BIOGRAPHY
William Holton was born on September 14, 1993, in Green Cove Springs, Florida. He studied at the University of Vanderbilt and is an offensive tackle that has played in multiple teams throughout his NFL career such as the Arizona Cardinals, the Indianapolis Colts, the New Orleans Saints and currently for the second time in his career with the Arizona Cardinals of the National Football League. In his early years, Holden attended Green Cove Springs High School where he started playing football and was a member of National Honor Society chapter. In his sophomore and junior season, he started playing at RT helping his team to be at the 5A state playoffs. As a senior, he started as a left tackle for district runners-up, earning the first-team All-State honors by sportswriters. He was named to Jacksonville Times-Union’s prestigious Super 24 Team and earned first-team All-Area and All-District recognition. He also played in postseason Florida Athletic Coaches Association All-State Game.
After he finished high school, Holden committed to the University of Vanderbilt where in 2012, he redshirted during his first season on campus, while helping out the offensive line on the practice squad. In 2013, Holden played in every game during the season, participating on the offensive line and special team conversion units utilizing as both offensive guard and tackle, which increased his participation as the season endured. Holden put together an excellent season during his first year as a starter as an offensive lineman in 2014. After earning limited snaps during the 2013 season, Holden played in all 12 games, seeing action at right tackle, earning 10 starts during the season, with his first career start coming against Ole Miss. He registered 26 pancake blocks and eight domination blocks and used the offseason to overall strength and agility. In 2015, Holden started every game protecting the quarterback’s blindside as a left tackle. He played more than 870 offensive snaps, which was the second-most on OL behind senior center Spencer Pulley and credited 33 pancake and 13 domination blocks during the season, and earned or shared team’s offensive lineman of the week honors on three occasions.
In the 2016 season, Holden started all 13 games in his fifth year, extending his consecutive starts streak at tackle to 37 games, playing virtually every meaningful snap protecting Kyle Shurmur’s blindside at left tackle and was part of an offensive line that showed substantial improvement as the season developed. By the end of the season, Holden and the line played a huge role in running Ralph Webb becoming the team’s all-time leading rusher and sophomore Kyle Shurmur producing one of the finest seasons ever by a Commodore quarterback. He earned SEC Offensive Lineman of the Week honors where he had key blocks in three TD's in one of best performances during the season came during impressive win over Ole Miss. olden and the line helped the Commodore offense improved in nearly every stat category from 2015, including points scored, first downs, total yards and red-zone efficiency where the unit produced points on 43 of 46 possessions inside the 20-yard line.
After graduating from college, Holden went to the NFL Combine where he was projected to be a third or fourth-round draft pick from the majority of scouts and analysts and was ranked the tenth best offensive tackle by NFLDraftScout.com. In the 2015 NFLDraft, Holden was selected in the fifth round by the Arizona Cardinals and signed a four-year contract with the team on May 12, 2017, where in his rookie season, he played in seven games with five starts. On September 2, 2018, Holden was waived by the Cardinals and was signed to the Indianapolis Colts practice squad on September 13, 2018, but was released on September 24, 2018. He then signed with the New Orleans Saints practice squad on October 2, 2018, and was released by the Saints on November 28, 2018. On November 29, 2018, Holden was signed by the Arizona Cardinals.
