Damontae Kazee

Damontae Tyron Kazee (born June 5, 1993) is an American football safety for the Atlanta Falcons of the National Football League (NFL). He was drafted by the Falcons in the fifth round of the 2017 NFL Draft after playing college football for San Diego State.

Damontae Kazee
Kazee with the Atlanta Falcons in 2019
No. 27 – Atlanta Falcons
Position:Safety
Personal information
Born: (1993-06-05) June 5, 1993
San Bernardino, California
Height:5 ft 10 in (1.78 m)
Weight:184 lb (83 kg)
Career information
High school:Cajon
(San Bernardino, California)
College:San Diego State
NFL Draft:2017 / Round: 5 / Pick: 149
Career history
Roster status:Active
Career highlights and awards
  • NFL interceptions co-leader (2018)
  • 2× Mountain West Defensive Player of the Year (2015, 2016)
  • 2× First-Team All-Mountain West (2015, 2016)
  • Second-Team All-Mountain West (2014)
Career NFL statistics as of 2020
Total tackles:199
Forced fumbles:5
Fumble recoveries:0
Pass deflections:13
Interceptions:10
Player stats at NFL.com

Early years

Kazee graduated from Cajon High School in San Bernardino, California in 2012. He played college football at San Diego State.[1]

Professional career

On November 14, 2016, it was announced that Kazee accepted his invitation to appear in the 2017 Senior Bowl.[2] On January 28, 2017, Kazee appeared in the Senior Bowl and helped Cleveland Browns' head coach Hue Jackson's South team defeat the North 16–15. His overall performance impressed scouts and raised his draft stock.[3] He was one of 35 collegiate cornerbacks to receive an invitation to the NFL Scouting Combine in Indianapolis, Indiana.[4] He performed the majority of combine drills, but opted to skip the short shuttle and three-cone drill. On March 23, 2017, Kazee attended San Diego State's Pro Day, but opted to stand on his combine numbers and performed positional drills, the short shuttle, and three-cone drills for scouts and team representatives from 29 NFL teams that attended, including Los Angeles Chargers' defensive coordinator Gus Bradley.[5] At the conclusion of the pre-draft process, Kazee was projected to be a fourth or fifth round pick by the majority of NFL draft experts and scouts. He was ranked as the 22nd best cornerback prospect in the draft by NFLDraftScout.com.[6]

Pre-draft measurables
Height Weight Arm length Hand size 40-yard dash 10-yard split 20-yard split 20-yard shuttle Three-cone drill Vertical jump Broad jump Bench press
5 ft 10 1⁄4 in
(1.78 m)		 184 lb
(83 kg)		 30 7⁄8 in
(0.78 m)		 8 5⁄8 in
(0.22 m)		 4.54 s 1.60 s 2.65 s 4.27 s 7.11 s 34 in
(0.86 m)		 10 ft 4 in
(3.15 m)		 11 reps
All values from NFL Combine[7]

2017

The Atlanta Falcons selected Kazee in the fifth round (149th overall) of the 2017 NFL Draft.[8]

On May 9, 2017, the Atlanta Falcons signed Kazee to a four-year, $2.68 million contract with a signing bonus of $288,922.[9]

Kazee entered training camp competing against Brian Poole for the starting nickel back role. Head coach Dan Quinn opted to transition him to free safety in July and Kazee showed promise throughout training camp in his new role.[10] He was named the backup free safety to Ricardo Allen to start the 2017 season.[11]

He made his professional regular season debut in the Atlanta Falcons' season-opener at the Chicago Bears and made two solo tackles and forced a fumble in their 23–17 victory. On October 1, 2017, Kazee earned his first career start after Ricardo Allen was unable to play after suffering a concussion the previous week. He finished the Falcons' 23–17 loss to the Buffalo Bills with a season-high nine combined tackles and a forced fumble. He finished the season with 23 combined tackles (14 solo) and two forced fumbles in one start and 16 games.[12]

2018

Kazee entered the 2018 season as the backup strong safety to Keanu Neal. He was named the starter following a season-ending injury to Neal in Week 1. During Week 2 against the Carolina Panthers, Kazee was ejected for making a helmet-to-helmet hit on Cam Newton. The Falcons won 31-24.[13] In Week 3, he recorded a season-high 10 combined tackles and an interception. Kazee ended the 2018 season third on the team with 82 combined tackles, and tied for the league lead with seven interceptions with Kyle Fuller and Xavien Howard.[14]

2019

In Week 11 against the Carolina Panthers, Kazee recorded his first interception of the season off a pass thrown by Kyle Allen in the 29–3 win.[15] In Week 14 against the Panthers, Kazee forced a fumble on wide receiver Greg Dortch during a kickoff return which was recovered by kicker Younghoe Koo and recorded 2 more interceptions off passes thrown by Kyle Allen during the 40–20 win.[16] Kazee finished the 2019 season with 74 combined tackles, three interceptions, and one forced fumble.

2020

In week 4 of the 2020 NFL season in a Monday Night Football game against the Green Bay Packers, Kazee tore his Achilles' tendon, ending his season. He finished the season with 20 tackles and 1 forced fumble. He was placed on injured reserve on October 7, 2020.[17]

Career statistics
Legend
Led the league
Bold Career high
Year Team Games Tackles Interceptions Fumbles
GPGSCombSoloAstSck TFLPDIntYdsAvgLngTDFFFRYdsTD
2017ATL 161231490.0 0.00000.0002000
2018ATL 16158260220.0 1.0107547.73301000
2019ATL 16147446280.0 2.0335317.72201000
2020ATL 44201730.0 0.00000001000
Career5234199137620.0 3.0131010710.73309300

References
  1. "Jamaal Williams, Damontae Kazee eagerly awaiting NFL draft". Dailybulletin.com. Retrieved May 1, 2017.
  2. "Prospects who have accepted invites to 2017 Senior Bowl". NFL.com. November 14, 2016. Retrieved January 2, 2018.
  3. Dan Salomone (January 30, 2017). "Mike Mayock names 10 standouts from Senior Bowl". Giants.com. Retrieved January 2, 2018.
  4. Scott Patsko (February 27, 2017). "NFL Combine 2017: Complete list of invited players". Cleveland.com. Retrieved January 2, 2018.
  5. Gil Brandt (March 23, 2017). "Pro day results: Stanford, Ohio St., Utah, Missouri, SDSU". NFL.com. Retrieved January 2, 2018.
  6. "Damontae Kazee, DS #22 CB, San Diego State". nfldraftscout.com. Retrieved January 2, 2018.
  7. "NFL Draft Profile: Damontae Kazee". NFL.com. Retrieved January 2, 2018.
  8. Conway, Kelsey (April 29, 2017). "Falcons Take DB Damontae Kazee With No. 149 Overall Pick". AtlantaFalcons.com. Archived from the original on January 3, 2018. Retrieved May 5, 2017.
  9. "Spotrac.com: Damontae Kazee contract". Spotrac.com. Retrieved January 2, 2018.
  10. Vaughan McClure (August 16, 2017). "Damontae Kazee still rates himself as average despite hot start". ESPNcricinfo.com. Retrieved January 2, 2018.
  11. Tim Weaver (September 2, 2017). "First official Falcons depth chart for 2017 season". thefalconswire.usatoday.com. Retrieved January 2, 2018.
  12. "NFL Player stats: Damontae Kazee (2017)". NFL.com. Retrieved January 2, 2018.
  13. "Damontae Kazee ejected for Cam Newton helmet hit". NFL. Retrieved September 16, 2018.
  14. "Falcons' Damontae Kazee: Tallies seven interceptions in 2018". CBSSports.com. Retrieved February 24, 2019.
  15. "Falcons defense overwhelms Allen, Panthers 29-3". www.espn.com. November 17, 2019. Retrieved November 17, 2019.
  16. "Ryan leads Falcons to another big win over Panthers, 40-20". www.espn.com. December 8, 2019. Retrieved December 8, 2019.
  17. McFadden, Will (October 7, 2020). "Falcons place Damontae Kazee on IR". AtlantaFalcons.com. Retrieved October 26, 2020.
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