Charles Tillman

CTL-E-6839 · Person · other · contemporary

PROVISIONAL evidence grade — build store (JSON graph)

Combined Graph record U-07711 · provenance: build store (JSON graph), record CTL-E-6839.

Charles 'Peanut' Tillman was a Chicago-born cornerback who spent twelve of his thirteen NFL seasons with the Chicago Bears and turned forcing fumbles into a named technique. Born February 23, 1981, in Chicago, Illinois — though his Army family moved frequently during his childhood — Tillman played college football at Louisiana-Lafayette and was selected by the Bears in the second round of the 2003 NFL Draft, 35th overall. He helped Chicago reach Super Bowl XLI and was selected to two Pro Bowls. The Bears report that Tillman set franchise records with nine defensive touchdowns and 675 interception return yards, and that his ball-punching technique, dubbed the 'Peanut Punch,' produced a franchise-record 42 forced fumbles with the Bears, including ten in 2012. Off the field, he was named the 2013 Walter Payton NFL Man of the Year for his work through his Cornerstone Foundation serving Chicago-area and critically ill children. After retiring, Tillman served as an FBI agent from 2018 to 2025.

The record

• Also known as: Charles Anthony Tillman, Peanut

Notes

Sports Encyclopedia roster CTL-SPE-0405. Grade is Provisional under GOV-004 as applied in this pass: two or more independent sources were verified, but none is from the named authoritative tier (Pro Football Hall of Fame, NFL.com, Britannica) among the URLs retrieved; upgrade on capture of an NFL.com or Britannica source. Curator's Judgment (DRAFT): Tillman is a Chicago-born Bear whose named technique — the Peanut Punch — entered the league's coaching vocabulary, and whose Man of the Year honor ties the record to Chicago community service as well as play.

Relationships

• Chicago — from
  Born February 23, 1981, in Chicago, Illinois.
• Chicago Bears — played for
  Tillman played 12 years for the Chicago Bears (2003–2014) before one final season with Carolina.
• Chicago Bears — drafted by
  Selected by the Bears in the second round (35th overall) of the 2003 NFL Draft.

Sources

• Chicago Bears, 'Tillman retires after 13 NFL seasons,' chicagobears.com, https://www.chicagobears.com/news/tillman-retires-after-13-nfl-seasons-17337347 (accessed 2026-11-03). (build store)
• 'Charles Tillman,' Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Tillman (accessed 2026-11-03). (build store)
• Chicago Bears, 'Lunch with Larry: Charles Tillman,' chicagobears.com, December 21, 2024, https://www.chicagobears.com/news/lunch-with-larry-charles-tillman (accessed 2026-11-03). (build store)

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Record CTL-E-6839 · Combined Graph record U-07711 · CultureTechLens Knowledge Graph · 3 sources · 3 mapped relationships.
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Researched and maintained by the CultureTechLens research program · CultureTechLens Combined Graph, Release 2026-11-04. Corrections are public: the corrections log.

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