Ashley Lelie

Infobox NFLactive


caption=
currentteam=Oakland Raiders
currentnumber=87
currentposition=Wide receiver
birthdate=birth date and age|1980|2|16
birthplace=Bellflower, California
heightft=6
heightin=3
weight=195
debutyear=2002
debutteam=Denver Broncos
college=Hawaii
draftyear=2002
draftround=1
draftpick=19
pastteams=
* Denver Broncos (2002-2005)
* Atlanta Falcons (2006)
* San Francisco 49ers (2007)
* Oakland Raiders (2008-present)
status=Active
highlights=
* First-team All-WAC (2001)
statweek=2
statseason=2008
statlabel1=Receptions
statvalue1=210
statlabel2=Receiving yards
statvalue2=3,600
statlabel3=Receiving average
statvalue3=17.1
statlabel4=Receiving TDs
statvalue4=14
nfl=LEL296636

Ashley Jovon Lelie (pronEng|luh-LEE) (born February 16, 1980, in city-state|Bellflower|California) is an American football wide receiver for the Oakland Raiders of the National Football League. He was drafted by the Denver Broncos 19th overall in the 2002 NFL Draft. He played college football at Hawaii.

Lelie has also played for the Atlanta Falcons and San Francisco 49ers.

Early years

Lelie attended Radford High School in Honolulu, Hawaii, and was a three-sport standout in football, track, and basketball. In football, he won All-District and All-State honors. In basketball, he won All-District honors and in track, he won an All-League honors. He was also an excellent student and made his high school's honor roll every semester of his high school years.

College career

Lelie finished his career at the University of Hawaiokinai as its all-time leader receiving yards (3,341) and touchdown receptions (32) while averaging an impressive 17.2 yards per catch. He was a first-team All-Western Athletic Conference selection as a junior in 2001, his final year at the school, and broke the WAC single-season records for receiving yards (1,713) and touchdowns (19) while also tying the WAC record for most 200-yard games in a season (3). He ranked first in the conference and second in the nation in yards per game (142.8 avg.) and ranked third in the WAC and ninth in the nation in receptions per game (7.0 avg.) as a junior.

Ashley Lelie became the highest draft pick in Hawaiokinai Warriors Football program history when the Denver Broncos selected him with the 19th pick in the first round of the 2002 NFL Draft. He also became the first Hawaiokinai player to be drafted in the first round of any NFL Draft.

Professional career

Denver Broncos

Lelie was selected by the Denver Broncos in the first round (19th overall) of the 2002 NFL Draft.

The relationship between Lelie and the Broncos began to sour during the 2006 offseason. It is believed that there were two actions taken by the Broncos that irritated Lelie. The first was the speculation that the Broncos were interested in acquiring disgruntled wide receiver Terrell Owens to bolster their receiving corps. The other action occurred during the 2006 NFL Draft, when the Broncos traded for former Green Bay Packers receiver Javon Walker. Lelie was irritated by the Broncos' decision to pick up Walker, as Lelie felt he would have no chance to earn a starting position on the team, with both Rod Smith and Walker the likely number one and two receivers. Lelie threatened to skip all organized team activities and training camp until he was either released or traded to another team.

On August 22, 2006, the Broncos sent Lelie to the Atlanta Falcons in a three-team trade which also involved the Washington Redskins. The trade to the Falcons ended a lengthy and costly offseason holdout for Lelie, who skipped all of Denver's offseason conditioning programs and did not report to training camp. Lelie was being fined at the rate of $14,000 per day, the maximum permitted, during his camp holdout. The total fines for his camp absence came to $378,000. Lelie also lost a $100,000 workout bonus because he did not participate in offseason workouts. There is speculation that Lelie also had to repay the Broncos a prorated portion of his $3.3 million signing bonus, which would amount to $660,000 for the five years he was under contract with the Broncos (the sixth year of his contract was voided when he reached certain incentives.) The total amount of money Lelie gave up to Broncos in order to be traded is around $982,000. After going to court he was ordered to pay only $23,000 in fines. [http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2006/football/nfl/specials/preview/2006/08/24/bc.fbn.broncos.lelie.ap/index.html]

Atlanta Falcons

After having an unremarkable year with Atlanta in 2006, Lelie bought out the last year of his contract with the Falcons to become a free agent in March 2007.

an Francisco 49ers

On March 3, 2007, Lelie signed a 2 year deal with the 49ers for $4.3 million, including a $2 million signing bonus. On August 30, 2008, Lelie was released from the 49ers during final cuts.

Oakland Raiders

Two days after his release from the 49ers, Lelie signed a one-year contract with the Oakland Raiders on September 1, 2008.

Career statistics

(*current season)

External links

* [http://www.ashleylelie.com/ Official Website]
* [http://www.raiders.com/Team/PlayerBio.aspx?id=51352 Oakland Raiders bio]