Devin Timothy Soane Asiasi (born August 14, 1997) 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 ...

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 ...

. 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 ...

UCLA The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Its academic roots were established in 1881 as a normal school then known as the southern branch of the C ...

. He was selected by 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 ...

in the third round of the

2020 NFL draft The 2020 NFL draft was the 85th annual meeting of National Football League (NFL) franchises to select newly eligible players for the 2020 NFL season. The first round was held on April 23, followed by the second and third rounds on April 24. The ...

Early life

Born in

San Mateo, California San Mateo ( ) is the most populous city in San Mateo County, California, United States, on the San Francisco Peninsula. It is part of the San Francisco Bay Area metropolitan region, and is located about south of San Francisco. San Mateo border ...

and raised in the Shoreview community, Asiasi played high school football on both offense and defense at De La Salle High School in

Concord, California Concord ( ) is the most populous city in Contra Costa County, California, Contra Costa County, California, United States. According to an estimate completed by the United States Census Bureau, the city had a population of 124,016 in 2024, maki ...

. During his senior season, he hauled in 17 catches for 311 yards and five

touchdowns A touchdown (abbreviated as TD) is a scoring play in gridiron football. Scoring a touchdown grants the team that scored it 6 points. Whether running, passing, returning a kickoff or punt, or recovering a turnover, a team scores a touchd ...

on offense, and finished with 49 tackles, five pass breakups and four sacks on defense. He participated in the 2016

U.S. Army All-American Bowl The All-American Bowl (currently branded as the Navy All-American Bowl for sponsorship reasons) is a high school football all-star game, held annually at the Alamodome in San Antonio, Texas. Typically played in January, the All-American Bowl is p ...

. He was rated as a four-star prospect by

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, and Scout.com, and was ranked by ESPN as the No. 3

's incoming Class of 2016 and the No. 44 overall player in the 2016 ESPN 300.

College career

Michigan

Asiasi was personally recruited by Michigan head coach

Jim Harbaugh James Joseph Harbaugh ( ; born December 23, 1963) is an American professional football coach and former quarterback who is the head coach of the Los Angeles Chargers of the National Football League (NFL). He previously served as the head coach at ...

during a visit to De La Salle High School in January 2016. On February 3, 2016, he committed to play

for the

Michigan Wolverines The Michigan Wolverines comprise 29 varsity sports teams at the University of Michigan. These teams compete in the National Collegiate Athletic Association, NCAA's NCAA Division I, Division I and in the Big Ten Conference in all sports except wo ...

. On September 24, 2016, Asiasi scored his first college touchdown in a victory over Penn State. He finished the season with two catches for 18 yards and one touchdown. Following his freshman season, Asiasi transferred to

. He transferred to be closer to his home in

UCLA

After sitting out the 2017 season due to transfer rules, Asiasi made his debut for the Bruins in

2018 Events January * January 1 – Bulgaria takes over the Presidency of the Council of the European Union, after the Estonian presidency. * January 4 – SPLM-IO rebels loyal to Chan Garang Lual start a raid against Juba, capital of ...

. He finished the season with six receptions for 130 yards and one touchdown. He saw a much greater role in

2019 This was the year in which the first known human case of COVID-19 was documented, preceding COVID-19 pandemic, the pandemic which was declared by the World Health Organization the following year. Up to that point, 2019 had been described as ...

, playing in 12 games and netting 44 receptions for 641 yards and 4 touchdowns. He had 141 yards against

USC USC may refer to: Education United States * Universidad del Sagrado Corazón, Santurce, Puerto Rico * University of South Carolina, Columbia, South Carolina ** University of South Carolina System, a state university system of South Carolina * ...

, his first 100-yard game.

College statistics

Professional career

New England Patriots

Asiasi was selected in the third round of the

by the

with the 91st overall pick. He was placed on

injured reserve 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 ...

on November 3, 2020. Asiasi was activated off of injured reserve on December 10. During the Patriots' Week 17 game against 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 January 3, 2021, Asiasi recorded the first two receptions of his career and his first receiving touchdown during the 28–14 win. On August 30, 2022, Asiasi was waived by the Patriots.

Cincinnati Bengals

On August 31, 2022, Asiasi was claimed off waivers by 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 ...

. Asiasi was waived by the Bengals on August 29, 2023 as part of their 53-man roster cutdown.

Cleveland Browns

On September 26, 2023, Asiasi signed with the

practice squad In gridiron football, the practice squad, also called the taxi squad or practice roster, is a group of players signed by a team but not part of their main roster. They serve as extra players during the team's practices, often as part of the scou ...

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 ...

. He was released on November 7.

Tennessee Titans

On December 26, 2023, Asiasi was signed to the

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 ...

practice squad. He was not signed to a reserve/future contract and thus became a free agent when his contract expired at the end of the season.

DC Defenders

On January 31, 2025, Asiasi signed with the

DC Defenders The DC Defenders are a professional American football team based in Washington, D.C. The Defenders compete in the United Football League (2024), United Football League (UFL) as a member of the XFL Conference. The team was founded by Vince McMaho ...

of the United Football League (UFL). He was released on March 20, 2025.

NFL career statistics

Personal life

Asiasi is of

Samoan Samoan may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to the Samoan Islands, an archipelago in the South Pacific Ocean ** Something of, from, or related to Samoa, a country encompassing the western part of the Samoan Islands ** Something of, from, ...

and

Tonga Tonga, officially the Kingdom of Tonga, is an island country in Polynesia, part of Oceania. The country has 171 islands, of which 45 are inhabited. Its total surface area is about , scattered over in the southern Pacific Ocean. accordin ...

n descent.

References

External links

UCLA Bruins bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Asiasi, Devin 1997 births Living people American sportspeople of Samoan descent American people of Tongan descent Players of American football from San Mateo, California American football tight ends Michigan Wolverines football players UCLA Bruins football players New England Patriots players De La Salle High School (Concord, California) alumni Cincinnati Bengals players Cleveland Browns players Tennessee Titans players Pacific Islander American players of American football