Sony Michel

Sony Michel (born February 17, 1995) is an American former professional football player who was a running back for five seasons in the National Football League (NFL).

Michel and Isaiah Wynn were the first pair of college teammates selected by the same team in the first round since Auburn players Jason Campbell and Carlos Rogers were taken in the 2005 NFL Draft by the Washington Redskins.

Michel suffered a knee injury in training camp causing him to miss the entire preseason and the season-opener against the Houston Texans.

He made his NFL debut in Week 2 against the Jacksonville Jaguars.

He rushed 10 times for 34 yards and had a six-yard reception in the 31–20 road loss.

Two weeks later against the Miami Dolphins, he had a breakout game with 26 carries for 112 yards and a touchdown in the 38–7 victory.

He posted a personal-best time of 10.64w in the 100-meter dash at the 3rd Annual Miramar Invitational, where he placed first.

Michel also competed in track and field at American Heritage; as a sophomore in 2011, he earned first-place finishes in both the 100-meter dash (10.99s) and 200-meter dash (21.91s) at the FHSAA 2A District Meet.

Michel became the first rookie to top 100 rushing yards in a game for the Patriots since Brandon Bolden in 2012.

In the next game against the Indianapolis Colts, Michel rushed for 98 yards and a touchdown as the Patriots won 38–24.

He was rated by Rivals.com as a five-star recruit and was ranked as the third-best running back and 13th-best player overall.

Michel committed to the University of Georgia on April 26, 2013, to play college football.

As a true freshman at Georgia in 2014, Michel played in eight games and made one start.

He missed five games due to a fractured shoulder blade.

He rushed for 410 yards on 64 carries with five rushing touchdowns.

Michel entered 2015 as a backup to Nick Chubb, but earned extensive playing time.

After Chubb was injured in a game against the Tennessee Volunteers, Michel took over as the starter and ran for 145 yards.

In the 2016 season, Michel totaled 840 rushing yards and four rushing touchdowns to go along with 22 receptions for 149 receiving yards and a receiving touchdown.

In 2017, with true freshman Jake Fromm starting at quarterback for the Bulldogs, the team relied heavily on its senior running backs, Chubb and Michel, to carry the load.

Despite remaining second in the depth chart behind Chubb, and receiving only two-thirds as many carries as Chubb, Michel had a breakout year, finishing with 1,227 rushing yards (156 carries), only 118 yards fewer than Chubb's 1,345 (223 carries).

In a blowout game against Vanderbilt on October 7, Michel rushed for 150 yards and a score on only 12 carries.

Three weeks later, in an October 28 rout of Florida, Michel rushed for 137 yards on only 6 carries, scoring twice on runs of 74 yards and 45 yards.

Michel's biggest game of the year came on New Year's Day against Oklahoma in the Rose Bowl, Georgia's first-ever College Football Playoff game.

Carrying the ball only 11 times, Michel ran for 181 yards and three touchdowns, including a walk-off 27-yard rushing touchdown from the "Wild Dawg" formation (direct snap to Michel) to end the game in double overtime.

He also added four receptions for 41 yards and a fourth touchdown.

For his performance, Michel was named Rose Bowl Offensive MVP.

Chubb and Michel's 326 combined rushing yards in the Rose Bowl gave them a combined 8,259 career rushing yards, surpassing Eric Dickerson and Craig James' NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision record of 8,192.

He played college football for the Georgia Bulldogs and was selected by the New England Patriots in the first round of the 2018 NFL Draft.

Michel spent his first three professional seasons with the Patriots where he won Super Bowl LIII during his rookie year.

Michel was traded to the Los Angeles Rams in 2021, where he won Super Bowl LVI.

After an offseason stint with the Miami Dolphins in 2022, he signed with the Los Angeles Chargers where he remained for most of the 2022 regular season as a backup.

He signed again with the Rams during the 2023 offseason, but retired before the season began.

Michel's parents emigrated from Haiti.

Michel attended American Heritage School in Plantation, Florida.

Michel was the starting running back for the American Heritage Patriots, beginning in his eighth-grade year there.

As a senior, he rushed for 1,833 yards and 24 touchdowns.

Over three years playing on varsity, he rushed for 4,758 yards and 63 touchdowns.

Michel was selected by the New England Patriots in the first round of the 2018 NFL Draft with the 31st overall pick.

He was the third running back to be selected that year.

In addition, he was the third of six Georgia Bulldogs to be selected that year.