Devante Downs (born October 18, 1995) is a former

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team wit ...

linebacker Linebacker (LB) is a playing position in gridiron football. Linebackers are members of the defensive team, and line up three to five yards behind the line of scrimmage and the defensive linemen. They are the "middle ground" of defenders, pl ...

. He played college football at

California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the ...

Professional career

Minnesota Vikings

Downs was drafted by the

Minnesota Vikings The Minnesota Vikings are a professional American football team based in Minneapolis. They compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the National Football Conference (NFC) North division. Founded in 1960 as an expansio ...

in the seventh round (225th overall) of the

2018 NFL Draft The 2018 NFL Draft was the 83rd annual meeting of National Football League (NFL) franchises to select newly eligible players for the 2018 NFL season. The draft was held on April 26–28 at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas; it was the first dra ...

. He finished his rookie year with two tackles. On August 31, 2019, Downs was waived by the Vikings and was signed to the practice squad the next day. He was promoted to the active roster on September 14, 2019. He was waived on September 24, 2019.

New York Giants

On October 1, 2019, Downs was signed to the

New York Giants The New York Giants are a professional American football team based in the New York metropolitan area. The Giants compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) East divisio ...

practice squad. He was promoted to the active roster on October 22, 2019. In Week 1 of the 2020 season against the

Pittsburgh Steelers The Pittsburgh Steelers are a professional American football team based in Pittsburgh. The Steelers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the American Football Conference (AFC) North division. Founded in , the Stee ...

on ''Monday Night Football'', Downs recovered a muffed punt by Diontae Johnson during the 26–16 loss. Downs re-signed with the Giants on March 24, 2021. He was waived on August 31, 2021.

References

External links

California Golden Bears profile
1995 births Living people American football linebackers California Golden Bears football players Minnesota Vikings players New York Giants players People from Mountlake Terrace, Washington Players of American football from Washington (state) Sportspeople from the Seattle metropolitan area {{linebacker-1990s-stub