Jacob Francis Tamme ( ; born March 15, 1985) 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 wi ...

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. Lik ...

. He played college football at

Kentucky Kentucky ( , ), officially the Commonwealth of Kentucky, is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States and one of the states of the Upper South. It borders Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio to the north; West Virginia and Virginia ...

and was drafted by the Indianapolis Colts in the fourth round of the 2008 NFL Draft. Tamme also played for the

Denver Broncos The Denver Broncos are a professional American football franchise based in Denver. The Broncos compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) West division. The team is headquar ...

, Atlanta Falcons, and Los Angeles Kiss

Early years

Tamme graduated from

Boyle County High School Boyle County High School is a public high school located in Danville, Kentucky, United States. It serves nearly 900 students in grades 9–12. The school opened to students in the 1963–1964 school year. The school was created to merge the area's ...

in Danville, Kentucky, where he was a multi-sport star in football,

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding t ...

, and

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular court, compete with the primary objective of shooting a basketball (approximately in diameter) through the defender's h ...

. He was a four-year letterman and three-year starter at wide receiver and

cornerback A cornerback (CB) is a member of the defensive backfield or secondary in gridiron football. Cornerbacks cover Wide receiver, receivers most of the time, but also blitz and defend against such Play from scrimmage, offensive running plays as sweep ...

for Boyle County, who won four consecutive state championships, two in Class AA and two in Class AAA, and had a 58-2 record over those seasons. He was a first-team all-state selection as a senior by the

Associated Press The Associated Press (AP) is an American non-profit news agency headquartered in New York City. Founded in 1846, it operates as a cooperative, unincorporated association. It produces news reports that are distributed to its members, U.S. ne ...

and Louisville's ''

The Courier-Journal ''The Courier-Journal'', also known as the ''Louisville Courier Journal'' (and informally ''The C-J'' or ''The Courier''), is the highest circulation newspaper in Kentucky. It is owned by Gannett and billed as "Part of the ''USA Today'' Net ...

'' when he caught 46 passes for 797 yards, a 17.3-yard average, and 13 touchdowns. In addition, he was a finalist for the Kentucky "Mr. Football" Award, given to the top performer in high school football. His career totals include 97 receptions for 1,866 yards, a 19.2-yard average, and 32 touchdowns. On defense, he intercepted 23 passes, including two returns for touchdowns. As a

kick returner A return specialist or kick returner is a player on the special teams unit of a gridiron football team who specializes in returning punts and kickoffs. There are few players who are exclusively return specialists; most also play another positio ...

, he took 25 punts for 395 yards, a 15.8-yard average, and two touchdowns.

College career

As a

redshirt freshman 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 ...

, he played in all 11 games for the

Kentucky Wildcats The Kentucky Wildcats are the men's and women's intercollegiate athletic squads of the University of Kentucky (UK), a founding member of the Southeastern Conference. The Kentucky Wildcats is the student body of the University of Kentucky. 30,473 ...

. He started three games at wide receiver before moving to his more natural position of tight end for the season-ending game at

Tennessee Tennessee ( , ), officially the State of Tennessee, is a landlocked state in the Southeastern region of the United States. Tennessee is the 36th-largest by area and the 15th-most populous of the 50 states. It is bordered by Kentucky to th ...

. For the season, he had 16 catches for 161 yards, third on the team that year. He was also named to the SEC Academic Honor Roll for excellent work in the classroom. As a redshirt sophomore, he played in all 11 games, starting 10. He was second on the team in pass receptions with 29 catches for 253 yards and one touchdown. On

special teams In American football, the specific role that a player takes on the field is referred to as their "position". Under the modern rules of American football, both teams are allowed 11 players on the field at one time and have "unlimited free substitu ...

, he blocked punts vs.

Louisville Louisville ( , , ) is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Kentucky and the 28th most-populous city in the United States. Louisville is the historical seat and, since 2003, the nominal seat of Jefferson County, on the Indiana border. ...

and

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...

. He also earned a slot on the SEC Academic Honor Roll for the second straight year. As a redshirt junior, he was voted to the All-SEC first-team by the SEC coaches and the Associated Press. He led SEC tight ends in receptions with 32, netting 386 receiving yards and two touchdowns. He made the SEC Academic Honor Roll for the third year in a row. As a redshirt senior, he had 56 receptions for 619 yards and six touchdowns. For the second year in a row, he earned first-team All-SEC honors from both the Associated Press (unanimous decision) and coaches polls. Tamme finished his career as Kentucky's all-time top pass-catching tight end and 2nd in the history of all SEC tight ends with 133 catches for 1,417 yards.

Accolades

As one of the top scholar-athletes in the country, Tamme completed his degree in integrated strategic communications in only three years and earned his

MBA A Master of Business Administration (MBA; also Master's in Business Administration) is a postgraduate degree focused on business administration. The core courses in an MBA program cover various areas of business administration such as accounti ...

just before entering the NFL. Known for his contributions back to the community, in 2006, he was named to the National Good Works Team by the

American Football Coaches Association The American Football Coaches Association (AFCA) is an association of over 11,000 American football coaches and staff on all levels. According to its constitution, some of the main goals of the American Football Coaches Association are to "mainta ...

, the SEC Community Service Team by the SEC Office, and to the Frank G. Ham Society of Character by UK Athletics. In 2007, he was one of 15 finalists for the prestigious Draddy Trophy, which is presented to the top scholar athlete in the country. He gave the acceptance speech on behalf of the 15 finalists at the award ceremony in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

. Also in 2007, he was named the SEC Scholar Athlete of the Year and elected to the first-team Academic

All-America The All-America designation is an annual honor bestowed upon an amateur sports person from the United States who is considered to be one of the best amateurs in their sport. Individuals receiving this distinction are typically added to an All-Am ...

squad by the College Sports Information Directors of America. He was the 2007 recipient of the

Bobby Bowden Robert Cleckler Bowden (; November 8, 1929 – August 8, 2021) was an American college football coach. Bowden coached the Florida State Seminoles of Florida State University (FSU) from 1976 to 2009 and is considered one of the greatest college ...

Award, a national honor presented by the

Fellowship of Christian Athletes The Fellowship of Christian Athletes (FCA) is an international non-profit Christian sports ministry founded in 1954 and based in Kansas City, Missouri. It has staff offices located throughout the United States and abroad. History FCA was foun ...

. Tamme was inducted in 2018 to the University of Kentucky Athletics Hall of Fame.

Professional career

Indianapolis Colts

The Indianapolis Colts selected Tamme in the fourth round (127th overall) of the 2008 NFL Draft. Tamme was the ninth tight end drafted in 2008. He and the Colts agreed to a 4-year contract with undisclosed terms on July 23, 2008.

2008 season

As a rookie in 2008, Tamme appeared in 12 games with 12 receiving yards.

2009 season

In 2009, Tamme appeared in all 16 games (started 1) with 35 receiving yards. He helped the Colts into

Super Bowl XLIV Super Bowl XLIV was an American football game between the National Football Conference (NFC) champions New Orleans Saints and the American Football Conference (AFC) champions Indianapolis Colts to decide the National Football League (NFL) champ ...

, but lost to 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 ...

31-17.

2010 season

After Week 7 of 2010 season,

Dallas Clark Dallas Dean Clark (born June 12, 1979) is a former American football tight end who played 11 seasons in the National Football League (NFL). He played college football for the University of Iowa, earned unanimous All-American honors, and was reco ...

was placed on Injured Reserve after an injury to wrist and Tamme took over as the starting tight end. Tamme surprised everyone by producing good statistical numbers and brought comparisons between him and

. Tamme finished the season with a career-high 67 receptions for 631 yards and 4 touchdowns.

2011 season

His numbers declined in 2011 due to the absence of Peyton Manning. He finished the year with 177 receiving yards and a touchdown.

Denver Broncos

Tamme signed for three years and $9 million with the

on March 23, 2012. His contract included $3.5 million in guaranteed money.

2012 season

Tamme improved much in the 2012 year as Peyton Manning also signed for the Broncos. Tamme finished the 2012 year with 555 receiving yards and 2 touchdowns.

2013 season

Tamme was part of a Broncos offensive that was franchise-setting, becoming the first time an NFL team scored over 600 points in 16 regular season games that year. For the 2013 year, Tamme produced 184 receiving yards and 2 touchdowns. He and Manning helped the Broncos reach

Super Bowl XLVIII Super Bowl XLVIII was an American football game between the American Football Conference (AFC) champion Denver Broncos and National Football Conference (NFC) champion Seattle Seahawks to decide the National Football League (NFL) champion for th ...

. In the Super Bowl, Tamme had 2 catches for 9 yards, but lost 43-8 to the Seattle Seahawks.

2014 season

Tamme played in 15 games and had 14 receptions for 109 yards and two touchdowns.

Atlanta Falcons

2015 season

Tamme signed with the Atlanta Falcons on March 19, 2015. He finished the season with 59 catches for a career-high 657 yards and one touchdown.

2016 season

Tamme played in 8 games, and had 22 receptions, 3 for touchdowns, He was placed on injured reserve on November 21, 2016, after undergoing season-ending shoulder surgery.

Retirement

On November 23, 2017, Tamme announced his retirement from the NFL.

Personal life

Tamme is a Christian. He has spoken about his faith saying, "My faith is important because it's the core of why I believe we exist as humans. Faith allows us to spend an eternity with God and it fuels my every day actions. I've seen how having faith in God can change lives and it certainly has changed mine." Tamme is married to his high school sweetheart, the former Allison Elmore.

References

External links

Kentucky Wildcats bioAtlanta Falcons bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Tamme, Jacob 1985 births Living people People from Danville, Kentucky Christians from Kentucky Players of American football from Lexington, Kentucky Boyle County High School alumni American football tight ends Kentucky Wildcats football players Indianapolis Colts players Denver Broncos players Atlanta Falcons players