Wesley Sutton
{{Short description|American gridiron football player (born 1996)}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=August 2024}}
{{Infobox Canadian Football League biography
| name = Wesley Sutton
| team = Montreal Alouettes
| image = 2022, 37, Wesley Sutton (2).jpg
| image_upright = 1
| caption = Sutton with the Montreal Alouettes in 2022
| status = Active
| import = yes
| position1 = Defensive back
| birth_date = {{birth date and age|1996|2|9}}
| birth_place = Chandler, Arizona, U.S.
| number = 37
| college = Northern Arizona
| high_school = Chandler High (AZ)
| Height_ft = 5
| Height_in = 11
| Weight_lbs = 194
| playing_years1 = {{XFL Year|2020}}
| playing_team1 = New York Guardians
| playing_years2 = {{CFL Year|2021}}–present
| playing_team2 = Montreal Alouettes
| career_footnotes =
| career_highlights =
| Honours =
|CFLEastAllStar = {{CFL Year|2022}}, {{CFL Year|2023}}
| CFL = wesley-sutton/165688/
}}
Wesley Malik Sutton (born February 9, 1996) is an American professional football defensive back for the Montreal Alouettes of the Canadian Football League (CFL).
College career
Sutton played college football for the Northern Arizona Lumberjacks from 2014 to 2018.{{cite web|url=https://nauathletics.com/sports/football/roster/wes-sutton/3745 |title=Wesley Sutton |publisher=Northern Arizona Lumberjacks |access-date=August 16, 2022}} He played in 42 games where he had 96 solo tackles, 56 assisted tackles, six interceptions, and one forced fumble.{{cite web|url=https://en.montrealalouettes.com/players/wesley-sutton/165688/ |title=Wesley Sutton |publisher=Montreal Alouettes |access-date=August 16, 2022}}
Professional career
Sutton was not selected in the 2019 NFL draft and was invited to rookie camp with the Philadelphia Eagles, but was not signed.{{cite web|url=https://en.montrealalouettes.com/2021/03/22/alouettes-sign-american-defensive-back-wesley-sutton/ |title=Alouettes sign American defensive back Wesley Sutton |publisher=Montreal Alouettes |date=March 22, 2021}}{{cite web|url=https://insidetheiggles.com/2019/05/10/philadelphia-eagles-heres-list-everyone-rookie-camp-tryout-basis/ |title=Philadelphia Eagles: Here’s a list of everyone in rookie camp on a tryout basis |publisher=insidetheiggles.com |date=May 10, 2019}}
= New York Guardians =
After not playing football in 2019, Sutton signed with the New York Guardians ahead of the 2020 season. After making the gameday roster, he made his professional debut on February 9, 2020, against the Tampa Bay Vipers, where he had two sacks and a tackle for a loss.{{cite web|url=https://www.nydailynews.com/sports/football/ny-xfl-guardians-vipers-20200210-r6pgihyahrakzomxezs5cez4aa-story.html |title=New York Guardians win inaugural XFL game against Tampa Bay Vipers |publisher=New York Daily News |date=February 9, 2020}} He had his contract terminated when the league suspended operations on April 10, 2020.{{cite news |author=Condotta, Bob |title=XFL suspends operations, terminates all employees, but Jim Zorn says he has hopes league will continue |url=https://www.seattletimes.com/sports/xfl-suspends-operations-terminates-all-employees/ |website=SeattleTimes.com |date=April 10, 2020}}
= Montreal Alouettes =
On March 22, 2021, it was announced that Sutton had signed with the Montreal Alouettes. He made the team's active roster following training camp and played in his first CFL game on August 14, 2021, against the Edmonton Elks where he had four defensive tackles.{{cite web|url=https://www.cfl.ca/players/wesley-sutton/165688/ |title=Wesley Sutton |publisher=Canadian Football League |access-date=November 26, 2022}} In the following game, on August 20, 2021, he recorded his first career interception on a pass from Jake Maier in a game against the Calgary Stampeders.{{cite web|url=https://www.cfl.ca/games/6143/montreal-alouettes-vs-calgary-stampeders/#playbyplay |title=Montreal Alouettes vs Calgary Stampeders |publisher=Canadian Football League |access-date=August 20, 2021}} After a promising start with two games played, Sutton spent the rest of the 2021 season on the injured list.{{cite web|url=https://www.cfl.ca/transactions/2021/ |title=Transactions – Football player trades and signings |publisher=Canadian Football League |access-date=August 16, 2022}}
To begin the 2022 season, Sutton was named a starter at cornerback.{{cite web|url=https://d3ham790trbkqy.cloudfront.net/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/06/RosterMatch_1_CGY9juin2022-1.pdf |title=Alouettes de Montreal position chart |publisher=Montreal Alouettes |date=June 9, 2022}} In game 2, he moved to halfback where he also played through to the fourth game of the season. However, he struggled in the first game under new defensive coordinator, Noel Thorpe, in the fifth game of the season, where he committed three pass interference penalties for 108 yards in the loss to the Edmonton Elks.{{cite web|url=https://montrealgazette.com/sports/football/cfl/montreal-alouettes/despite-three-penalties-als-convinced-db-sutton-can-do-the-job |title=Despite three penalties, Als convinced DB Sutton can do the job |publisher=Montreal Gazette |date=July 17, 2022}} After retaining his starting position, he had an interception in week 9 against the Winnipeg Blue Bombers, the second of his career. In the following week, on August 11, 2022, he recorded the first two sacks and first forced fumble of his CFL career, along with five defensive tackles and one pass knockdown, in the win against the Blue Bombers and was named a CFL Top Performer that week.{{cite web|url=https://en.montrealalouettes.com/2022/08/16/wesley-sutton-receives-cfl-player-of-the-week-nod/ |title=Wesley Sutton receives CFL player of the week nod |publisher=Montreal Alouettes |date=June 9, 2022}} He finished the year having played in all 18 regular season games where he had 79 defensive tackles, one special teams tackle, four sacks, one interception, and two forced fumbles. He was named an East Division All-Star at the end of the year.{{cite web|title=Updated List of 2022 CFL Division All-Stars |url=https://www.cfl.ca/2022/11/02/updated-list-of-2022-cfl-division-all-stars/ |publisher=Canadian Football League | date=November 2, 2022}} Sutton and the Als agreed to a two-year contract extension on January 23, 2023.{{Cite web |author=3Down Staff |date=2023-01-23 |title=Montreal Alouettes re-sign all-star DB Wesley Sutton through 2024 |url=https://3downnation.com/2023/01/23/montreal-alouettes-re-sign-all-star-db-wesley-sutton-through-2024/ |access-date=2023-01-23 |website=3DownNation |language=en-US}}
Personal life
References
{{Reflist}}
External links
- [https://en.montrealalouettes.com/players/wesley-sutton/165688/ Montreal Alouettes bio]
- {{commonscatinline}}
{{Montreal Alouettes roster navbox}}
{{110th Grey Cup}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sutton, Wesley}}
Category:American football defensive backs
Category:Players of American football from Arizona
Category:Canadian football defensive backs
Category:Montreal Alouettes players
Category:New York Guardians players
Category:Northern Arizona Lumberjacks football players