Nate Brooks (born September 5, 1996) is an American 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 ...

cornerback A cornerback (CB) is a member of the defensive backfield or secondary in gridiron football. Cornerbacks cover Wide receiver, receivers most of the time, but also blitz and defend against such Play from scrimmage, offensive running plays as sweep ...

for the

Cincinnati Bengals The Cincinnati Bengals are a professional American football team based in Cincinnati. The Bengals compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC North, North division. The team plays its h ...

of the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a Professional gridiron football, professional American football league in the United States. Composed of 32 teams, it is divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National ...

(NFL). 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 ...

for the

North Texas Mean Green North Texas Mean Green (formerly North Texas Eagles) represents the University of North Texas (UNT) in intercollegiate athletics. The teams compete in NCAA Division I, Division I of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). North Tex ...

and signed with the

Arizona Cardinals The Arizona Cardinals are a professional American football team based in the Phoenix metropolitan area. The Cardinals compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC West, West division. The ...

as an undrafted free agent in 2019. He has also been a member of the

New England Patriots The New England Patriots are a professional American football team based in the Greater Boston area. The Patriots compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC East, East division. The Pa ...

Miami Dolphins The Miami Dolphins are a professional American football team based in the Miami metropolitan area. The Dolphins compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC East, East division. The team ...

Baltimore Ravens The Baltimore Ravens are a professional American football team based in Baltimore. The Ravens compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC North, North division. The team plays its home g ...

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 ...

Tennessee Titans The Tennessee Titans are a professional American football team based in Nashville, Tennessee. The Titans compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC South, South division. They play the ...

Las Vegas Raiders The Las Vegas Raiders are a professional American football team based in the Las Vegas Valley, Las Vegas metropolitan area. The Raiders compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC West ...

San Francisco 49ers The San Francisco 49ers (also written as the San Francisco Forty-Niners and nicknamed the Niners) are a professional American football team based in the San Francisco Bay Area. The 49ers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member ...

Birmingham Stallions The Birmingham Stallions were a franchise in the United States Football League, an attempt to establish a second professional league of American football in the United States in competition with the National Football League. They played their ...

and

Michigan Panthers The Michigan Panthers were a professional American football team based in Metro Detroit. The Panthers competed in the United States Football League (USFL) as a member of the Western Conference and Central Division. The team played its home gam ...

Early life

Brooks was born in Texas. He went on to play high school football football in

quarterback The quarterback (QB) is a position in gridiron football who are members of the offensive side of the ball and mostly line up directly behind the Lineman (football), offensive line. In modern American football, the quarterback is usually consider ...

,"HUDL"
Recruitment Profile. Retrieved December 9, 2024. cornerback and

free safety Safety (S), historically known as a safetyman, is a position in gridiron football on the American football positions#Defense, defense. The safeties are defensive backs who line up ten to fifteen yards from the line of scrimmage. There are two var ...

positions with the Whitehouse Wildcats."MaxPreps"
Recruitment Profile. Retrieved December 9, 2024. His junior season performance including four pass interceptions and 53 tackles, earned Brooks first-team all-district 16-4A selection honors. Brooks also served the Wildcats as

team captain In team sport, captain is a title given to a member of the team. The title is frequently honorary, but in some cases the captain may have significant responsibility for strategy and teamwork while the game is in progress on the field. In eithe ...

. During his senior season, Brooks earned all-district 16-5A second-team honors. East Texas Sports News (ETSN) named Brooks to its 2014 East Texas Football Super Team Second-Team."North Texas Mean Greens"
Profile. Retrieved December 9, 2024. A two-sport athlete, Brooks also played

outfielder An outfielder is a person playing in one of the three defensive positions in baseball or softball, farthest from the batter. These defenders are the left fielder, the center fielder, and the right fielder. As an outfielder, their duty is to catch ...

with the Wildcats baseball team. Rated a three-star football recruiting prospect by

247Sports 247Sports is an American network of websites that focus mainly on college recruiting, athletic recruitment in college football and college basketball, basketball. It is owned and operated by Paramount Global, Paramount. The website hosts a large ...

, Brooks received offers from

Louisiana Tech Louisiana Tech University (Louisiana Tech, La. Tech, or simply Tech) is a public research university in Ruston, Louisiana, United States. It is part of the University of Louisiana System and classified among "R2: Doctoral Universities – Hig ...

Brooks, Gabe (August 3, 2013
"Louisiana Tech Offers Whitehouse Junior Nate Brooks"
East Texas Sports Network (ESTN.FM). Retrieved December 9, 2024. and

North Texas North Texas is a term used primarily by residents of the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex to refer to a geographic area of Texas, generally considered to include the area south of Oklahoma, east of Abilene, Texas, Abilene, west of Paris, Texas, Par ...

.Graham, Mike (June 16, 2014
"Whitehouse Defensive Back Nate Brooks Commits to Mean Green"
East Texas Sports Network (ESTN.FM). Retrieved December 9, 2024. He was considered to play cornerback for collegiate programs including

Southern Methodist University Southern Methodist University (SMU) is a Private university, private research university in Dallas, Texas, United States, with a satellite campus in Taos County, New Mexico. SMU was founded on April 17, 1911, by the Methodist Episcopal Church, ...

(SMU) and

Minnesota Minnesota ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Upper Midwestern region of the United States. It is bordered by the Canadian provinces of Manitoba and Ontario to the north and east and by the U.S. states of Wisconsin to the east, Iowa to the so ...

. Brooks was one of three East Texan recruits to join North Texas after accepting the offer made previously in June 2013. He graduated in 2015.

College career

Committing to North Texas in June 2014,"247 Sports"
Recruitment Profile. Retrieved December 9, 2024. Brooks joined the field with the North Texas Mean Greens during the 2015 season. As a cornerback, Brooks played in all 10 games. His first game start was against

Western Kentucky Western Kentucky is the western portion of the U.S. state of Kentucky. It generally includes part or all of several more widely recognized regions of the state. ;Always included * The Jackson Purchase, the state's westernmost generally recogniz ...

. After starting the last seven games of the season, Brooks tallied a career high of 11 tackles in the game against UTSA. By the end of the season, Brooks tallied 38 tackles. During the 2016 season, Brooks made his start against SMU. He tallied 57 total tackles and earned a Defensive Player of the Week honor for his performance against

Southern Miss The University of Southern Mississippi (Southern Miss or USM) is a Public university, public research university with its main campus in Hattiesburg, Mississippi. It is accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools to award bac ...

. By the end of the season, Brooks earned an All-Conference USA Honorable Mention. In 2017, Brooks was a preseason All-Conference USA selection. He started 8 games finishing with 31 tackles. Despite his junior season performance, Brooks overcame injuries that plagued him. Having entered college football at , he began his senior year in 2018 at a stronger, muscular, healthier .Hunt, Stephen (August 10, 2018)
"Now healthy, Whitehouse's Nate Brooks seeks return to form for UNT football"
at TylerPaper.com. Retrieved December 9, 2024. He started in all 13 games, beginning against SMU. During his senior season, Brooks recorded 6 interceptions, 67 tackles and 10 pass break-ups. His senior season performance earned Brooks Second Team All-Conference USA selection honors. He was also a runner-up for the

Jim Thorpe Award The Jim Thorpe Award, named in memory of multi-sport athlete Jim Thorpe, has been awarded to the top defensive back in college football College football is gridiron football that is played by teams of amateur Student athlete, student-athle ...

. In 2019, Brooks graduated from North Texas with a

bachelor's degree A bachelor's degree (from Medieval Latin ''baccalaureus'') or baccalaureate (from Modern Latin ''baccalaureatus'') is an undergraduate degree awarded by colleges and universities upon completion of a course of study lasting three to six years ...

in Integrative Studies."LinkedIn"
Business Profile. Retrieved December 9, 2024.

Professional career

Arizona Cardinals (first stint)

Following the conclusion of the

2019 NFL draft The 2019 NFL draft was the 84th annual meeting of National Football League (NFL) franchises to select newly eligible players for the 2019 NFL season. The draft was held on April 25–27 in Nashville, Tennessee, Nashville. The first round was held ...

, Brooks signed with the

as an undrafted free agent in 2019.

New England Patriots

On September 10, 2019, Brooks was signed to the

practice squad.

Miami Dolphins

On December 10, 2019, Brooks signed by the

from the

practice squad. On September 5, 2020, Brooks was waived/injured during final roster cuts, and subsequently reverted to the team's

injured reserve list The injured reserve list ( IR list) is a designation used in North American professional sports leagues for athletes who suffer injuries and become unable to play. The exact name of the list varies by league; it is known as "injured reserve" in t ...

the next day. He was waived with an injury settlement on September 11.

Baltimore Ravens

On November 10, 2020, Brooks was signed to the

' practice squad. He was elevated to the active roster on January 2, 2021, for the team's week 17 game against the

, and reverted to the practice squad after the game. He was released on January 4.

Tampa Bay Buccaneers

On May 6, 2021, Brooks was signed by the

. He was waived on August 22, 2021.

Tennessee Titans (first stint)

On August 26, 2021, Brooks signed with the

. He was waived on August 29, 2021. On November 1, 2021, Brooks was re-signed to the Titans practice squad. He was released on November 9, but later re-signed on December 15. He was released on December 27.

Arizona Cardinals (second stint)

On December 29, 2021, Brooks was signed to the

practice squad. He signed a reserve/future contract with the Cardinals on January 19, 2022. He was released on August 9, 2022.

Las Vegas Raiders

On August 12, 2022, Brooks was signed by the

. He was waived on August 16, 2022.

Tennessee Titans (second stint)

On September 13, 2022, Brooks signed with the practice squad of the

. He was released off the practice squad on October 18, 2022.

Birmingham Stallions (first stint)

Brooks signed with the

of the USFL on December 3, 2022. He was released from his contract on August 11, 2023, to sign with an NFL team.

San Francisco 49ers

On August 12, 2023, Brooks signed with the

. He was waived on August 27, 2023.

Birmingham Stallions (second stint)

Brooks re-signed with the Birmingham Stallions on September 20, 2023.

Michigan Panthers

On January 15, 2024, Brooks was selected by the

with the fifth overall pick in the Super Draft portion of the

2024 UFL dispersal draft The 2024 UFL dispersal draft was the player selection process to fill the rosters of the eight teams for the 2024 UFL season and disperse the rosters from the eight teams from its component conferences, the XFL and USFL, that were not retained i ...

. He was named to the 2024 All-UFL team on June 5, 2024.

Cincinnati Bengals

On July 26, 2024, Brooks signed with the

. He was waived on August 27, 2024, and re-signed to the practice squad the next day. He signed a reserve/future contract on January 7, 2025.

References

External links

Miami Dolphins bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Brooks, Nate 1996 births Living people American football defensive backs Arizona Cardinals players Baltimore Ravens players Birmingham Stallions (2022) players Cincinnati Bengals players Las Vegas Raiders players Miami Dolphins players Michigan Panthers (2022) players New England Patriots players People from Whitehouse, Texas Players of American football from Smith County, Texas Players of American football from Tyler, Texas San Francisco 49ers players Tampa Bay Buccaneers players Tennessee Titans players