Rolando McClain Speaker & Booking Information

Rolando Marquise McClain is an American football linebacker for the Dallas Cowboys of the National Football League. He played college football for the University of Alabama, where he was recognized as a unanimous All-American and helped Alabama win the 2010 BCS National Championship. Drafted eighth overall by the Oakland Raiders in 2010, McClain played three seasons in the NFL, leading the Raiders in tackles in 2011. After various off-the-field incidents, however, he was cut by the Raiders in April 2013. Signed to one-year contract with the Baltimore Ravens, he retired from football in May 2013 at the age of 23. However, in July 2014, the Dallas Cowboys traded a 6th round draft pick in exchange for the technically retired McClain and a 7th round pick.

=McClain signed his contract with the Raiders on July 28, 2010, in time to make the first day of training camp. The contract was estimated to be for $40 million over 5 years. In week 2 of the 2010 season against the St. Louis Rams, McClain body slammed Danny Amendola, which drew an "unnecessary roughness" call and eventually a $5,000 fine by the NFL. He recorded his first career sack in week 7 against Kyle Orton of the Denver Broncos and his first career interception in week 12 against Chad Henne of the Miami Dolphins. McClain finished his first season with 85 tackles, 0.5 sacks, an interception, and 6 passes defended. During the 2012 NFL season, in which the Raiders' defense struggled and was statistically the worst defense in the league, McClain saw his playing time decrease following a 37-6 rout by the division rival Denver Broncos. During a week 4 game against Denver, McClain played in 73 snaps, but following the bye, the Raiders made the decision to replace him with 4th round rookie Miles Burris in their nickel package, resulting in McClain playing only 17 snaps compared to Burris' 55 in the week 6 game against the Atlanta Falcons. Head coach Dennis Allen was quoted as saying that he has been impressed with Burris' ability to make corrections on the fly, saying the linebacker was not a "repeat offender" when it came to mistakes and a smart football player overall, indicating the coaching staff's belief that McClain was guilty of poor decision-making and too many errors. According to sources within the Raiders, it was reported by NFL.com's Albert Breer and Ian Rapoport that McClain had been kicked out of an official team practice session on November 29 due to an "incident". McClain then took to social media outlet Facebook and released a series of comments stating that he was ". . .no longer an Oakland Raider!!" and that he was ". . .mentally done." with the team, wishing ". . .to be anywhere besides here". McClain had been drafted with the hopes that he could help improve the Raiders' run defense, an area where the team had been consistently among the worst in the league. Following a string of poor first round picks by late owner/GM Al Davis, the selection of Rolando McClain was applauded by many analysts. However, throughout his tenure with the Raiders, the team remained poor at defending the run. McClain was released on April 5, 2013 by the Oakland Raiders.

McClain signed with the Baltimore Ravens on April 10, 2013. On May 15, 2013, McClain announced his retirement, having never played a down for the Ravens. Dallas Cowboys[edit] After Sean Lee was lost for the season, the Dallas Cowboys acquired McClain from the Baltimore Ravens on July 1, 2014, in exchange for a sixth round pick in the 2015 NFL Draft and swapped 2016 seventh-round picks. At the time the move was seen as a gamble because of his previous career history and character concerns. The trade paid off with McClain becoming an unquestioned team leader and playing a critical role in the resurgence of the Cowboys’ suspect defense. Although he was slowed down with groin and knee injuries after week 9 of the season, the unit raised its level when he was healthy and was setting the tone with his physical style and play-making ability. He finished with 12 starts in 13 games, one sack, five quarterback pressures, nine tackles for loss, two interceptions, five passes defensed, one forced fumble and 81 tackles. He also took part in his first NFL playoff games, but suffered concussions in both contests. At the end of the season he was named as a Pro Bowl alternate. On April 1, 2015, McClain agreed to a new one-year, $3 million contract with the Cowboys. The NFL announced that he would be suspended for the first four games of the 2015 season for violating the league's substance abuse policy on July 2, 2015.