Michael Deiter (born September 3, 1996) 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 ...

center Center or centre may refer to: Mathematics *Center (geometry), the middle of an object * Center (algebra), used in various contexts ** Center (group theory) ** Center (ring theory) * Graph center, the set of all vertices of minimum eccentrici ...

for the

Washington Commanders The Washington Commanders are a professional American football team based in the Washington metropolitan area. The Commanders compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) East division ...

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

Wisconsin Badgers The Wisconsin Badgers are the College athletics in the United States, athletic teams representing the University of Wisconsin–Madison. They compete as a member of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) NCAA Division I, Division I ...

and was selected by the

Miami Dolphins The Miami Dolphins are a professional American football team based in the Miami metropolitan area. The Dolphins compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC East, East division. The team ...

in the third round of the

2019 NFL draft The 2019 NFL draft was the 84th annual meeting of National Football League (NFL) franchises to select newly eligible players for the 2019 NFL season. The draft was held on April 25–27 in Nashville, Tennessee, Nashville. The first round was held ...

. Deiter has also played for the

Houston Texans The Houston Texans are a professional American football team based in Houston. The Texans compete in the National Football League as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC South, South division. The team plays its home games at N ...

Early life

Deiter attended

Genoa Area High School Genoa Area High School is a public high school near Genoa, Ohio, United States. It is the only high school in the Genoa Area Local School District. Other towns in the district are Curtice, Clay Center, Martin, and Williston. The nickname for th ...

Genoa, Ohio Genoa is a village (United States)#Ohio, village in Ottawa County, Ohio, Ottawa County, Ohio, United States. The population was 2,232 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. Originally settled as Stony Ridge, it took its present name in 1 ...

. While there, he played

high school football High school football, also known as prep football, is gridiron football played by High school (North America), high school teams in the United States and Canada. It ranks among the most popular high school sports, interscholastic sports in both c ...

. In his junior season, he was selected Northern Buckeye Conference all-conference as both

offensive lineman In gridiron football, a lineman is a player who specializes in play at the line of scrimmage. The linemen of the team currently in possession of the ball are the offensive line (OL), while linemen on the opposing team are the defensive line ( ...

and

defensive lineman In gridiron football, a lineman is a player who specializes in play at the line of scrimmage. The linemen of the team currently in possession of the ball are the offensive line (OL), while linemen on the opposing team are the defensive line (D ...

in 2012. During his senior season, he was named Northern Buckeye Conference lineman of the year, first-team All-Ohio on offensive line, also earning

Associated Press The Associated Press (AP) is an American not-for-profit organization, not-for-profit news agency headquartered in New York City. Founded in 1846, it operates as a cooperative, unincorporated association, and produces news reports that are dist ...

District IV Lineman of the Year and Great Lakes Region Lineman of the Year honors while leading Genoa (OH) to 10–1 record.

College career

Deiter

redshirted Redshirt, in United States college athletics, is a delay or suspension of an athlete's participation in order to lengthen their period of eligibility. Typically, a student's athletic eligibility in a given sport is four seasons, aligning with the ...

his freshman season at

Wisconsin Wisconsin ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest of the United States. It borders Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake Michigan to the east, Michig ...

. As a Redshirt Freshman in 2015, he earned his first

letter Letter, letters, or literature may refer to: Characters typeface * Letter (alphabet), a character representing one or more of the sounds used in speech or none in the case of a silent letter; any of the symbols of an alphabet * Letterform, the g ...

, starting all 13 games, including seven starts at left guard and six starts at center, including the season's final five games. Following the regular season, he was named All-Big Ten Conference honorable mention (media) and Big Ten All-Freshman (ESPN). During his Redshirt Sophomore season in 2016, he earned his second letter, starting all 14 games, including 10 starts at center and four starts at left guard, helping

to a

Big Ten Conference The Big Ten Conference (stylized B1G, formerly the Western Conference and the Big Nine Conference, among others) is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference in the United States. Founded as the Intercollegiate Conference of Fa ...

West Division Championship and a #9 final season ranking. Following the regular season, he was named a consensus All-Big Ten honorable mention. Prior to the 2017 season, Deiter was named to the 2017

Outland Trophy The Outland Trophy is awarded to the best 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 g ...

and

Rimington Trophy The Dave Rimington Trophy is awarded to the player considered to be the best center in college football. Dave Rimington was a center who played at the University of Nebraska from 1979 to 1982. A member of the National College Football Awards ...

watch lists. Athlon Sports named him 2nd-team All-Big Ten. On September 28, 2017,

SB Nation ''SB Nation'' (an abbreviation for their full name ''SportsBlogs Nation'') is a sports blogging network owned by Vox Media. It was co-founded by Tyler Blezinski, Markos Moulitsas, and Jerome Armstrong in 2003. The blog from which the netwo ...

named Deiter a frontrunner for the annual "Piesman" Trophy, an award awarded to a collegiate Lineman doing "decidedly un-lineman things" for his 4 yard rushing touchdown against

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. It borders on Lake Michigan to its northeast, the Mississippi River to its west, and the Wabash River, Wabash and Ohio River, Ohio rivers to its ...

. Deiter considered forgoing his senior year and declaring for the

2018 NFL draft The 2018 NFL draft was the 83rd annual meeting of National Football League (NFL) franchises to select newly eligible players for the 2018 NFL season. The draft was held on April 26–28 at AT&T Stadium in Arlington southwest of Dallas; it was ...

, but decided to return to Wisconsin to play at the guard position after playing tackle during his junior year. Returning to Wisconsin, Deiter was named an offensive captain for the team along with

Alex Hornibrook Alex Hornibrook (born January 19, 1997) is an American former college football quarterback. The West Chester, Pennsylvania, native attended Malvern Preparatory School and originally committed to the University of Pittsburgh before attending Wisco ...

. Prior to the season, Deiter was named an AP second-team pre-season All American.

Professional career

Miami Dolphins

Deiter was drafted by the

in the third round, 78th overall, in the

. As a rookie, he appeared in all 16 regular season games and started 15. Deiter entered the 2021 season as the Dolphins starting center. He was placed on injured reserve on October 2, 2021. He was activated on December 4.

Houston Texans

On March 21, 2023, Deiter signed a one-year contract with the

. He was released on August 29, and re-signed to the practice squad. He was promoted to the active roster on September 16.

Washington Commanders

On March 25, 2024, Deiter signed with the

. He started two games at center as an injury fill-in. Deiter re-signed with the Commanders on March 13, 2025.

References

External links

Washington Commanders profileWisconsin Badgers profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Deiter, Michael 1996 births 21st-century American sportsmen American people of German descent Houston Texans players Living people Miami Dolphins players People from Lucas County, Ohio People from Ottawa County, Ohio Players of American football from Ohio Washington Commanders players Wisconsin Badgers football players