Former Oklahoma Sooners draft pick receives birthday gift from Joe Burrow during game to create hilarious highlight
Cody Ford got an awesome opportunity for the Bengals.
Trick plays are always an exciting piece of the pie when it comes to late-season action around the NFL. For a former Oklahoma Sooners early draft pick and impactful offensive lineman, he got to be involved in a fun trick play for his birthday.
Bengals OL and former Sooners star Cody Ford catches pass on his birthday
The former Sooners lineman hasn’t blossomed in the pros quite as many hoped, but his performance for the Cincinnati Bengals during their blowout Week 17 victory was pretty awesome. On his birthday, the Cincy offense let Ford line up as a true wide receiver, and he caught a pass immediately. Then, Ford broke tackles to gain 21 yards.
We have seen plays like this with lineman lined up as a sort of tight end in the red zone, but this sort of wide setup is quite rare. With the playoffs out of reach and a massive lead, the Bengals decided to have some fun with their play call and reward Ford for his work this season.
With that, he also got a special birthday gift with the reception and chunk gain that gave a ton of energy to the crowd and his teammates.
I talked to Justin Churchill, who covers the Sooners, about Ford’s ascend to the pros from Oklahoma’s program and how he has come along since he was drafted.
“Cody Ford was a three-star prospect coming into Oklahoma in 2015 after flipping from TCU. In 2016, after redshirting his freshman year, Ford earned a starting role on an offensive line that was very good. However, not long after that, he broke his fibula, which ended his season. In 2017, he played just about every single game and bounced back well. Ford also played several different positions up and down the offensive line.
The real breakout for Ford, when he really started getting noticed, was in 2018. Ford played all 14 games at right tackle for an offensive line that won the Joe Moore Award, being recognized as the best OL in the country. Part of that was because of Ford. Over his Oklahoma career, he earned first-team All-Big 12 honors from the coaches, second-team All-Big 12 from the Associated Press, and third-team All-American recognition. This is a big reason why he was drafted in the second round of the 2019 NFL Draft by the Buffalo Bills. His versatility and being able to play almost every single position on the offensive line were other reasons he was coveted in the draft.
Obviously, his career hasn’t quite panned out as he or many OU fans hoped. However, his reception with the Bengals was pretty gnarly.” — Justin Churchill, A to Z Sports
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