Steven Montez (born January 14, 1997) is an American 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 a

quarterback The quarterback (QB) is a position in gridiron football who are members of the offensive side of the ball and mostly line up directly behind the Lineman (football), offensive line. In modern American football, the quarterback is usually consider ...

in 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

Colorado Buffaloes The Colorado Buffaloes are the athletic teams that represent the University of Colorado Boulder. The university sponsors 16 varsity sports teams. Both the men's and women's teams are called the Buffaloes (Buffs for short) or, rarely, the Golden ...

and signed with 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 of the National Football Conference (NFC) East division. ...

as an

undrafted free agent In professional sports, a free agent is a player or manager who is eligible to sign with other clubs or franchises; i.e., not under contract to any specific team. The term is also used in reference to a player who is under a contract at present ...

in 2020.

Early life

Montez attended Del Valle High School in

El Paso, Texas El Paso (; ; or ) is a city in and the county seat of El Paso County, Texas, United States. The 2020 United States census, 2020 population of the city from the United States Census Bureau, U.S. Census Bureau was 678,815, making it the List of ...

. During his career, he passed for 6,512 passing yards with 86

touchdowns A touchdown (abbreviated as TD) is a scoring play in gridiron football. Scoring a touchdown grants the team that scored it 6 points. Whether running, passing, returning a kickoff or punt, or recovering a turnover, a team scores a touchd ...

, and 8,149 yards of total offense. He committed to the

University of Colorado Boulder The University of Colorado Boulder (CU Boulder, CU, or Colorado) is a public research university in Boulder, Colorado, United States. Founded in 1876, five months before Colorado became a state, it is the flagship university of the University o ...

to play college football. A three-star recruit, Montez chose Colorado over offers from

Air Force An air force in the broadest sense is the national military branch that primarily conducts aerial warfare. More specifically, it is the branch of a nation's armed services that is responsible for aerial warfare as distinct from an army aviati ...

New Mexico State New Mexico State University (NMSU or NM State) is a Public university system, public, Land-grant university, land-grant, research university in Las Cruces, New Mexico, United States. Founded in 1888, it is the state's oldest public institution ...

, and

UTEP The University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP) is a public research university in El Paso, Texas, United States. Founded in 1913 as the State School of Mines and Metallurgy, it is the third oldest academic component of the University of Texas Syste ...

College career

After redshirting his first year at Colorado in 2015, Montez played in 10 games and made three starts as a redshirt freshman in 2016. He spent most of the season as the backup to

Sefo Liufau Iosefo Sua Liufau (born October 29, 1994) is an American former professional football quarterback. He played college football at Colorado. Early life Liufau attended Bellarmine Preparatory School in Tacoma, Washington. During his career he led ...

, but started three games due to Liufau injuries. Overall he completed 83 of 140 passes for 1,078 yards, nine touchdowns and five interceptions. Montez entered 2017 as the starting quarterback. In 12 starts, he completed 228 of 377 passes for 2,975 yards, 18 touchdowns and nine interceptions. Montez returned as the starter in 2018. He returned again for his senior season in 2019.

Professional career

Washington Football Team

Montez signed with the

as an

following 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 ...

. He was waived on September 5, 2020 and signed to the practice squad the next day. Montez was elevated to the active roster on December 19 and December 26 for the team's weeks 15 and 16 games against the

Seattle Seahawks The Seattle Seahawks are a professional American football team based in Seattle. The Seahawks compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC West, West division. The club entered the NFL a ...

and

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 of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC South, South division. The t ...

, and reverted to the practice squad after each game. He was signed to the active roster prior to the Week 17 game against the

Philadelphia Eagles The Philadelphia Eagles are a professional American football team based in Philadelphia. The Eagles compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC East, East division. The team plays its ...

. Montez was waived by Washington on August 31, 2021.

Detroit Lions

On September 2, 2021, Montez was signed to the

Detroit Lions The Detroit Lions are a professional American football team based in Detroit. The Lions compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC North, North division. The team plays their home game ...

' practice squad. He signed a reserve/future contract with the Lions on January 10, 2022, but was waived on May 11, 2022. He re-signed to the Lions' practice squad on December 22.

Seattle Sea Dragons

Montez was allocated to the

Seattle Sea Dragons The Seattle Sea Dragons were a professional American football team based in Seattle, Washington. The Sea Dragons competed in the second incarnation of the XFL. The team was founded by Vince McMahon’s Alpha Entertainment as the Seattle Dragons ...

of the XFL on November 15, 2022, but re-signed to the Lions' practice squad on December 22. He re-joined the Sea Dragons after his practice squad contract with the Lions expired. The Sea Dragons folded when the XFL and USFL merged to create the United Football League (UFL).

Edmonton Elks

Montez signed with the

Edmonton Elks The Edmonton Elks are a professional Canadian football team based in Edmonton, Alberta. The club competes in the Canadian Football League (CFL) as a member of the league's West Division (CFL), West Division and plays their home games at Commonw ...

on January 18, 2024. He was placed on the retired list on May 3.

Personal life

Montez's father, Alfred, played in the NFL with the

Oakland Raiders The Oakland Raiders were a professional American football team based in Oakland, California, from its founding in 1960 to 1981, and again from 1995 to 2019 before Oakland Raiders relocation to Las Vegas, relocating to the Las Vegas metropolitan ...

in 1996 and was his quarterback coach at Del Valle. During his time at Colorado, Montez was a member of the

Sigma Pi Sigma Pi () is a collegiate fraternity in North America. As of 2021, it had more than 5,000 undergraduate members and over 118,000 alumni. The fraternity is headquartered in Nashville, Tennessee. Founded on February 26, 1897, at Vincennes Uni ...

fraternity.

Professional statistics

Regular season

References

External links

*
Colorado Buffaloes bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Montez, Steven 1997 births Living people Players of American football from El Paso, Texas Players of American football from Oakland, California American football quarterbacks Colorado Buffaloes football players Detroit Lions players Washington Football Team players Seattle Sea Dragons players Edmonton Elks players Canadian football quarterbacks Players of Canadian football from California Sigma Pi members