Chad Greenway

Chad Greenway (born January 12, 1983) is an American football linebacker for the Minnesota Vikings of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football for the University of Iowa. He was chosen in the first round of the 2007 NFL Draft by the Vikings.

College career
Greenway redshirted his freshman season in 2001 at the University of Iowa. As a redshirt freshman in 2002, he suffered a knee injury that required surgery and did not play in the first four games.

In 2003, he started at outside linebacker in all 13 games and was named second team All-Big Ten. Greenway was named the Big Ten Conference co-Defensive Player of the Week vs. Arizona State, and won the Hustle Team Award at Iowa.

In 2004, he was named a first team All-American by Pro Football Weekly, a second team All-American by CNNSI.com, and a third team All-American by CollegeSportsReport.com. Within the conference, Greenway was named first team All-Big Ten and selected as a first team all-Big Ten player by Collegefootballnews.com. Greenway was selected by the team as Iowa's Special Teams Player of the Year, won the Hustle Team Award for defense, and was one of three juniors selected to the team Leadership Council for 2004 season.

In 2005, Greenway was named Preseason All-America by The Sporting News, NationalChamps.net, and was named to the preseason honorable mention All-America squad selected by NationalChamps.net. He was ranked as the #2 outside linebacker by The Sporting News, and named to Bronko Nagurski Watch List and Lott Trophy Watch List.

Minnesota Vikings
Chad Greenway entered the 2006 NFL Draft, where he was drafted by the Vikings with the 17th pick in the first round. Greenway selected #52 as his jersey number for the Minnesota Vikings. In training camp, he was listed as a second string linebacker on the depth chart.

In Minnesota's first preseason game against Oakland, Greenway tore his ACL playing special teams on a kickoff return. He missed the entire 2006 NFL season with the injury. Greenway started the 2007 season as the Minnesota Vikings starting weakside linebacker. In Greenway's first NFL game on September 9, 2007 against the Atlanta Falcons Greenway recorded 10 tackles. Greenway completed the 2007 season with 105 tackles with two forced fumbles along with two interceptions with one touchdown. In 2008, Greenway had another impressive season finishing with 5.5 sacks and led the team with 115 tackles. He also deflected 5 passes.

On February 21, 2011, the Vikings announces that Greenway was designated as their franchise player for 2011. Greenway was selected to his first Pro Bowl after a career-high 154 tackles, 13 tackles for loss, 2 sacks and a fumble recovery during the 2011 season.

On October 5, 2012, Greenway was fined $21,000 for unnecessary roughness. He struck Calvin Johnson head and neck area.

Personal
Greenway married in July 2006 to Jennifer Capista, a former track and field athlete at Iowa. The couple had a daughter, Maddyn, in summer 2007.