Kemal Ishmael (born May 6, 1991) 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 ...

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 line ...

and

safety Safety is the state of being protected from harm or other danger. Safety can also refer to the control of recognized hazards in order to achieve an acceptable level of risk. Meanings The word 'safety' entered the English language in the 1 ...

. He was selected by the

Atlanta Falcons The Atlanta Falcons are a professional American football team based in Atlanta. The Falcons compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC South, South division. The Falcons were founded o ...

in the seventh round of the

2013 NFL draft The 2013 NFL draft was the 78th annual meeting of National Football League (NFL) franchises to select newly eligible football players. The draft, which is officially called the "NFL Player Selection Meeting", was held at Radio City Music Hall in ...

. 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 ...

at UCF.

College career

Ishmael played

at UCF.

Professional career

2013 season

In the 2013 NFL draft, Ishmael was selected in the seventh round with the 243rd overall pick by the Atlanta Falcons. In his rookie year, he got very little playing time. Head coach Mike Smith was worried he lacked the size and speed needed to start professionally and Ishmael was set to play behind veteran Thomas DeCoud and fellow rookie Zeke Motta. When both Motta and DeCoud were injured, Ishmael was active but only played three defensive snaps in all of 2013.

2014 season

On September 18, 2014, Ishmael got his first career interception off

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 ...

quarterback

Josh McCown Joshua Treadwell McCown (born July 4, 1979) is an American professional American football, football coach and former quarterback who is the quarterbacks coach for the Minnesota Vikings of the National Football League (NFL). He played college foo ...

and returned it 23 yards for a touchdown on

Thursday Night Football ''Thursday Night Football'' (often abbreviated as ''TNF'') is the branding used for broadcasts of National Football League (NFL) games that broadcast primarily on Thursday nights. Most of the games kick off at 8:15 Eastern Time (8:20 prior to ...

. From week 9 to 11, Ishmael had an interception in all three games.

2015 season

Ishmael played in all 16 games with five starts in 2015, totalling 52 tackles with one interception against

Blake Bortles Robby Blake Bortles (born April 28, 1992) is an American former professional football quarterback who played in the National Football League (NFL) for eight seasons, primarily with the Jacksonville Jaguars. He played college football for the UCF ...

and three passes defensed.

2016 season

Ishmael played in 13 games with four starts in 2016, totaling 49 tackles playing at safety and linebacker throughout the season before being placed on injured reserve on December 16, 2016 with a shoulder injury. In the 2016 season, the Falcons would reach

Super Bowl LI Super Bowl LI was an American football game played at NRG Stadium in Houston, Houston, Texas, on February 5, 2017, to determine the champion of the National Football League (NFL) for the 2016 NFL season, 2016 season. The American Football Confe ...

. Ishmael would not get to participate due to his injury.

2017 season

On March 14, 2017, Ishmael signed a one-year, $2.5 million contract extension with the Falcons.

2018 season

On April 4, 2018, Ishmael re-signed with the Falcons on a one-year contract.

2019 season

On April 3, 2019, Ishmael re-signed with the Falcons on another one-year contract. On Wednesday July 24, 2019, it was announced that with strong safety J.J. Wilcox out for the season with a torn right ACL, Ishmael would return to his original position as SS and now see 75 percent of his practice time at safety and 25 percent at linebacker. On September 23, 2019, Ishmael took over the starting strong safety role he had earlier in his career after another season ending injury to Pro Bowl safety Keanu Neal after he tore his Achilles. After becoming a free agent in March 2020, Ishmael had a tryout with the

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 ...

on August 18, 2020.

NFL career statistics

Regular season

Playoffs

References

External links

Central Florida Knights bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ishmael, Kemal 1991 births Living people American football safeties Atlanta Falcons players Players of American football from Miami UCF Knights football players