William Eldridge Brooks, Jr. (born January 22, 1971 in Raleigh, North Carolina

Raleigh, North Carolina

Raleigh is the capital and the second largest city in the state of North Carolina as well as the seat of Wake County. Raleigh is known as the "City of Oaks" for its many oak trees. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the city's 2010 population was 403,892, over an area of , making Raleigh...

) is a sportswriter covering the National Football League

National Football League

The National Football League is the highest level of professional American football in the United States, and is considered the top professional American football league in the world. It was formed by eleven teams in 1920 as the American Professional Football Association, with the league changing...

 for Sports Illustrated

Sports Illustrated

Sports Illustrated is an American sports media company owned by media conglomerate Time Warner. Its self titled magazine has over 3.5 million subscribers and is read by 23 million adults each week, including over 18 million men. It was the first magazine with circulation over one million to win the...

and a former professional football

American football

American football is a sport played between two teams of eleven with the objective of scoring points by advancing the ball into the opposing team's end zone. Known in the United States simply as football, it may also be referred to informally as gridiron football. The ball can be advanced by...

 player. He played for 5 NFL teams in a 5 year career, primarily as a kick returner

Kick returner

In American and Canadian football, a kick returner is the player on special teams who is primarily responsible to catch kickoffs and attempts to return them in the opposite direction. If the ball is kicked into his own endzone, he must assess the situation on the field while the ball is in the...

.

Brooks is in his second season as an analyst for NFL Network

NFL Network

NFL Network is an American television specialty channel owned and operated by the National Football League . It was launched November 4, 2003, only eight months after the league's 32 team owners voted unanimously to approve its formation...

 and NFL.com. He contributes weekly columns, as well as video features including ‘Scout’s Take’ and ‘On the Beat’ on NFL.com, and offers interactive analysis on the latest NFL topics and headlines with weekly live online chats. For the 2010 season, Brooks returned as an analyst for NFL.com/LIVE: Thursday Night Football, NFL.com’s in-game coverage of the Network’s eight live, regular season game broadcasts. NFL.com/LIVE: Thursday Night Football presents a live show throughout the game including “live look ins” of the game, reports from the field and highlights.

External links

• NFL.com player page