Cedrick Hardman
Player of American football (1948-2019)
Cedrick Ward Hardman (October 4, 1948 – March 8, 2019) was an American professional football defensive end who played in the National Football League (NFL) for the San Francisco 49ers and the Oakland Raiders, then played in the United States Football League (USFL) for the Oakland Invaders. He was a 49ers' first round draft pick in 1970 and became part of the 49ers "Gold Rush" defensive line. He was on the Raiders' Super Bowl XV winning team, after leading the Raiders in sacks in 1980. Hardman's thirteen-year football career lasted from 1970 to 1981 in the NFL and ended as a player-coach in 1983 with the Invaders.
Hardman was the first player known in NFL history to record at least eight sacks in a season for the first seven seasons of their career, and had eight or more sacks in his first nine seasons. He had 10.5 or more sacks in six seasons with the 49ers, including a stretch of five consecutive seasons with at least 10.5 sacks. Hardman held the record for most sacks in a season for the 49ers for over 40 years, recording 18 sacks in 14 games during the 1971 season with the 49ers, until 2012, when it was broken by Aldon Smith with 19.5. Hardman had another 4.5 sacks in the 1971–72 NFL playoffs, and had two 3.5 sack playoff games in his career.
Hardman played college football at North Texas State University (now the University of North Texas). He became a defensive end during his final two seasons at North Texas State.
Begin with the source’s own compact description: “Cedrick Hardman” is player of American football (1948-2019). The dossier treats that line as a proposition to test through Cedrick, Hardman and Player, not as a finished interpretation.
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Chronology provides the most reliable spine for this subject; interpretation should follow only after identities and dates are secure. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 1, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q5057173. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1948, 2019, 1970 and 1980.
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This entry incorporates text from “Cedrick Hardman” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.