Dallas Neil (born September 30, 1976) 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 with ...

punter and

tight end The tight end (TE) is a position in American football, arena football, and Canadian football, on the offense. The tight end is often a hybrid position with the characteristics and roles of both an offensive lineman and a wide receiver. Like ...

for the

Atlanta Falcons The Atlanta Falcons are a professional American football team based in Atlanta. The Falcons compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) South division. The Falcons joined th ...

and the

New York Jets The New York Jets are a professional American football team based in the New York metropolitan area. The Jets compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) East division. The J ...

.https://www.pro-football-reference.com/players/N/NeilDa20.htm Neil was the starting quarter back for his high school football team, Great Falls High School; cross town rivals to CMR High School, and CMR's starting quarterback at the time, Ryan Leaf. Neal went to college at the

University of Montana The University of Montana (UM) is a public research university in Missoula, Montana. UM is a flagship institution of the Montana University System and its second largest campus. UM reported 10,962 undergraduate and graduate students in the fal ...

where he played with the Montana Grizzlies football team as both a tight end and punter. He completed his

master's degree A master's degree (from Latin ) is an academic degree awarded by universities or colleges upon completion of a course of study demonstrating mastery or a high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional practice.

in May 2000, and founded a business, Kinetic Sports Interactive. After going undrafted in the

2000 NFL Draft The 2000 NFL Draft was the procedure by which National Football League teams selected amateur U.S. college football players. It is officially known as the NFL Annual Player Selection Meeting. The draft was held April 15– 16, 2000, at the Thea ...

, Neil was signed by the Atlanta Falcons. He played 6 games behind

Dan Stryzinski Daniel Thomas Stryzinski (born May 15, 1965) is a former American football punter who played fourteen seasons in the National Football League. He played in Super Bowl XXXIII as a member of the Atlanta Falcons. Originally from Vincennes, Indian ...

at punter, and dealt with injury problems for some of the season. In 2001, he was released and then signed to the Falcons

practice squad In sports, the practice squad, also called the taxi squad or practice roster, is a group of players signed by a team but not part of their main roster. Frequently used in gridiron football, they serve as extra players during the team's practices, ...

. He was then re-signed to the regular roster on January 10, 2002. However, in a pre-season game Neil injured his ankle and was 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 th ...

on August 27, 2002. In 2003 Neil became a

free agent In professional sports, a free agent is a player 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 contract at present but who is a ...

before signing with the New York Jets. He was waived in early 2004, ending his NFL career.

References

1976 births Living people Sportspeople from Great Falls, Montana American football punters American football tight ends Montana Grizzlies football players Atlanta Falcons players New York Jets players Players of American football from Montana {{tightend-1970s-stub