Samuel Cosmi (born February 16, 1999) is an

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 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 club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) ...

of the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the ma ...

(NFL). He played college football at

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2 ...

and was drafted by Washington in the second round of the

2021 NFL Draft The 2021 NFL Draft was the 86th National Football League Draft, the annual meeting of National Football League (NFL) franchises to select newly eligible players for the 2021 NFL season. The draft was held in Cleveland from April 29 to May 1, 2021 ...

Early life

Cosmi was born in

Humble, Texas Humble ( ) is a city located in the Greater Houston, Houston metropolitan area. Humble became an Boomtown, oil boomtown in the early 20th century when oil was first discovered there in 1904. By 1905, the Humble oilfield was the largest producing ...

, on February 16, 1999. He is a first-generation

Romanian American Romanian Americans are Americans who have Romanian ancestry. According to the 2017 American Community Survey, 478,278 Americans indicated Romanian as their first or second ancestry, however other sources provide higher estimates, which are most ...

as his parents, Cornel and Rodica, fled

communist Romania The Socialist Republic of Romania ( ro, Republica Socialistă România, RSR) was a Marxist–Leninist one-party socialist state that existed officially in Romania from 1947 to 1989. From 1947 to 1965, the state was known as the Romanian Peop ...

in the early 1980s. Cosmi played football at Atascocita High School, where he was named to the first-team All-District 21-6A and second team 6A All-State as a senior. Rated a three-star recruit, Cosmi committed to play college football at Houston over offers from TCU and Memphis but flipped his commitment to Texas after Houston coach

Tom Herman Thomas Herman III (born June 2, 1975) is an American football coach and head coach of the Florida Atlantic Owls. He was the head football coach for the Texas Longhorns at the University of Texas at Austin from 2017 to 2020. Prior to that, he se ...

was hired by the school.

College career

Cosmi

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 true freshman season at Texas. He played in all 14 of Texas's games as a redshirt freshman and started the last 13 at right tackle. He started all 13 games as a redshirt sophomore and was named second-team All-

Big 12 Conference The Big 12 Conference is a college athletic conference headquartered in Irving, Texas, USA. It consists of ten full-member universities. It is a member of Division I of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) for all sports. Its f ...

. Cosmi considered entering the

2020 NFL Draft The 2020 NFL Draft was the 85th annual meeting of National Football League (NFL) franchises to select newly eligible players for the 2020 NFL season. The first round was held on April 23, followed by the second and third rounds on April 24. The ...

, but opted to stay at Texas for his redshirt junior season. Cosmi started the first eight games of the

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shortened 2020 season before opting out of the remainder of Texas' games in order to prepare for the

. In a game against the

West Virginia Mountaineers The West Virginia Mountaineers are the athletic teams that represent West Virginia University, an American university located in Morgantown, West Virginia. The school is a member of National Collegiate Athletic Association Division I. The Mou ...

that season, he caught a pass thrown to him by

Sam Ehlinger Samuel George Ehlinger ( ; born September 30, 1998) is an American football quarterback for the Indianapolis Colts of the National Football League (NFL). He played high school football at Westlake in Austin, Texas, where he broke various school re ...

and ran 21 yards for a touchdown. He was named first-team All-Big 12 by the season's end.

Professional career

Cosmi was drafted by the

Washington Football Team 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 club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) E ...

in the second round (51st overall) of the

. He signed his four-year rookie contract on May 13, 2021. Cosmi was named the starting right tackle during

training camp A training camp is an organized period in which military personnel or athletes participate in a rigorous and focused schedule of training in order to learn or improve skills. Athletes typically utilise training camps to prepare for upcoming events, ...

and made his professional debut in the opening game of the season. In the second quarter, Cosmi left the Week 5 game against the

New Orleans Saints The New Orleans Saints are a professional American football team based in New Orleans. The Saints compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) South division. Since 1975, the te ...

with an ankle injury. Cosmi missed the next four games until he returned against the

Carolina Panthers The Carolina Panthers are a professional American football team based in Charlotte, North Carolina. The Panthers compete in the National Football League (NFL), as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) South division. ...

in Week 11. He left that game early due to a hip injury and would eventually be placed on injured reserve on November 29, 2021. He was reactivated to the active roster on December 20 and finished out the season playing in nine total games. Cosmi underwent thumb surgery following Week 4 of the 2022 season. After missing three games, Cosmi played with a club on his hand in Week 8 but in a reserve role with the Commanders choosing to stick with Cornelius Lucas as the starting right tackle. In Week 13 against 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 ...

, he got his first start at right guard but left in the third quarter with an ankle injury.

References

External links

*
Washington Commanders bio

Texas Longhorns bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cosmi, Samuel 1999 births Living people American football offensive tackles American people of Romanian descent Players of American football from Texas Sportspeople from Harris County, Texas Texas Longhorns football players People from Humble, Texas Washington Commanders players Washington Football Team players Romanian players of American football