John Clay (offensive tackle)

{{Short description|American football player (born 1964)}}

{{Use mdy dates|date=June 2024}}

{{Infobox NFL biography

| name = John Clay

| number = 78, 77

| position = Offensive tackle

| birth_date = {{Birth date and age|1964|5|1|mf=y}}

| birth_place = St. Louis, Missouri, U.S.

| height_ft = 6

| height_in = 5

| weight_lb = 300

| high_school = Cedar Hill (MO) Northwest

| college = Missouri

| draftyear = 1987

| draftround = 1

| draftpick = 15

| pastteams =

• Los Angeles Raiders ({{NFL Year|1987}})
• San Diego Chargers ({{NFL Year|1988}})

| highlights =

• Consensus All-American (1986)
• Second-team All-American (1985)
• Third-team All-American (1984)
• 3× First-team All-Big Eight (1984, 1985, 1986)

| statlabel1 = Games played

| statvalue1 = 12

| statlabel2 = Games started

| statvalue2 = 10

| statlabel3 = Fumble recoveries

| statvalue3 = 1

| pfr = ClayJo20

}}

John Gregory Clay (born May 1, 1964) is an American former professional football player who was an offensive tackle in the National Football League (NFL) for two seasons during the late 1980s.

Clay was born in St. Louis, Missouri, and played scholastically at Northwest High School in Cedar Hill.{{Cite web |url=https://www.pro-football-reference.com/players/C/ClayJo20.htm |title=John Clay Stats |website=Pro-Football-Reference.com |access-date=May 14, 2024}}

He played college football for the University of Missouri,{{cite web |url=https://www.nfl.com/players/john-clay-2/ |title=John Clay Stats |website=NFL.com |access-date=May 14, 2024}} where he was a three-time All-American. He was a third-team selection as a sophomore, second-team as a junior, and earned consensus first-team honors as a senior.{{cite news|title=Honor Teams|newspaper=The Indianapolis Star|date=December 5, 1984|page=62|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/5289262/upi_and_ap_allamerica_teams/}}{{cite news|title=All-America|newspaper=Akron Beacon Journal|date=December 10, 1985|page=D2|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/5310293/1985_associated_press_allamerica/}}{{cite news|title=UPI All-American Team|newspaper=The Indianapolis Star|date=December 9, 1986|page=14|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/5642677/upi_allamerican_team/}}

He was selected by the Los Angeles Raiders in the first round (15th pick overall) of the 1987 NFL draft.{{Cite web |title=1987 NFL Draft Listing |url=https://www.pro-football-reference.com/years/1987/draft.htm |access-date=2023-09-25 |website=Pro-Football-Reference.com |language=en}}

After his rookie season, the Raiders traded Clay to the San Diego Chargers in exchange for star offensive lineman Jim Lachey.

On 1/5/2016, John Gregory Clay was officially named as the head coach of the Cahokia Comanche football team.