DERRICK ALEXANDER: The Silent Assassin

Close your eyes and go back to Memorial Stadium, 1996. The paint on the purple was barely dry. The defense couldn’t stop a nosebleed. And yet, on 33rd Street, Sundays were appointment viewing for one reason — Vinny Testaverde airing it out to Michael Jackson and Derrick Alexander.

We talk plenty about the franchise’s defensive royalty around here, and rightfully so. But that inaugural Ravens offense could flat-out sling it, and the numbers back it up. Jackson and Alexander both topped 1,000 yards in 1996 — an accomplishment no Ravens wide receiver duo has matched since. Let that sink in. Not Boldin and Smith. Not Zay and Bateman. Nobody. Thirty years and counting.

Jackson got the headlines that season, and deservedly so — his 14 touchdowns tied for the league lead and he finished sixth in receiving yardage. And somehow the man watched the Pro Bowl from his couch. But Alexander? He was the silent assassin of that offense. 62 catches, 1,099 yards, and a 17.7 yards-per-catch average that ranked sixth in the NFL. And who could forget that December night against the Steelers — seven catches, 198 yards, including 166 yards in the second quarter alone, good for AFC Offensive Player of the Week. Doing that to Pittsburgh will always earn you a warm spot in this town’s heart.

He backed it up in ’97, too. A second consecutive 1,000-yard season, plus the longest reception in the entire NFL that year — a 92-yard touchdown catch against Seattle. For years afterward, Alexander held the Ravens’ franchise marks for yards per reception (16.6), most 100-yard receiving games, and longest pass reception. Not bad for a guy who spent exactly two seasons in purple.

Then, as it so often goes, the money called. In March 1998, Alexander signed a five-year, $17.5 million contract with the Kansas City Chiefs. And here’s the part that stings a little for the Flock — he might’ve been even better out there. In 2000, he set a Kansas City single-season record with 1,391 receiving yards, catching passes from his old Michigan teammate, Elvis Grbac. Two Michigan men, connecting a decade after Ann Arbor. You do remember Elvis, right?

An abdominal injury derailed things in 2001 for Alexander, and after a final season in 2002 with Minnesota, he hung ’em up with 417 receptions, 6,971 receiving yards and 40 touchdowns across 126 games. Never a Pro Bowler. Never a household name outside of Baltimore, Cleveland and KC. But you’d be hard-pressed to find a more reliable vertical threat in the late ’90s.

So where is he now?

Derrick’s success didn’t end on the gridiron. He didn’t chase TV gigs or car dealerships. The man went into IT — working as a systems analyst for the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City and later as a systems engineer at Cerner. A first-round pick debugging systems for the Fed. Sounds like a potential Netflix series.

But football, as he’d tell you himself, was in his blood. He got into coaching in 2015 and worked his way up the hard way — Wilmington College, Avila University, and yes, a stop at Morgan State, which brought him right back home to Baltimore. After a season at Wayne State in his native Detroit, he landed the top job: head football coach at Avila University in Kansas City, a position he held from 2023 to 2025. Avila has since named a new head coach, so his next chapter is still being written — but given his career journey thus far, don’t bet against him finding a sideline somewhere.

Now 54 years old, Alexander remains one of the quiet cornerstones of this franchise’s founding. And sadly, he carries the torch for that legendary 1996 tandem alone — Michael Jackson died in a motorcycle crash in May 2017 in his hometown of Tangipahoa, Louisiana, at just 48 years old, after a post-football life that included serving as mayor of Tangipahoa from 2009 until 2013. Rest easy, 81.

Two receivers, two thousand-yard seasons, zero Pro Bowls. Baltimore knew what it had, even if the rest of the league never quite caught on. And nearly three decades later, no Ravens duo has been able to match it.

A social for the originals fellow Flockers!

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