Template:Infobox NFL biography/doc

Intended uses
This infobox template is intended to be used for current and former National Football League (NFL) players, as well as current and former NFL coaches and administrators. Its uses include players, coaches and administrators in several NFL predecessor leagues, including the American Professional Football Association (APFA, 1920–1921), All-America Football Conference (AAFC, 1946–1949), American Football League (AFL, 1960–1969). This template is also used for Arena Football League players, coaches and administrators.

This infobox template is not used for Canadian football players, coaches and administrators; Template:Infobox CFL biography is used for Canadian football personnel. This template is also not used for American college football players, which use Template:Infobox college football player, nor for American college football coaches, which use Template:Infobox college coach, the uniform template for college coaches in all American college sports.

Blank template


Parameters and instructions

 * name – defaults to the variable, however it is advised that the name field is always entered to preserve the subject player's name in the infobox should the article be disambiguated at a later date.  When specifying the player's name, do not wikilink the information.
 * image / image_size / alt / caption – used in conjunction to display images. All are independent and thus can be included or left out on an individual basis.  Width defaults to 200 pixels, so there is no need to use it unless this value needs to be changed.  If an image is used, alt should describe the visual appearance of the image for visually impaired readers; see WP:ALT.  The caption field automatically displays small text, so there is no need to specify font size in the field.  When specifying an image, do not wikilink the information.
 * current_team – used to display the team that currently employs the subject player. This field also automatically determines the team colors used in the infobox for active players.  If the player is unemployed (but potentially will play again), complete this field as "Free agent"; if the player is retired, remove this field. When specifying the player's current team, do not wikilink the information.
 * number – used to display the player's current jersey number or past NFL jersey numbers. If the player's number is not currently known, fill the field with two dashes (--).  When specifying the player's number, do not wikilink the information.
 * position – used to display the player's most frequently played position. Positions must be listed as they are at Category:American football positions.  For a player who regularly plays multiple positions (e.g., Cornerback / Safety), or a player who plays a position with an article located at a disambiguated page (e.g., Guard (American football), Fullback (gridiron football), etc.), the link should be pipelinked to display only the position name (e.g., "Guard" or "Fullback"), and not the Wikipedia parenthetical disambiguation (e.g., "(American football)" or "(gridiron football)").  Do not specify positions beyond the basics.  For example, use only "Safety" rather than "Free safety" or "Strong safety," or "Linebacker" rather than "Outside linebacker" or "Middle linebacker," as these positions are susceptible to change and therefore may cause inaccuracies in the infobox.
 * birth_date – used to display the player's date of birth. Recommended format relies on the Birth date and age template.
 * birth_place – used to display the player's place of birth. Do not use flag icons to represent the place of birth, per Wikipedia:Manual of style (flags).
 * death_date – used to display the player's date of death. Recommended format relies on the Death date and age template.  If adding a date of death, make sure that the birth date field does not use the Birth date and age template, but uses the Birth date template instead.
 * death_place – used to display the player's place of death which may be wiki linked.  Do not use flag icons to represent the place of death, per Wikipedia:Manual of style (flags).
 * height_ft / height_in / weight_lb – used to display the player's physical dimensions as listed on the player's NFL.com player profile. (Preferred source is NFL.com). Weight_lb should be the player's weight in pounds per standard American usage. Only enter the numerical value. When specifying, do not wikilink the information.
 * high_school – used to display the player's high school, can be wikilinked. As for colleges, things like "high school" or "prep school" should be dropped. However, city and state should be mentioned. For example: Breckenridge (Breckenridge, Texas).
 * college – used to display the university or college institution that the player attended prior to joining the NFL. If a player attended multiple colleges, usually only the last college team is displayed (usually the one listed on NFL.com); however, if important to understanding a player's college career history, an additional college team may be included.  College teams should be wikilinked.
 * Links should be as specific as possible. For example, Alabama should be linked to Alabama Crimson Tide football, rather than the main University of Alabama article, in this field.  If a particular college football team article does not exist, create a redirect to the school's sports article (per WP:NOPIPE).
 * University and college names displayed should be consistent with their common name used in sports, meaning words like "University," "University of" or "College" are usually omitted and only the unique name elements are used. For example, the University of Pittsburgh would only be displayed as "Pittsburgh," Florida State University as "Florida State," and so on.  Schools with ambiguous names should be listed as they are on NFL.com, such as "Miami (Fla.)" for the University of Miami and "Miami (Oh.)" for Miami University.


 * cis – used to display the CIS football university name.
 * draftyear / draftround / draftpick – used to display the player's NFL Draft information. May also be used for cfl and afl. When specifying, do not wikilink the information. Null fields can be removed from the box.
 * undraftedyear – can be used in favor of draftyear if player went undrafted. The year should correspond to the first year a player was eligible for the draft, regardless of when they first signed with an NFL team or played in the league.
 * pastteams – used to display the teams which the player has played for and his current team. A timeline effect is preferred to keep all things in chronological order, meaning different stints with one team are listed separately.  The generally accepted bullet point is * .  Teams from other professional leagues (Canadian Football League, Arena Football League, etc.) should be listed in sequence with NFL teams.
 * pastteamsnote – When invoked by placing "yes," the template will automatically add the following indented, small text message at the bottom of the "past teams" section: "*Offseason and/or practice squad member only". Editors are responsible for denoting practice and/or offseason squads with an asterisk following the tenure (i.e. the year span) for each practice or offseason squad.
 * An example of a player's full list of teams and tenures is:


 * Denver Broncos (1991–1992)
 * Los Angeles Raiders (1993)*
 * Green Bay Packers (1993)
 * Kansas City Chiefs (1993–1996)
 * Denver Broncos (1997–2000)
 * Chicago Bears (2001–2003)
 * New England Patriots (2004)
 * Miami Dolphins (2005–present)
 * Offseason and/or practice squad member only


 * status – used to describe whether a player is on the active roster, practice squad, or a reserve list. Appropriate entries to this field should be Active, Practice squad, Suspended, Injured reserve, or any other reserve list.
 * pastcoaching – used to display the teams for which a coach has worked and his current team, and each entry is set off with a bullet point. A timeline effect is preferred to keep all things in chronological order, meaning different stints with a single team are listed separately.  The generally accepted bullet point is * .  Teams from other professional leagues (Canadian Football League, Arena Football League, etc.) should be listed in sequence with NFL teams.
 * An example of a coach's full list of teams and tenures is:


 * Los Angeles Raiders (1996–1997) Defensive quality control coach
 * Los Angeles Raiders (1998–1999) Assistant defensive backs coach
 * San Francisco 49ers (2000) Defensive backs coach & assistant special teams coach
 * Green Bay Packers (2001–2001) Defensive ends coach & assistant special teams coach
 * Kansas City Chiefs (2003–2006) Defensive line coach
 * Chicago Bears (2007–2009) Assistant head coach & defensive coordinator
 * Chicago Bears (2010–2015) Head coach


 * highlights – used to display career awards and highlights for the player. Wikilinks are acceptable. The generally accepted bullet point is an asterisk ( * ). If a player does not have any notable achievements, leave the field blank so that the field remains in the event of future accomplishments.


 * The standard for writing an achievement is to display the achievement, followed by the year earned in parentheses. Achievements should be listed in the following order:
 * Pro championships
 * Pro Bowls
 * First-team All-Pros
 * Second-team All-Pros
 * League MVPs
 * Other honors (Offensive POY, etc.)
 * Season statistical leaders
 * Pro career honors (retired number, etc.)
 * College national championships
 * College awards
 * All-Americas and All-Conferences
 * College career honors

Examples of how certain achievements would be written:
 * 3× Super Bowl champion (XXXVI, XXXVIII, XXXIX)
 * 2× Pro Bowl (2006, 2007)
 * First-team All-Pro (2007)
 * Second-team All-Pro (2006)
 * Heisman Trophy (2002)
 * 2× First-team All-American (2001, 2002)
 * 3× First-team All-ACC (2000–2002)


 * Additionally, Pro Bowl and All-Pro selections are to be linked to the appropriate year. Note that Pro Bowl links are piped to the corresponding regular season year. For example, a Pro Bowl selection during the 2007 season should be written as " Pro Bowl (2007) " so that it creates "Pro Bowl (2007)," whereas an All-Pro selection is written as " First-team All-Pro (2007) " and it creates "First-team All-Pro (2007)."


 * statleague – used in the heading for the statistics section to display the league where the statistics were accumulated. Default is NFL. Do not wikilink entries in this field.
 * statseason – used in the heading for the statistics section to describe how current the statistics are. Only to be used for active NFL players, where statistics are subject to future change. Do not wikilink entries in this field.
 * statlabel# – used to describe the statistic being entered, such as Touchdowns, Receiving yards, Games played, etc. Wikilink and pipe when appropriate. Up to eight statistics can be entered by changing the number to 1 through 8, with each corresponding to the appropriate statvalue# entry.
 * statvalue# – used for the number a player has in a given statistic. Up to eight statistics can be entered by changing the number to 1 through 8, with each corresponding to the appropriate statlabel# entry.
 * regular_record – used to display the career regular season record for a head coach in the "wins−losses" format (i.e. 10–2). We use Template:Winning percentage to automatically calculate winning percentages from entered wins, losses, and ties.  For example, " .570 " renders ".570".
 * playoff_record – used to display the career postseason and/or playoff record for a head coach in the "wins−losses" format (i.e. 1–2).
 * overall_record – used to display the total career record for a head coach, including regular season and postseason games, in the "wins−losses" format (i.e. 11–4). Please do not combine win-loss records across different leagues (e.g., combined CFL and NFL win-loss records), nor combine amateur and professional win-loss records (e.g., combined college and NFL win-loss records).
 * nfl / nflnew / pfr  / cfl / afl – used to link to an external link for the player's statistics. NFL.com links are preferred and should be listed first. More than one site can be used at a time.  Null fields can be removed from the box.
 * "nfl" links to the player's profile on nfl.com (the older URL format using profile codes) or
 * "nflnew" links to the player's profile on nfl.com using the more recent ("playername"/"profilenumber") URL format or
 * "nflwd" links to the player's profile on nfl.com using the newest ("profilenumber") URL format without the "playername"
 * "pfr" links to the player's profile on pro-football-reference.com or
 * "pfrcoach" links to the coach's profile on pro-football-reference.com or
 * "cfl" links to the player's profile on cfl.ca or
 * "afl" links to the player's profile on arenafan.com or


 * HOF / CollegeHOF / CFHOF – used for respective Pro Football Hall of Fame, College Football Hall of Fame, and Canadian Football Hall of Fame entries.

Tracking categories
See Category:Infobox NFL biography tracking categories for a full list of tracking categories produced by this template.


 * Unsupported parameters