Derek Rivers (born May 9, 1994) is an American professional football defensive end.
[1][2] He has been a member of the New England Patriots, Los Angeles Rams, Houston Texans and Indianapolis Colts.
Born in Augusta, Maine, Rivers and his family moved to North Carolina when he was five months old.
In Week 17, he recorded his first career sack when he took down rookie quarterback Sam Darnold in a win against the New York Jets.
[14] He played in his first career postseason game on January 13, 2019, in a win against the Los Angeles Chargers.
Rivers helped the Patriots reach Super Bowl LIII, although he was inactive for it.
Rivers suffered a knee injury in Week 2 of the 2019 preseason, and was ruled out for the rest of the season.
He was active in Week 1, against the Miami Dolphins, where he recorded his first sack since 2018 on quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick.
[27] The last game he played in for that season was on December 19 against the Jacksonville Jaguars, where he recorded his first sack since Week 1 of 2020 on quarterback Trevor Lawrence.
[31] In a flurry of moves over the course of three weeks, Rivers was shifted between being promoted to the active roster,[32] being released,[33] and being re-signed to the practice squad, starting with his promotion to the active roster on September 21 and ending as a member of the practice squad on October 7.