Introduction
Ronald Lee Fellows (born November 7, 1957 in South Bend, Indiana) is a former American football cornerback in the National Football League, having played for the Dallas Cowboys and the Los Angeles Raiders.
Early years
Fellows attended Washington High School, before moving on to play cornerback at Butler Community College. After receiving a scholarship from the University of Missouri, he was moved to wide receiver and led the Big Eight Conference in receiving with 587 yards on 33 receptions as a senior.
Professional career
Dallas Cowboys
Fellows was drafted by the Dallas Cowboys in the 6th round of the 1981 NFL draft to play cornerback.
He started his career slow, not recording an interception during his first two seasons, but over the next four years, he had 17 interceptions, two of which were returned for touchdowns (1983 and 1986). He was also used as a kick and punt returner.
Fellows was part of an opportunistic Cowboys secondary that earned the nickname "Thurman's Thieves", because of the amount of plays and turnovers they generated. In 1985 he became the starter at right cornerback.
On August 2, 1987, after being involved in a contract holdout and with the Cowboys needing help at wide receiver, the team felt they had depth at cornerback after drafting of Ron Francis, so they traded him to the Los Angeles Raiders in exchange for Rod Barksdale.
Los Angeles Raiders
Fellows was the team's nickel cornerback in 1987. He was waived before the start of the 1988 season, but was re-signed when Terry McDaniel was lost for the year with a broken leg after the second game. He was the starter at left cornerback for the remaining games, but wasn't re-signed at the end of the season.