Devante Bond (born July 3, 1993) 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 with ...

linebacker Linebacker (LB) is a playing position in gridiron football. Linebackers are members of the defensive team, and line up three to five yards behind the line of scrimmage and the defensive linemen. They are the "middle ground" of defenders, p ...

for the

Dallas Cowboys The Dallas Cowboys are a professional American football team based in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex. The Cowboys compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) East divisi ...

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 ...

(NFL). He was drafted by the

Tampa Bay Buccaneers The Tampa Bay Buccaneers are a professional American football team based in Tampa, Florida. The Buccaneers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) NFC South, South divisio ...

in the sixth round of the

2016 NFL Draft The 2016 NFL Draft was the 81st annual meeting of National Football League (NFL) franchises to select newly eligible American football players. As in 2015, the draft took place at the Auditorium Theatre and Grant Park in Chicago. The draft beg ...

. He played

college football College football (french: Football universitaire) refers to gridiron football played by teams of student athletes. It was through college football play that American football rules first gained popularity in the United States. Unlike most ...

Oklahoma Oklahoma (; Choctaw language, Choctaw: ; chr, ᎣᎧᎳᎰᎹ, ''Okalahoma'' ) is a U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States, bordered by Texas on the south and west, Kansas on the nor ...

Professional career

Tampa Bay Buccaneers

Bond was drafted by the

in the sixth round, 183rd overall, in the

. On September 23, 2016, he was placed on injured reserve with a hamstring injury. On September 24, 2017, he made his NFL debut in a Week 3 game against

Minnesota Vikings The Minnesota Vikings are a professional American football team based in Minneapolis. They compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the National Football Conference (NFC) North division. Founded in 1960 as an expansion ...

. On October 5, 2017, he recorded his first career tackle in a game against the

New England Patriots The New England Patriots are a professional American football team based in the Greater Boston area. They compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) AFC East, East divisio ...

. On September 1, 2018, Bond was placed on injured reserve. On September 11, 2018, Bond was waived from the Buccaneers with an injury settlement. On October 17, 2018, Bond was re-signed by the Buccaneers. On March 5, 2019, Bond re-signed with the Buccaneers. On October 15, 2019, Bond was released by the Buccaneers. He was suspended four weeks by the NFL for violating the league's

performance-enhancing drugs Performance-enhancing substances, also known as performance-enhancing drugs (PEDs), are substances that are used to improve any form of activity performance in humans. A well-known example of cheating in sports involves doping in sport, where bann ...

policy on October 18, 2019. He was reinstated from suspension on November 12, 2019.

Chicago Bears

On December 9, 2019, Bond was signed by the

Chicago Bears The Chicago Bears are a professional American football team based in Chicago. The Bears compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) North division. The Bears have won nine NF ...

. On February 22, 2020, Bond re-signed with the Bears. He was released on July 26. He was re-signed to their practice squad on September 18. He was elevated to the active roster the next day for the team's week 2 game 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 division. ...

, and reverted to the practice squad after the game. He was elevated again on October 8 for the team's week 5 game against the

, and reverted to the practice squad again following the game. He was placed on the practice squad/injured list on October 9, and restored to the practice squad on December 9. His practice squad contract with the team expired after the season on January 18, 2021.

Dallas Cowboys

On December 30, 2021, Bond was signed to the

practice squad. He signed a reserve/future contract with the Cowboys on January 18, 2022. He was placed on injured reserve on July 8, 2022 after suffering a season-ending knee injury in OTAs.

References

External links

Tampa Bay Buccaneers bioOklahoma Sooners bio
1993 births Living people American football linebackers Oklahoma Sooners football players Players of American football from Sacramento, California Tampa Bay Buccaneers players Chicago Bears players Dallas Cowboys players {{linebacker-1990s-stub