Breno Gomes Giacomini (born September 27, 1985) 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 ...

offensive tackle Offensive may refer to: * Offensive (military), type of military operation * Offensive, the former name of the Dutch political party Socialist Alternative * Fighting words, spoken words which would have a tendency to cause acts of violence by the ...

. He was selected by the

Green Bay Packers The Green Bay Packers are a professional American football team based in Green Bay, Wisconsin. The Packers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC North, North division. They ar ...

in the fifth round in the

2008 NFL draft The 2008 NFL draft was the 73rd NFL draft, annual meeting of National Football League (NFL) franchises to select newly eligible American football players. The draft took place at Radio City Music Hall in New York City, New York (state), New York ...

. 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 ...

Louisville Louisville is the most populous city in the Commonwealth of Kentucky, sixth-most populous city in the Southeast, and the 27th-most-populous city in the United States. By land area, it is the country's 24th-largest city; however, by populatio ...

. Giacomini is of Brazilian descent. Along with

Gary Barnidge Gary Michael Barnidge (born September 22, 1985) is an American former professional American football, football player who was a tight end in the National Football League (NFL). He was selected by the Carolina Panthers in the fifth round of the ...

of the

Cleveland Browns The Cleveland Browns are a professional American football team based in Cleveland. The Browns compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC North, North division. The team is named after ...

, Giacomini founded American Football Without Barriers in 2011, a football-related charity foundation.

Early life

The son of two Brazilian expatriates from

Governador Valadares Governador Valadares is a Brazilian municipality in the countryside of Minas Gerais. In 2020, its population was 281,046 inhabitants, thus being the ninth most populated city in the state. It is an economical axis of the middle valley of the Doce ...

, Giacomini was born in

Cambridge, Massachusetts Cambridge ( ) is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. It is a suburb in the Greater Boston metropolitan area, located directly across the Charles River from Boston. The city's population as of the 2020 United States census, ...

and raised in Malden. His interest in playing football began as Giacomini was brought to meet

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 ...

quarterback

Drew Bledsoe Drew McQueen Bledsoe (born February 14, 1972) is an American former professional football quarterback who played in the National Football League (NFL) for 14 seasons, primarily with the New England Patriots. He played college football for Washi ...

at the Boston Marriott, where his father worked. Giacomini was a three-year starter as a

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 ...

and

outside linebacker Linebacker (LB) is a playing position in gridiron football. Linebackers are members of the defensive team, and typically line up three to five yards behind the line of scrimmage and so back up the defensive linemen. They play closer to the lin ...

at Malden High School with Joe Morrisey. He started his freshman and sophomore years, but decided not to play football as a junior to concentrate on basketball, as he averaged 21.0 points per game as a senior and was second in the league in scoring. However, one of his high school football coaches convinced him to resume playing football for college. Despite taking an almost two-year-long absence from football in high school, Giacomini was rated as a 2-star recruit by 247 Sports and a 3-star recruit by Rivals coming out of high school. Giacomini ultimately committed to play for

, which was the lone Division I-A college program to offer him a scholarship.

College career

Giacomini played

. While he had played on the defensive side of the ball in high school, the Louisville coaches were so impressed with his speed and catching ability they converted him to a

tight end The tight end (TE) is an offense (sports), offensive position in American football, arena football, and Canadian football. It is a hybrid that combines the characteristics and roles of both an offensive lineman and a receiver (football), receiv ...

for his freshman and sophomore seasons. When he reported to fall camp in 2006, he had grown from a 242-pound tight end to a 303-pound

forcing the coaching staff to move him to the offensive line. He started two games his junior year when starter George Bussey was out with an injury. During his senior season, Giacomini moved to starting right tackle. The team's ground game struggled, but he provided solid pass protection, allowing only four sacks and two pressures on 491 pass plays. He earned second-team All-Big East Conference honors.

Professional career

Green Bay Packers

Giacomini was selected by the

in the fifth round, 150th overall, in the

. On July 23, he was signed to a four-year rookie contract.

Seattle Seahawks

Giacomini was acquired by the

Seattle Seahawks The Seattle Seahawks are a professional American football team based in Seattle. The Seahawks compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC West, West division. The club entered the NFL a ...

from the Packers practice squad on September 28, 2010, and released on October 23, 2010. He was re-signed for the 2011 season, during which he played in 15 games and started 8. He started every game of the 2012 season, including both postseason games. Giacomini started in nine games during the 2013 season, missing seven games (week 4–10) while recovering from knee surgery. Giacomini started all three post-season games for the Seahawks, including their 43–8 Super Bowl win over the Denver Broncos in

Super Bowl XLVIII Super Bowl XLVIII was an American football game between the American Football Conference (AFC) champion 2013 Denver Broncos season, Denver Broncos and National Football Conference (NFC) champion 2013 Seattle Seahawks season, Seattle Seahawks to ...

New York Jets

Giacomini was signed by the

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

on March 12, 2014. He started every game of the 2014 and 2015 seasons. Giacomini started the 2016 on the Reserve/PUP list due to a back injury and missed the first seven games. He was activated to the active roster on October 29, 2016, prior to Week 8 of the 2016 season. He was placed on injured reserve on December 13, 2016, after re-injuring his back in Week 13. He appeared in and started five games in the 2016 season. On February 23, 2017, Giacomini was released by the Jets.

Houston Texans

On May 16, 2017, Giacomini signed with 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 ...

. He appeared in and started all 17 games in the 2017 season.

Oakland Raiders

On March 22, 2018, Giacomini signed with the Oakland Raiders, reuniting with former Seahawks offensive line coach

Tom Cable Thomas Lee Cable Jr. (born November 26, 1964) is an American football coach for the Houston Roughnecks of the United Football League (UFL). He served with four National Football League (NFL) franchises between the 2006 and 2021 seasons. Cable ...

. He was released on August 27, 2018.

References

External links

Louisville Cardinals bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Giacomini, Breno 1985 births Living people Sportspeople from Malden, Massachusetts Players of American football from Middlesex County, Massachusetts American sportspeople of Brazilian descent American people of Italian descent American football offensive tackles Louisville Cardinals football players Green Bay Packers players Seattle Seahawks players New York Jets players Houston Texans players 21st-century American sportsmen Oakland Raiders players Hispanic and Latino American players of American football