At Idaho, Washington played basketball for two seasons under head coaches Floyd and Kermit Davis and football for a season in 1988 under Keith Gilbertson.[1] In his senior year of 1988–89, the Idaho Vandals won Big Sky conference titles in both sports and advanced to the NCAA postseason: the I-AA semifinals in football and the Division I basketball tournament. He recorded a school record 14.5 sacks that year playing the right defensive end position.[2] In 2007, Washington was inducted into the Vandal Athletics Hall of Fame.[3]
Professional career
Washington was selected in the sixth round of the 1989 NFL draft by the New York Jets, the 151st overall pick.[4][5][6] He played a total of eight seasons for the Jets, the last six as a starter.[7] Washington recorded a career-high (and team-high) 8.5 sacks in 1992,[2] and a career-high 71 tackles the following year.[7]
After his time with the Jets, Washington played a season for the San Francisco 49ers, a season for the Denver Broncos (with whom he won a Super Bowl ring), and returned to the 49ers for his final year in 1999.[7] He finished his career with 40.5 sacks, 386 tackles, and 10 forced fumbles in 155 games played, 96 of which he started.[7]
Washington is an advocate for the medical use of cannabis and an entrepreneur in the cannabis industry.[8] In 2017, he was part of a lawsuit filed against Attorney General Jeff Sessions, seeking to overturn the classification of cannabis as a Schedule I drug.[9] Washington is a board member of Athletes for Care,[10] a group that advocates for athletes on issues of health and safety including the use of cannabis as medicine.[11][12]
In November 2021, Washington began hosting an online educational show about cannabis named 5th Quarter. The show focuses in particular on the use of cannabis by athletes.[13]
