Mitch Unrein (born March 25, 1987) is an American former professional

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

defensive tackle A defensive tackle (DT) is a position in American football that typically lines up on the line of scrimmage, opposite one of the Guard (American football), offensive guards; however, he may also line up opposite one of the offensive Tackle (gridir ...

. He was signed by the

Houston Texans The Houston Texans are a professional American football team based in Houston. The Texans compete in the National Football League as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC South, South division. The team plays its home games at N ...

as an

undrafted free agent In professional sports, a free agent is a player or manager who is eligible to sign with other clubs or franchises; i.e., not under contract to any specific team. The term is also used in reference to a player who is under a contract at present ...

in 2010. He played

college football College football is gridiron football that is played by teams of amateur Student athlete, student-athletes at universities and colleges. It was through collegiate competition that gridiron football American football in the United States, firs ...

Wyoming Wyoming ( ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States, Western United States. It borders Montana to the north and northwest, South Dakota and Nebraska to the east, Idaho t ...

Professional career

Denver Broncos

Unrein made his NFL debut in Week 1 of the 2011 season against the Raiders. He made his first NFL start in Week 2 of the 2012 season against the Falcons. In a game against the

Tampa Bay Buccaneers The Tampa Bay Buccaneers (colloquially known as the Bucs) are a professional American football team based in Tampa, Florida. The Buccaneers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC S ...

on December 2, 2012, Unrein lined up for the first time as at the fullback position. He proceeded to catch his first career touchdown pass from quarterback

Peyton Manning Peyton Williams Manning (born March 24, 1976) is an American former professional American football, football quarterback who played in the National Football League (NFL) for 18 seasons. Nicknamed "the Sheriff", he spent 14 seasons with the In ...

. On April 11, 2013, Unrein signed a one-year, $630,000 tender. The Broncos placed a one-year $1.431 million tender on Unrein on March 7, 2014.

San Diego Chargers

Unrein signed with the

San Diego Chargers The San Diego Chargers were a professional American football team in the National Football League (NFL). The Chargers played in San Diego, California from 1961 until 2016, before relocating back to the Greater Los Angeles area, where the franch ...

on March 19, 2015. On September 24, 2015, the San Diego Chargers reinforced the tight end position, bringing back Kyle Miller nine days after he was waived on September 15. To make room, the team released Unrein.

Chicago Bears

Unrein was signed by the

Chicago Bears The Chicago Bears are a professional American football team based in Chicago. The Bears compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC North, North division. They are one of two remaining ...

on September 25, 2015. On November 9, 2015, he lined up at fullback against the San Diego Chargers. This was the first of many times he was used like this by the Bears. He ended the 2015 season with 32 tackles, two tackles-for-loss, and a sack. On March 12, 2016, Unrein was re-signed by the Bears to a two-year contract. He appeared in 13 games and started nine in the 2016 season. He recorded one sack on the season, in Week 14. In 2017, Unrein started eight out of 12 games played, recording a career-high 32 tackles and 2.5 sacks. He was placed on injured reserve on December 5, 2017.

Tampa Bay Buccaneers

On March 16, 2018, Unrein signed a three-year, $10.5 million contract with the

. He was placed on injured reserve on September 3, 2018, with a concussion. On March 13, 2019, Unrein was released by the Buccaneers.

NFL career statistics

Regular season

Playoffs

Personal life

Unrein is married to Olympic bronze-medalist trapshooter

Corey Cogdell Corey Cogdell (born September 2, 1986) is an American trapshooter. She is a two-time Olympic bronze medal winner in the Women's Trap; at the 2008 Summer Olympics and the 2016 Summer Olympics. She has won eight ISSF World Cup medals and a bronze ...

. He has five siblings. His older brothers Mark and Mike, both played

for the University of Northern Colorado Bears. His older sister Natalie, who also went to UNC, is a three-time

All-America The All-America designation is an annual honor bestowed on outstanding athletes in the United States who are considered to be among the best athletes in their respective sport. Individuals receiving this distinction are typically added to an Al ...

n swimmer and still holds one of the top-10 records for the 100 meter

backstroke Backstroke or back crawl is one of the four Swimming (sport), swimming styles used in competitive events regulated by FINA, and the only one of these styles swum on the back. This swimming style has the advantage of easy breathing, but the disa ...

in UNC history. He is also distant

cousin A cousin is a relative who is the child of a parent's sibling; this is more specifically referred to as a first cousin. A parent of a first cousin is an aunt or uncle. More generally, in the kinship system used in the English-speaking world, ...

s with former NFL

defensive end Defensive end (DE) is a defensive position in the sport of gridiron football. This position has designated the players at each end of the defensive line, but changes in formation (American football), formations over the years have substantially ...

Terry Unrein, who was selected in the

third round Third or 3rd may refer to: Numbers * 3rd, the ordinal form of the cardinal number 3 * , a fraction of one third * 1⁄60 of a ''second'', i.e., the third in a series of fractional parts in a sexagesimal number system Places * 3rd Street (di ...

of the

1986 NFL draft The 1986 NFL draft was the procedure by which National Football League teams selected amateur college football players. It is officially known as the NFL Annual Player Selection Meeting. The draft was held April 29–30, 1986, at the Marriott M ...

by the

References

External links

Wyoming Cowboys bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Unrein, Mitch 1987 births Living people Sportspeople from Weld County, Colorado Players of American football from Colorado American football defensive tackles American football defensive ends American people of German descent Wyoming Cowboys football players Houston Texans players 21st-century American sportsmen Denver Broncos players San Diego Chargers players Chicago Bears players Tampa Bay Buccaneers players