K.D. Cannon’s Football Career: A Journey Of Dedication

Saturday, April 1st, KD Cannon made his lone catch of the day. While it was his only catch it was one to remember, the eye coordination and ability to adjust to where the ball was going was from the amount of dedication he has put into himself since his football career started in 2014 at Baylor.

KD who has had a 9 year career is 27 years old currently, he has been in almost every football league you could think of and has always found himself with a team.

The reason being is due to what he did back at Baylor in his 3 years there.

K.D. Cannon In His 3 Years At Baylor:

2014: 58 Receptions/ 1,030 Rec YDs/ 8 Rec TDs

2015: 50 Receptions/ 868 Rec YDs/ 6 Rec TDs

2016: 87 Receptions/ 1,215 Rec YDs/ 13 Rec TDs

Dominant is the only way to describe KD back in college. His most notable game was in his junior year at the Cactus Bowl where he went for 226 receiving yards and 2 receiving touchdowns. After a huge game like that he announced that he was declaring for the 2017 NFL draft.

The 2017 draft didn’t go the way he thought it would but he didn’t find himself without a team for very long. The 49ers signed K.D. in April where he stayed for rookie camp but was soon cut in early May. From May 9th, 2017 up to September 1st, 2018 he was signed and waived by 3 different NFL teams.

The Jets, Rams, and Cowboys were the 3 teams that signed him but never gave him a chance to play.

A month later in October of 2018 he was signed by the Saskatchewan Roughriders (CFL). He found his first opportunity in the CFL where he played in their 2018 and 2019 season. Cannon finished with 220 receiving yards and no touchdowns which led to his release in August of 2019 after they had moved him to their practice squad back in July.

Once again he found himself off another team without even really getting a chance. That was until the Los Angeles Wildcats drafted him in 2019 for the revamping of the XFL (2020). They kept him on the team for a short while but released him in January during final roster cuts.

The Seattle Dragons later picked him up where he never played a single snap for the team before the XFL suspended its operations due to Covid.

K.D. went 2 years without seeing the field again because of how many leagues had canceled their games. Las Vegas created their own IFL (Indoor Football League) team in 2022 and K.D. Cannon was 1 of many players to get a call to be apart of the team.

He finally got his chance to play a full season, K.D. got to show what he could do and did his thing for the Knighthawks.

33 Receptions, 422 Rec YDs, and 10 Rec TDs was the stat line for his 2022 season in Vegas. Although the good stat line they released him in November of the same year and he yet again found himself without a team.

The XFL had finally came back in late 2022 and were gonna have the draft in November. In the 3rd round of the Skill Position portion the D.C. Defenders grabbed K.D. Cannon which is where he stayed until they cut him on March 22nd after he was put on the Reserve List due to a hamstring issue he first suffered in training camp back in early February.

The Orlando Guardians didn’t let him be a free agent for long after they signed him on March 27th.

Which was proven to not be a mistake.

8 minutes and 1 second left in the 1st quarter, the Guardians were down 2 (8-6 Was The Score) and they had a 1st and 10 and didn’t need to throw deep. Quinten Dormandy (QB1 For Guardians) had other plans and didn’t really mind taking a chance to toss the ball 41 yards to a heavily covered K.D. Cannon. K.D. stretched his arms out and eyes wide open caught the ball with Michael Joseph (#15) in coverage.

Although he only had 1 catch that whole game, his reaction to catching that touchdown says it all. The determination to keep going after being waived and released so many times is unheard of. Which is why K.D. reacted the way he did, he might’ve just found his 1st real chance at showing what he can do.

April 8th is the next game for K.D. where the Guardians will host the Arlington Renegades who have a pretty good secondary where they lead the league in INT’s (8 INT’s). Michael Joseph who was covering K.D. on that touchdown catch is 2nd in the league in INT’s (5 INT’s) but ultimately allowed K.D. to get free. Which means anything can happen, especially when you have the will to do anything like K.D. does.