Josh Heinrich Taves is a former professional American 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.

Biography

He played football for Dennis-Yarmouth Regional High School

Dennis-Yarmouth Regional High School

Dennis-Yarmouth Regional High School is a suburban public high school in Yarmouth, Massachusetts. It opened in 1957 and was expanded and renovated in 1979 and again in 2006. It serves the Barnstable County towns of Yarmouth and Dennis and is the third largest high school on Cape Cod with...

, and for Northeastern University, where he twice made the Jewish All-American team.

He was named NFL Europe's 1998 Most Valuable Defensive Player, after he was co-leader in sacks in the league with 9 in 10 games for the Barcelona Dragons

Barcelona Dragons

The Barcelona Dragons were a team originally in the World League of American Football and later in the resurrected NFL Europe. Their home field in Barcelona was the Estadi Olímpic de Montjuic, the 1992 Olympic Stadium, and later the Mini Estadi. The Dragons were successful on the field, making it...

.

In the National Football League, he played defensive end

Defensive end

Defensive end is the name of a defensive position in the sport of American and Canadian football.This position has designated the players at each end of the defensive line, but changes in formations have substantially changed how the position is played over the years...

 for 29 games over three seasons for the Oakland Raiders

Oakland Raiders

The Oakland Raiders are a professional American football team based in Oakland, California. They currently play in the Western Division of the American Football Conference in the National Football League...

 and the Carolina Panthers

Carolina Panthers

The Carolina Panthers are a professional American football team based in Charlotte, North Carolina. They are currently members of the South Division of the National Football Conference in the National Football League . The Panthers, along with the Jacksonville Jaguars, joined the NFL as expansion...

.