysts to be a second- to third-round selection. He was ranked the fourth-best tight end out of the 97 available in the draft by NFLDraftScout.com. McDonald was invited to the NFL Combine and was able to complete all the required workouts and positional drills. At Rice's Pro Day, he stood on his combine numbers and only participated in positional drills.

Pre-draft measurables
HeightWeightArm lengthHand span 40-yard dash 10-yard split20-yard split 20-yard shuttle Three-cone drill Vertical jump Broad jump Bench press Wonderlic
6 ft 4+18 in
(1.93 m)
267 lb
(121 kg)
34+38 in
(0.87 m)
10+18 in
(0.26 m)
4.69 s1.71 s2.81 s4.53 s7.08 s33.5 in
(0.85 m)
9 ft 11 in
(3.02 m)
31 reps30 [8]
All values from NFL Combine [9] [10]

The San Francisco 49ers selected McDonald in the second round (55th overall) of the 2013 NFL Draft. [11] He was the fourth tight end to be selected that year. [12] On May 24, 2013, the 49ers signed McDonald to a four-year, $3.59 million rookie contract with $1.92 million guaranteed and a signing bonus of $997,584. [13]

McDonald started the regular season as the second tight end on the depth chart, behind veteran Vernon Davis and ahead of Garrett Celek. In the 49ers' season opener, he caught a 25-yard pass from Colin Kaepernick for his first career reception during a 28–34 victory over the Green Bay Packers. [14] On September 22, 2013, he earned his first career start against the Indianapolis Colts and finished the loss with one catch for six receiving yards. [15]

He had a total of eight receptions for 119 receiving yards while appearing in 15 games and starting four of them during his rookie season. [16]

2014 season

On September 14, 2014, McDonald started his first game of the season during a loss to the Chicago Bears and made his first catch of the season and only one of the game for 9 yards. [17] He made his only other catch of the season during a Week 6 victory over the St. Louis Rams and finished the game with one reception for 21 receiving yards. [18] On December 9, 2014, he was placed on season-ending injured reserve with a back injury. [19]

McDonald finished his second season with two receptions for 30 yards and appeared in eight games with four starts. [20]

2015 season

He started his first and only season under new head coach Jim Tomsula as the backup to Davis once again. [21] On November 22, 2015, McDonald caught his first NFL touchdown, a 19-yard pass from Blaine Gabbert against the Seattle Seahawks. [22]

McDonald finished the 2015 season with 30 receptions, 326 receiving yards, and three touchdowns while appearing in 14 games and 11 starts. [23]

2016 season

Vance McDonald in 2016 Vance McDonald.JPG
Vance McDonald in 2016

McDonald started his first season under head coach Chip Kelly as the starting tight end for the first time in his career, as Vernon Davis was traded midway through the previous season. [24] [25] In the 49ers' season-opening victory over the Los Angeles Rams, McDonald caught two passes, one for 14 yards and an 8-yard touchdown from Blaine Gabbert. [26] The next game, he caught a career-long 75-yard touchdown from Gabbert, during a 46–27 loss to the Carolina Panthers. [27] [28] On November 6, 2016, McDonald scored a 65-yard touchdown during a 41–23 loss to the New Orleans Saints. [29]

On December 9, 2016, the 49ers signed McDonald to a five-year, $35 million extension that included $16 million guaranteed and a signing bonus of $7 million. [13] [30] [31] He was placed on injured reserve on December 12, 2016, after suffering a shoulder injury in Week 14 against the New York Jets. [32] McDonald finished the 2016 season with 24 receptions for 391 receiving yards and four receiving touchdowns. [33]

Pittsburgh Steelers

2017 season

On August 29, 2017, the 49ers traded McDonald and their 2018 fifth-round pick to the Pittsburgh Steelers in exchange for the Steelers' 2018 fourth-round pick. [34]

McDonald began the regular season as the backup tight end behind Jesse James. [35] On September 10, McDonald made his Steelers debut in a 21–18 victory over the Cleveland Browns. [36] In his first season with the Steelers, he recorded 14 receptions for 188 receiving yards and a touchdown. [37] In the Divisional Round against the Jacksonville Jaguars, he had ten receptions for 112 receiving yards in the 45–42 loss. [38]

2018 season

During Monday Night Football against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in Week 3, McDonald finished with a career-high 112 receiving yards, including a 75-yard touchdown, as the Steelers won 30–27. [39] In Weeks 10–11, he recorded receiving touchdowns against both the Carolina Panthers and Jacksonville Jaguars. [40] [41]

McDonald finished the 2018 season with 50 receptions for 610 yards and four touchdowns. [42]

2019 season

In week 2 against the Seattle Seahawks, McDonald caught seven passes for 38 yards and two touchdowns as the Steelers lost 26–28. [43] In the 2019 season, McDonald had 38 receptions for 273 receiving yards and three receiving touchdowns in 14 games. [44]

2020 season

McDonald was placed on the reserve/COVID-19 list by the team on November 9, 2020, [45] and was activated on November 24. [46] He had 15 receptions for 99 receiving yards in 14 games. [47]

On January 22, 2021, McDonald announced his retirement after eight seasons in the league. [48]

NFL career statistics

YearTeamGamesReceiving
GPGSRecYdsAvgLngTD
2013 SF 154811914.9250
2014 SF 8423015.0210
2015 SF 14113032610.9363
2016 SF 11112439116.375T4
2017 PIT 1071418813.4281
2018 PIT 15145061012.275T4
2019 PIT 1414382737.2223
2020 PIT 141215996.6150
Total 101771812,03611.37515

Personal life

McDonald is married to Kendi McDonald. They have three children. McDonald is a Christian and the pair are supporters of Convoy of Hope. [49]

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