Jabrill Ahmad Peppers (born October 4, 1995) is an American professional football safety. He was a two-time college football All-American for the Michigan Wolverines, earning unanimous All-American honors in 2016, as well as being named the Big Ten Defensive Player of the Year, Linebacker of the Year and Return Specialist of the Year. Peppers was selected in the first round by the Cleveland Browns in the 2017 NFL draft. He has also played for the New York Giants and the New England Patriots.
Early life A native of East Orange, New Jersey, Peppers originally attended Don Bosco Preparatory High School in Ramsey, New Jersey. Peppers also played youth football for the Montclair Bulldogs, from Montclair, New Jersey, a Pop Warner youth team. He started as a cornerback in his freshman year, before also taking over as a running back as a sophomore. With Peppers, Don Bosco won consecutive New Jersey state championships in 2010 and 2011, and was the top-ranked team in the nation by USA Today in 2011.
Peppers left Don Bosco to attend Paramus Catholic High School in Paramus, New Jersey, where he helped lead the Paladins to another state championship over Bergen Catholic in 2012. Peppers was named Player of the Year by MSG Varsity after his junior season with Paramus Catholic. In his senior year, another successful season saw Peppers lead Paramus Catholic to another state title, defeating St. Peter's Prep., making Peppers a state championship winner in all four years of his high school career. Peppers was also selected to participate in the 2013–14 Under Armour All-America Game.
As a talented track athlete, Peppers set the New Jersey Non-Public Class A outdoor 100-meter dash record with a time of 10.77 seconds. He has a personal-best of 10.51 seconds in the 100 meters. In his senior year at Paramus Catholic, he won both the 100 and 200-meter dashes in New Jersey's 2013 Meet of Champions, becoming only the second person ever to do so, after Fabian Santiago of Oakcrest High School the year before.
Recruiting The Rivals.com recruiting network identified Peppers as one of the five-star recruits in the Class of 2014. On May 26, 2013, Peppers announced his verbal commitment to the Michigan Wolverines in a live telecast on ESPN. He was regarded as the head of Michigan's 2014 recruiting class. ESPN ranked him as the second-best recruit in the class of 2014, behind only running back Leonard Fournette.
College career As a true freshman at Michigan, Peppers appeared in three games, making one start under then-head coach Brady Hoke. In his first career start against Appalachian State, he recorded two tackles and returned one punt for six yards. However, he sustained an injury in the game and was redshirted for the remainder of his freshman season.
In the 2015 season, Peppers had a new head coach in Jim Harbaugh. Following the 2015 season, Peppers was named the Big Ten Thompson-Randle El Freshman of the Year, and named to the All-Big Ten defensive first-team, by both the coaches and media, and the All-Big Ten special teams second-team by coaches. He was also named a Second-team All-American by CBS Sports and Sports Illustrated. He was also named to the Freshman All-America Team by Football Writers Association of America (FWAA). He was a finalist for the Paul Hornung Award. In 12 games, Peppers played a combined 986 snaps this season, with 50 coming on offense, 765 on defense, and 171 on special teams. On defense, he registered 45 total tackles, 5.5 tackles-for-loss, and 10 pass breakups. On special teams, he returned all 17 punts on the season for 194 yards, an average of 11.4 yards per return. Peppers has returned eight kickoffs for 223 yards, an average of 27.9 yards per return, on a unit that ranked second in the FBS with 28.41 yards per kick return. On offense, he added eight catches for 79 yards with 18 rushes for 72 yards and two touchdowns. Peppers has gained 568 all-purpose yards on the season, an average of 47.3 yards per game, ranking fifth on the team.
Following an outstanding performance on September 17, 2016, against Colorado, Peppers was named the Walter Camp FBS Player of the Week, Co-Big Ten Defensive Player of the Week, and Special Teams Player of the Week. He became the first conference player to be named both Defensive and Special Teams Player of the Week in the same week since the special teams honor was added in 1994. Peppers recorded a career-best nine tackles, including six solo stops and 3.5 tackles-for-loss. In addition, he recorded 204 yards of total offense, including his first career punt return for a touchdown.
Following the 2016 season, Peppers was named the Nagurski-Woodson Defensive Player of the Year, Butkus-Fitzgerald Linebacker of the Year, Rodgers-White Return Specialist of the Year, and a Unanimous All-American. He became the first player in Big Ten history to collect three individual honors since the conference expanded its individual award recognition program in 2011. Peppers was also named to the All-Big Ten defensive first-team, and All-Big Ten special teams first-team by both the coaches and media. Peppers helped lead a unit that finished first in eight Big Ten defensive categories. He contributed a career-best 72 tackles, 16 tackles-for-loss, four sacks, one interception, and one forced fumble. He also contributed in special teams, posting 21 punt returns for 310 yards (14.8 avg.) and one touchdown and had 10 kickoff returns for 260 yards (26.0 avg.). He also contributed on the offensive side of the ball, rushing 27 times for 167 yards and three touchdowns while catching two passes. He was also awarded the Paul Hornung Award, honoring the nation's most versatile college football player, and the Lott Trophy. Peppers played 933 snaps during the 2016 campaign, logging 726 plays on defense, 53 plays on offense, and 154 snaps on special teams. Peppers saw the field at 15 different positions during the season. He finished fifth in voting for the 2016 Heisman Trophy.
On January 10, 2017, Peppers announced that he would be entering the 2017 NFL draft, forgoing his final two seasons of NCAA eligibility.
College statistics Season Team GP Defense Rushing Receiving Punt return Kick return Tckl TfL Sck PD Int FF Att Yds Avg TD Rec Yds Avg TD Ret Yds Avg Lng TD Ret Yds Avg Lng TD 2014 Michigan 3 8 0.0 0.0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 6 6.0 6 0 0 0 0.0 0 0 2015 Michigan 12 45 5.5 0.0 10 0 0 18 72 4.0 2 8 79 9.9 0 17 194 11.4 41 0 9 223 27.9 49 0 2016 Michigan 12 72 13.0 4.0 1 1 1 27 167 6.2 3 2 3 1.5 0 21 310 14.8 54 1 10 260 26.0 55 0 Total 27 125 18.5 4.0 11 1 1 45 239 5.3 5 10 82 8.2 0 39 510 13.1 54 1 19 483 25.4 55 0
Professional career Pre-draft He received an invitation to the NFL Combine and attended as a linebacker, as well as a safety. He ran all combine and positional drills, except for the short shuttle and three-cone drill. He ran the fastest 40-yard dash among all of the linebackers. He was ranked the third-best safety in the draft by Sports Illustrated, Pro Football Focus, ESPN, NFL analyst Mike Mayock, and NFL analyst Bucky Brooks. On April 25, 2017, only two days before the draft, it was reported that Peppers received a positive test for a drug screen that was given at the combine. The positive test was in fact due to a diluted sample, with his agent stating that Peppers drank ample amounts of water and was ill before traveling for the combine. He attended pre-draft visits with the Baltimore Ravens and San Francisco 49ers. At the conclusion of the pre-draft process, Peppers was projected to be a first or second round pick by NFL draft experts and scouts.
Cleveland Browns 2017 The Cleveland Browns selected Peppers in the first round (25th overall) of the 2017 NFL draft. He was the third safety drafted in 2017, behind Jamal Adams (6th overall) and Malik Hooker (15th overall). On July 22, 2017, the Browns signed Peppers to a fully guaranteed four–year, $10.70 million contract that includes a signing bonus of $5.60 million.
He entered training camp slated as the starting strong safety. Head coach Hue Jackson named him the starting free safety to start the regular season, and paired him with Derrick Kindred. He was also named the starting kick returner and starting punt returner.
On September 10, 2017, Peppers made his professional regular season debut and earned his first career start in the Cleveland Browns' home-opener against the Pittsburgh Steelers and recorded four solo tackles and made one pass deflection in their 21–18 loss. In addition, he had one kickoff return for 14-yards and three punt returns for 34-yards. He was inactive for two games (Weeks 7–8) after injuring his toe. He was inactive as the Browns lost in overtime 21–27 against the Green Bay Packers in Week 14 due to a knee injury. In Week 15, he set a new season-high with seven combined tackles (five solo) during a 10–27 loss against the Baltimore Ravens. On December 31, 2017, Peppers made four solo tackles, one pass deflection, and had his first career interception on a pass attempt thrown by Landry Jones to wide receiver JuJu Smith-Schuster during a 28–24 at the Pittsburgh Steelers. He finished his rookie season in 2017 with 57 combined tackles (44 solo), three pass deflections, and one interception in 13 games and 13 starts. He also had 14 kick returns for 318 yards (22.7 YPR) and 30 punt returns for 180 yards (6.0 YPR). The Cleveland Browns finished the 2017 NFL season with a record of 0–16. He received an overall grade of 45.8 from Pro Football Focus as a rookie in 2017.
2018 During training camp, defensive coordinator Gregg Williams elected to move Peppers to strong safety after the Browns traded for Damarious Randall and had him compete for the starting role against Derrick Kindred. Head coach Hue Jackson named Peppers the starting strong safety to begin the regular season, alongside free safety Damarious Randall. He also retained his duties as the starting kick and punt returner. In Week 5, he recorded four combined tackles (three solo) and set a season-high with two pass deflections as the Browns won in overtime 12–9 to the Baltimore Ravens. On October 21, 2018, he set a season-high with eight combined tackles (seven solo) and made one pass deflection during a 23–26 overtime loss at the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. In Week 15, Peppers made six solo tackles, intercepted a pass thrown by Case Keenum to wide receiver Courtland Sutton, and made the game-winning sack for an 11–yard loss with 43 seconds remaining as the Browns defeated the Denver Broncos 17–16. He finished the 2018 season with one sack, 79 combined tackles (52 solo), one interception, and five passes defended while being a returner on special teams.
New York Giants 2019
On March 13, 2019, the New York Giants executed a trade with the Cleveland Browns, agreeing to send the Browns Odell Beckham Jr. and Olivier Vernon and in return received Peppers and Kevin Zeitler, as well as their first (17th overall) and third-round (95th overall) picks in the 2019 NFL draft.
He entered training camp slated as the de facto starting strong safety following the departure of Landon Collins. Head coach Pat Shurmur named him the starting strong safety to begin the season and paired him with Antoine Bethea.