Matthew Jamaal McCants (born August 18, 1989) 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 ...

offensive tackle. He played college football for the

University of Alabama at Birmingham The University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) is a public research university in Birmingham, Alabama. Developed from an academic extension center established in 1936, the institution became a four-year campus in 1966 and a fully autonomous univ ...

, starting 42 games at

left tackle Tackle is a playing position in gridiron football. Historically, in the one-platoon system prevalent in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, a tackle played on both offense and defense. In the modern system of specialized units, ...

High school career

McCants attended Williamson High School and received honorable mention on the Mobile Press-Register All-Region team as a senior. He helped Williamson High School advance to the class 5A state playoffs. He started one season under

head coach A head coach, senior coach or manager is a professional at training and developing athletes. They typically hold a more public profile and are paid more than other Coach (sport), coaches. In some sports, the head coach is instead called the "manage ...

Bobby Parrish and only played football his senior year. He played

tuba The tuba (; ) is the lowest-pitched musical instrument in the brass instrument, brass family. As with all brass instruments, the sound is produced by lip vibrationa buzzinto a mouthpiece (brass), mouthpiece. It first appeared in the mid-19th&n ...

in the high school band before joining the football team prior to his senior year.

Professional career

New York Giants

McCants was drafted by 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 ...

in the sixth round, 201st overall, in the

2012 NFL Draft The 2012 NFL draft was the 77th annual meeting of National Football League (NFL) franchises to select newly eligible American football players for their rosters. The draft, which is officially called the "NFL Player Selection Meeting", was held ...

. However, on August 31, 2012, before the beginning of the

2012 NFL season The 2012 NFL season was the 93rd season of the National Football League and the 47th of the Super Bowl era. It began on Wednesday, September 5, 2012, with the defending Super Bowl XLVI champion New York Giants falling to the Dallas Cowboys in ...

McCants was cut in final roster cuts and was signed to the practice squad, where he spent his entire rookie season. Before the start of the 2013 NFL season, on August 31, 2013, the

cut McCants in final roster cuts to get to the regular season roster limit of 53 players.

Oakland Raiders

On September 2, 2013, McCants was signed to the

Oakland Raiders The Oakland Raiders were a professional American football team that played in Oakland from its founding in 1960 to 1981 and again from 1995 to 2019 before relocating to the Las Vegas metropolitan area where they now play as the Las Vegas Ra ...

' practice squad. On September 7, 2013, he was promoted to the active roster. McCants was released by the Raiders on November 26, 2016.

Cleveland Browns

McCants was claimed off waivers by the Browns on November 28, 2016. McCants was waived by the Browns on December 9, 2016.

Chicago Bears

McCants was claimed off waivers by the Bears on December 12, 2016.

Cleveland Browns (second stint)

On March 27, 2017, McCants re-signed with 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 August 23, 2017, McCants was placed on injured reserve after suffering an ankle injury in the team's second preseason game. He was released on October 10, 2017.

Chicago Bears (second stint)

On May 14, 2018, McCants signed with the Chicago Bears. He was released on September 1, 2018.

Birmingham Iron

McCants signed with 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 ...

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 ...

(AAF) on March 12, 2019, and remained with the team until the league ceased operations in April 2019.

St. Louis BattleHawks

McCants was drafted in the first round, 3rd overall by the

St. Louis BattleHawks The St. Louis BattleHawks are a professional American football team based in St. Louis, Missouri. The team was founded by Vince McMahon’s Alpha Entertainment and is an owned-and-operated member of the new XFL owned by Dwayne Johnson’s Alpha ...

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 ...

in October 2019. He had his contract terminated when the league suspended operations on April 10, 2020.

Coaching career

UAB

McCants spent the 2021 spring season at Fairfield High School and then joined the UAB staff in the summer of 2021 as a volunteer coach. Last season in 2022, he was a strength and conditioning coach who focused on the offensive line. In December 2022, McCants was named UAB's Director of Character Development by Head Coach

Trent Dilfer Trent Farris Dilfer (born March 13, 1972) is a former American football quarterback and analyst who played in the National Football League (NFL) for 14 seasons. He is best known as the starting quarterback of the Baltimore Ravens during their Su ...

, and enters his third season on staff.

References

External links

*
Oakland Raiders bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:McCants, Matt 1989 births Living people Players of American football from Mobile, Alabama American football offensive tackles UAB Blazers football players New York Giants players Oakland Raiders players Cleveland Browns players Chicago Bears players Birmingham Iron players St. Louis Battlehawks players