Johnny Maxey (born October 19, 1993) is an

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 ...

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 formations over the years have substantially changed how the position is p ...

who is a free agent. He played college football at

Mars Hill University Mars Hill University is a private Christian university in Mars Hill, North Carolina. The university offers 35 undergraduate majors and includes a school of nursing and graduate schools in education, criminal justice, and management. From 1859 t ...

and signed with 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 ...

as an

undrafted free agent In professional sports, a free agent is a player 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 contract at present but who is a ...

in 2016.

College career

Maxey played for the Mars Hill Lions, where he was a second-team South Atlantic Conference performer after getting 82 tackles and three sacks as a senior.

Professional career

Pittsburgh Steelers

Maxey was signed by the Steelers as an undrafted rookie free agent following the

2016 NFL Draft The 2016 NFL Draft was the 81st annual meeting of National Football League (NFL) franchises to select newly eligible American football players. As in 2015, the draft took place at the Auditorium Theatre and Grant Park in Chicago. The draft be ...

on May 1, 2016. He was released as part of final roster cuts and signed to the teams' practice squad on September 4, 2016. After suffering several injuries along the defensive line, the Steelers promoted Maxey to the active roster on December 24, 2016. He made his debut the next day in a key victory against the

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

. On January 1, 2017, he made his first career tackle in a 27–24 overtime victory over the

Cleveland Browns The Cleveland Browns are a professional American football team based in Cleveland. Named after original coach and co-founder Paul Brown, they compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the American Football Conference ( ...

. On September 2, 2017, Maxey was waived by the Steelers.

Tennessee Titans

On December 19, 2017, Maxey 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 club of the American Football Conference (AFC) South division, and play their h ...

' practice squad. He signed a reserve/future contract with the Titans on January 15, 2018. On April 30, 2018, Maxey was released. On July 31, 2018, he was re-signed by the Titans. He was waived/injured on August 10, 2018 and was placed on injured reserve. He was released on October 23, 2018.

Alliance of American Football

In 2019, Maxey signed with the Memphis Express of the

Alliance of American Football The Alliance of American Football (AAF) was a professional American football minor league. The AAF consisted of eight centrally owned and operated teams in the southern and western United States, seven of which were located in metropolitan are ...

, but did not make the final roster. Instead, he joined the

Birmingham Iron The Birmingham Iron were a professional American football franchise based in Birmingham, Alabama, and one of the eight members of the Alliance of American Football (AAF), which played one season from February 2019 to April 2019. They played the ...

. The league ceased operations in April 2019.

Houston Roughnecks

In October 2019, Maxey was picked by the

Houston Roughnecks The Houston Roughnecks are a professional American football team based in Houston, Texas. The team is an owned-and-operated member of the new XFL founded by Vince McMahon's Alpha Entertainment and plays its home games at TDECU Stadium. History ...

during the open phase of the

2020 XFL Draft The 2020 XFL Draft was the inaugural player selection process to fill the rosters of the eight teams of the 2020 reboot of the XFL. The draft was held on October 15–16, 2019, via conference call, with results released through the XFL's social ...

. He had his contract terminated when the league suspended operations on April 10, 2020.

Tampa Bay Bandits

Maxey signed with the

Tampa Bay Bandits The Tampa Bay Bandits were a professional American football team in the United States Football League (USFL) which was based in Tampa, Florida. The Bandits were a charter member of the USFL and was the only franchise to have the same principal o ...

of the

USFL The United States Football League (USFL) was a professional American football league that played for three seasons, 1983 through 1985. The league played a spring/summer schedule in each of its active seasons. The 1986 season was scheduled to be ...

on April 1, 2022, but was released six days later.

References

External links

Mars Hill Lions bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Maxey, Johnny 1993 births Living people Players of American football from Columbia, South Carolina American football defensive ends Mars Hill Lions football players Pittsburgh Steelers players Tennessee Titans players Memphis Express (American football) players Birmingham Iron players Houston Roughnecks players