Bruce Laird (American football)
Bruce Allan Laird (born May 23, 1950) is an American former professional football player who was a strong safety and return specialist in the National Football League (NFL) and United States Football League (USFL). He played college football at American International College.
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| Position: | Safety, Return specialist | ||||||||||||
| Personal information | |||||||||||||
| Born: | May 23, 1950 Lowell, Massachusetts, U.S. | ||||||||||||
| Height: | 6 ft 0 in (1.83 m) | ||||||||||||
| Weight: | 193 lb (88 kg) | ||||||||||||
| Career information | |||||||||||||
| High school: | Scituate (Scituate, Massachusetts) | ||||||||||||
| College: | American International | ||||||||||||
| NFL draft: | 1972 / Round: 6 / Pick: 152 | ||||||||||||
| Career history | |||||||||||||
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| Career highlights and awards | |||||||||||||
| Career NFL statistics | |||||||||||||
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| Player stats at NFL.com · PFR | |||||||||||||
Laird played in the NFL with the Baltimore Colts from 1972–1981, then for the San Diego Chargers for two seasons, before moving to the USFL after the 1983 season. Over his 12 year NFL career he started in 127 games, and played in a total of 164 games.
The first half of his career, Laird was a special teams punt and kick returner. Although he never returned one for a touchdown, he accumulated 3,748 yards in 213 attempts, with a career long of 73 yards. His average punt return was 6.6 yards per attempt, and he averaged 24.7 yards per kick return attempt.