Nicholas Jesse Kaczur (born July 28, 1979) is a Canadian 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 ...

player who was an

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for the

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of the

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(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

Toledo Rockets The Toledo Rockets are the intercollegiate athletic teams that represent the University of Toledo. The Rockets compete at the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I level as a member of the Mid-American Conference (MAC). The ...

. He was selected by the Patriots in the third round of the

2005 NFL draft The 2005 NFL draft, the 70th in league history, took place on April 23 and 24, 2005 NFL season, 2005. The draft was held at the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center in New York City and was televised for the 26th consecutive year, with coverage on E ...

Early life

While attending Brantford Collegiate Institute in

Brantford, Ontario Brantford (Canada 2021 Census, 2021 population: 104,688) is a city in Ontario, Canada, founded on the Grand River (Ontario), Grand River in Southwestern Ontario. It is surrounded by County of Brant, Brant County but is politically separate wi ...

, Kaczur was rated as the best prep lineman in Ontario, was voted his school's Lineman of the Year four times, and was his team's Offensive

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in his junior and senior years. He also played for the Brantford Bisons of the Ontario Varsity Football League.

College career

After high school, Kaczur worked in

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for two years before attending the

University of Toledo The University of Toledo (UToledo or UT) is a Public university, public research university in Toledo, Ohio, United States. It is the northernmost campus of the University System of Ohio. The university also operates a Health Science campus, ...

in the United States. He was a four-year starter on the offensive line for the

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. As a freshman, he was named a third-team freshman All-American by ''

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'', and was also a second-team All-

Mid-American Conference The Mid-American Conference (MAC) is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference with a membership base in the Great Lakes region (North America), Great Lakes region that stretches from Western New York to Illinois. Its members co ...

selection. As a sophomore, he won All-MAC first-team honors. He repeated those honors again in 2003 and 2004 as a junior and senior. He started 51 games during his college career and became Toledo's first ever player to earn all-conference honors in four seasons.

Professional career

Kaczur was selected in the third round of the

(100th overall) by the

. He was also selected by the

Toronto Argonauts The Toronto Argonauts (officially the Toronto Argonaut Football Club and colloquially known as the Argos) are a professional Canadian football team based in Toronto, Ontario. The Argonauts compete in the East Division (CFL), East Division of t ...

in the first round of the 2005 CFL Draft (9th overall). After beginning the season as a reserve right tackle behind Tom Ashworth, Kaczur started the final 13 games at left tackle for the Patriots in

2005 2005 was designated as the International Year for Sport and Physical Education and the International Year of Microcredit. The beginning of 2005 also marked the end of the International Decade of the World's Indigenous Peoples, Internationa ...

, following an injury to veteran

Matt Light Matthew Charles Light (born June 23, 1978) is an American former professional football player who spent his entire 11-year career as an offensive tackle for the New England Patriots of the National Football League (NFL). He played college footb ...

. After recovering from an injury that limited him to a reserve role behind

Ryan O'Callaghan Ryan Thomas O'Callaghan (born July 19, 1983) is an American former professional American football, football tackle (gridiron football position), offensive tackle. He played college football for the California Golden Bears football, California Go ...

at right tackle for the first two months of the 2006 season, Kaczur returned to the starting lineup in November and helped the Patriots make a run to the

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against the

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. In

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, Kaczur started the first 15 games of the season, only missing the final game, to an injury. He returned for the Patriots playoff run, including

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. He returned in

2008 2008 was designated as: *International Year of Languages *International Year of Planet Earth *International Year of the Potato *International Year of Sanitation The Great Recession, a worldwide recession which began in 2007, continued throu ...

to start 14 games, only missing two games in October due to injury. He was signed to a four-year, $16 million extension on August 24, 2009, four months after the Patriots selected fellow offensive tackle Sebastian Vollmer in the second round of the

2009 NFL draft The 2009 NFL draft was the 74th annual meeting of National Football League (NFL) franchises to select newly eligible football players. The draft took place at Radio City Music Hall in New York City, New York, on April 25 and 26, 2009. The draft c ...

. Kaczur started the first 13 games of the 2009 season before missing Weeks 16 and 17 with an injury; Vollmer started both games in Kaczur's place, and continued to start in Week 17 and the Wild Card playoffs, limiting Kaczur to a reserve role in both games. After suffering a back injury early in the Patriots'

2010 The year saw a multitude of natural and environmental disasters such as the 2010 Haiti earthquake, the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, and the 2010 Chile earthquake. The 2009 swine flu pandemic, swine flu pandemic which began the previous year ...

training camp, Kaczur missed all the preseason and was inactive for the first four games of the season before being placed on

injured reserve The injured reserve list ( IR list) is a designation used in North American professional sports leagues for athletes who suffer injuries and become unable to play. The exact name of the list varies by league; it is known as "injured reserve" in ...

on October 12, 2010. On July 29, 2011, he was released by New England.

References

External links

New England Patriots bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kaczur, Nick 1979 births Living people Canadian players of American football Sportspeople from Brantford American football offensive tackles Toledo Rockets football players New England Patriots players Players of American football from Ontario