Marte-Myles Mapu (born November 8, 1999) 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 ...

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 ...

for 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 ...

of the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a Professional gridiron football, professional American football league in the United States. Composed of 32 teams, it is divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National ...

(NFL). 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 ...

for the

Sacramento State Hornets The Sacramento State Hornets (also Sac State Hornets) is the team that represents California State University, Sacramento in intercollegiate athletics. The school fields 21 teams including men and women's basketball, cross country, golf, rowing, ...

, where he was named the

Big Sky Conference The Big Sky Conference is a List of NCAA conferences, collegiate athletic conference, affiliated with the National Collegiate Athletic Association, NCAA's NCAA Division I, Division I with college football, football competing in the Football Cha ...

's Defensive Player of the Year in 2022.

Early life

Mapu was born on November 8, 1999, in

Hawthorne, California Hawthorne is a city in southwestern Los Angeles County, California. It is part of a seventeen-city subregion of the Los Angeles metropolitan area commonly known as the South Bay (Los Angeles County), South Bay. As of the 2020 United States cens ...

. He attended Hawthorne High School, where he played quarterback and wide receiver on the football team. Mapu is of American Samoan descent.

College career

Mapu redshirted his true freshman season for the

. Mapu's redshirt junior season in 2020 was canceled due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

. As a redshirt senior, he was named second team All-

. Mapu used the extra year of eligibility granted to college athletes due to the COVID-19 pandemic and returned for a sixth season. He was named the

's Defensive Player of the Year in 2022.

Professional career

Mapu was selected by the

in the third round (76th overall) of the

2023 NFL draft The 2023 NFL draft was the 88th annual meeting of National Football League (NFL) franchises to select newly eligible players for the 2023 NFL season, 2023 season. The NFL draft, draft was held outside of Kansas City Union Station, Union Station i ...

. In Week 15 against the

Kansas City Chiefs The Kansas City Chiefs are a professional American football team based in Kansas City, Missouri. The Chiefs compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) West division. Established in 1959 ...

, Mapu recorded his first career interception against

Patrick Mahomes Patrick Lavon Mahomes II ( ; born September 17, 1995) is an American professional football quarterback for the Kansas City Chiefs of the National Football League (NFL). Mahomes has led the Chiefs to seven consecutive AFC Championship Game app ...

. On August 27, 2024, Mapu was placed on injured reserve to begin the season. On October 5, Mapu was activated from injured reserve.

References

External links

New England Patriots bioSacramento State Hornets bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mapu, Marte 1999 births Living people Sacramento State Hornets football players Players of American football from Hawthorne, California American football safeties American football linebackers New England Patriots players Hawthorne High School (California) alumni Pacific Islander American players of American football American sportspeople of Samoan descent