Anthony Chickillo

Early years

Chickillo attended Gaither High School in Tampa, Florida prior to transferring to Braulio Alonso High School, which is also in Tampa, before his junior year. As a senior, he had 140 tackles, 18 sacks and two interceptions. Chickillo was named the MVP of the 2011 Under Armour All-America Game after he recorded 1.5 sacks and a fumble recovery. He was rated by Rivals.com as a four-star recruit and was ranked as the third best defensive end in his class. He committed to the University of Miami to play college football.

College career

Chickillo played at Miami from 2011 to 2014. He entered his freshman season as a backup before becoming a starter. After three games, he became a starter and would start the next 47 games through his senior year. He finished his career with 170 tackles and 15.5 sacks.

Professional career

Coming out of college, Chickillo was projected by some analysts to be a fourth to sixth round draft pick. He was rated the 13th best defensive end out of the 148 available by NFLDraftScout.com. Many scouts were divided on what position he is best suited for and classified him as a tweener. He received mostly mixed reviews from anaylsts and was thought to be a future rotational defensive end. Chickillo was invited to the NFL Scouting Combine and was able to participate in the full workout and complete all the positional drills. He also attended Miami's Pro Day but was satisfied with his combine performance and only did positional workouts. Pittsburgh Steeler's head coach Mike Tomlin attended his pro day and has said he envisioned Chickillo switching to an outside linebacker.

On May 2, 2015, Chickillo was drafted by the Pittsburgh Steelers in the sixth round (212th overall) of the 2015 NFL Draft.

2015 season

On September 6, 2015, he was waived by the Steelers after initially making the 53-man roster. He was signed to the practice squad three days later. On September 30, 2015, Chickillo was activated from the practice squad to the Steeler's active roster.

On October 18, 2015, he appeared in his first career game against the Arizona Cardinals. He appeared in seven regular season games for the Steelers in his rookie year, recording six tackles and forcing a fumble. The following week, he recorded his first tackle during a 23-13 loss to the Kansas City Chiefs. He had a season-high two tackles and forced a fumble during the Steeler's Week 17 victory over the Cleveland Browns. Chickillo finished his rookie season with a total of six combined tackles and a forced fumble, while appearing in seven regular season contests and two post season games.

2016 season

He began his second season as the third left outside linebacker on the depth chart behind Bud Dupree and Arthur Moats. Although he was mainly featured on special teams, he began to receive more reps as a rotational outside linebacker after Dupree missed the first ten games due to an abdominal injury.

On October 9, 2016, Chickillo recorded three solo tackles, a forced fumble, and his first career sack on New York Jets' quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick, during the Steeler's 31-13 victory. The following week, he earned his first career start against the Miami Dolphins and finished the loss with three solo tackles. During a Week 9 13-21 loss to the Baltimore Ravens, Chickillo made a season-high six combined tackles and was credited with a half a sack on Joe Flacco. The next game, he made a total of four tackles, a force fumble, and sacked Dak Prescott during a 30-35 loss to the Dallas Cowboys.

2017 season

On February 14, 2017, Chickillo re-signed with the Steelers on a one-year deal.

On September 10, in the season opening 21–18 victory over the Cleveland Browns, Tyler Matakevich blocked a punt, which Chickillo recovered in the endzone for his first career touchdown. The recovery gave the Steelers their first points of the season.

Personal life

His father Tony Chickillo and grandfather Nick Chickillo both played at the University of Miami and in the NFL.