Kenny Golladay

Kenny Golladay (born November 3, 1993) is an American football wide receiver for the Detroit Lions of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football at Northern Illinois and North Dakota, and was drafted by the Lions in the third round of the 2017 NFL Draft.

Early years
Golladay attended and played high school football at Chicago's St. Rita High School.

North Dakota
Golladay began his collegiate career at North Dakota in 2012. As a freshman, Golladay had 30 catches for 429 yards and a touchdown. In his sophomore season in 2013, Golladay had a breakout year with a team-high 69 catches for 884 yards and eight touchdowns.

Northern Illinois
After two seasons at North Dakota, Golladay transferred to Northern Illinois in 2014. He had to sit out one season per NCAA transfer rules. As a junior, Golladay had 73 catches for 1,129 yards and 10 touchdowns in 2015.

In his final collegiate season, Golladay had 87 catches for 1,156 yards and eight touchdowns in 2016.

Professional career
On December 23, 2016, it was announced that Golladay had accepted his invitation to play in the 2017 East–West Shrine Game but was not able to play after he suffered an elbow injury during Senior Bowl practice. He was one of 58 collegiate wide receivers to attend the NFL Scouting Combine in Indianapolis, Indiana. Golladay had a mediocre performance as he finished 20th among all wide receivers in the 40-yard dash and 26th in the three-cone drill. On March 10, 2017, Golladay attended Northern Illinois' pro day, but opted to stand on his combine numbers and only performed positional drills. He performed well and caught every pass as scouts and team representatives from 18 NFL teams attended. Although 13 other projects attended, Golladay was the featured prospect at the Huskies' pro day. He attended private workouts and visits with the Green Bay Packers, Detroit Lions, Pittsburgh Steelers, and New Orleans Saints. At the conclusion of the pre-draft process, Golladay was projected to be a fourth or fifth round pick by NFL draft experts and scouts. he was ranked the 21st best wide receiver in the draft by NFLDraftScout.com.

The Detroit Lions selected Golladay in the third round (96th overall) of the 2017 NFL Draft. He was the 12th wide receiver selected in 2017 and became the 39th player drafted from Northern Illinois as well as the sixth highest selection in school history.

2017
On June 19, 2017, the Detroit Lions signed Golladay to a four-year, $3.19 million contract that includes a signing bonus $718,824.

Throughout training camp, Golladay competed against T. J. Jones, Keshawn Martin, Jared Abbrederis, and Ryan Spadola for third wide receiver role. Golladay made his NFL debut in the Detroit Lions' first preseason game at the Indianapolis Colts and caught three passes for 53 receiving yards and two touchdowns in their 24-10 victory. His first preseason touchdown came on a 23-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Jake Rudock in the first quarter. Head coach Jim Caldwell named Golladay the third wide receiver on the depth chart, behind Golden Tate and Marvin Jones.

He made his professional regular season debut in the Detroit Lions' season-opener against the Arizona Cardinals and made four receptions for 69 yards and two touchdowns in the Lions' 35–23 victory. His first career touchdown came on a 10-yard pass from Matt Stafford in the fourth quarter and he also caught a 45-yard reception to seal the game. Golladay missed five games (Weeks 3-9) after suffering a strained hamstring. On December 3, 2017, Golladay earned his first career start and caught two passes for 44 yards in the Lions' 44–20 loss at the Baltimore Ravens. The next week, he had the first carry of his career for a nine-yard gain and had three receptions for 17 receiving yards in a 24–21 win at the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. in Week 17, Golladay caught two passes for a season-high 80 yards and scored a 54-yard touchdown during a 35-11 victory at the Green Bay Packers. Golladay finished the 2017 season with 28 receptions for 477 receiving yards and three touchdown receptions in 11 games and five starts. The Detroit Lions finished second in the NFC North with a 9-7 record and fired head coach Jim Caldwell at the end of the season.

2018
With new head coach Matt Patricia, Golladay started his second professional season off strong with seven receptions for 114 yards in a losing effort to the New York Jets in the season opener on Monday Night Football. After the loss to the Jets, he scored a receiving touchdown in three of the following four games. He finished the season as the Lions' leading receiver with 70 receptions for 1,063 yards and five touchdowns.