A.J. Green

Lore & Background

In his first season with the Bengals, Green made the Pro Bowl as a rookie in 2011 (game played in January 2012), and went on to accumulate a total of seven Pro Bowl appearances throughout his career. From 2011 to 2013, Green caught more passes (260) than any other player in NFL history during their first three seasons, a record that was later broken by Jarvis Landry and Odell Beckham Jr. (288). He had six seasons with 1,000 or more receiving yards. Green signed with the Arizona Cardinals in 2021, having finished his Bengals career ranked second in franchise history in receptions and receiving yards behind Chad Johnson, and second in receiving touchdowns behind Chad Johnson (66) at the time of his departure. On September 16, 2023, Green signed a one-day contract with the Bengals to retire with the team.

Reader's Guide

Green attended Summerville High School in Summerville, South Carolina, where he was a three-sport athlete in football, basketball, and track. He played as a wide receiver for the Summerville Green Wave football team, under coach John McKissick. He was widely considered to be one of the top national football prospects of the Class of 2008 and was listed #1 by Sports Illustrated. Green earned All-State honors four times and was the only junior nominated to the 2006 USA Today All-American first-team following 75 receptions for 1,422 yards and 16 touchdowns during his junior season.

Green was also selected as a member of the Rivals.com Junior All-America team based on those stats. As a freshman, he had 57 receptions for 1,217 yards and eight touchdowns. As a sophomore, he had 60 catches for 1,203 yards and 14 touchdowns. Green's 5,373 career receiving yards rank second in the all-time career receiving records of the National Federation of High Schools.

His 279 career receptions rank fourth. In June 2006, Green was profiled by Sports Illustrated as part of its "Where Will They Be?" stories documenting athletes with the potential of becoming a future great, alongside Peter Uihlein, John Tavares, Tyreke Evans, Elena Delle Donne, and others. Sports Illustrated compared him to the then-Oakland Raiders wideout Randy Moss and predicted Green will be in the NFL by 2011. Green was also on the school's track & field team, where he competed as a long jumper (top-jump of 19 ft 6 in) and triple jumper (40 ft 0 in).

Rivals.com ranked Green as their No. 9 prospect for the high school class of 2008, while Scout.com named Green their No. 10 prospect nationally. He participated in the Under Armour All-America Game. Green was also on the Summerville High high school basketball team that claimed the 2007–2008 South Carolina state championship in a championship game against Spartanburg (S.C.) High. The game was played in memory of their fallen assistant coach, Captain Louis Mulkey of the Charleston Fire Department in South Carolina, who died responding to a fire with eight other firefighters on June 18, 2007.

Green verbally committed to attend the University of Georgia in October 2006, and made his commitment official by signing a letter of intent to play at Georgia on February 6, 2008. He played for coach Mark Richt's Georgia Bulldogs football team from 2008 to 2010.

Did You Know?

• When Green was age 4, his older brother and only sibling died in a car wreck on the way to a school carnival.
• Green was on his elementary school's juggling team, telling The Atlanta Journal-Constitution that he learned to juggle as early as second grade, and could juggle as many as four items at once.
• Green was suspended for the first four games of the 2010 regular season after he admitted to selling his 2009 Independence Bowl Jersey for $1,000.