Jamain Stephens (born January 9, 1974) is a former

NFL 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 major ...

offensive tackle Offensive may refer to: * Offensive, the former name of the Dutch political party Socialist Alternative * Offensive (military), an attack * Offensive language ** Fighting words or insulting language, words that by their very utterance inflict inj ...

who played for the

Pittsburgh Steelers The Pittsburgh Steelers are a professional American football team based in Pittsburgh. The Steelers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the American Football Conference (AFC) North division. Founded in , the Steel ...

and

Cincinnati Bengals The Cincinnati Bengals are a professional American football team based in Cincinnati. The Bengals compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) AFC North, North division. The c ...

Pittsburgh Steelers

After a stellar college career for

North Carolina A&T North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University (also known as North Carolina A&T State University, North Carolina A&T, N.C. A&T, or simply A&T) is a public, historically black land-grant research university in Greensboro, North Caro ...

, the Pittsburgh Steelers selected him in the first round (29th overall) in the

1996 NFL Draft The 1996 NFL draft was the procedure by which National Football League teams selected amateur college football players. It is officially known as the NFL Annual Player Selection Meeting. The draft was held April 20–21, 1996, at the Paramount ...

. Blessed with great size (6'6), the Steelers selected him as a "project" player and projected him to be a great starting tackle with several years of development. Despite the lofty expectations placed on him by the Steelers, Stephens' career with the Steelers was marred by mediocrity and a poor work ethic on Stephens' part. Despite his lack of development, he managed to start ten games (he played in 11) for the Steelers in the 1998 season, beating out Paul Wiggins for the starting right tackle job in training camp.

Cincinnati Bengals

Stephens was promptly signed by the

rival A rivalry is the state of two people or groups engaging in a lasting competitive relationship. Rivalry is the "against each other" spirit between two competing sides. The relationship itself may also be called "a rivalry", and each participant o ...

after the Steelers. Stephens played with the Bengals from 1999–2002.

Personal life

Jamain Stephens married Natisha (Melchor) Stephens on July 29, 2020, in Greensboro, North Carolina. They currently reside in Inner Harbor, Baltimore Maryland. On September 8, 2020, Jamain's son, Jamain Stephens Jr. died from complications associated with COVID-19 at age 20. His son 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 ...

California University of Pennsylvania Pennsylvania Western University, California (commonly known as PennWest California) is a public university campus in California, Pennsylvania and one of three campuses of Pennsylvania Western University, part of the Pennsylvania State System o ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Stephens, Jamain 1974 births Living people American football offensive tackles Cincinnati Bengals players North Carolina A&T Aggies football players Pittsburgh Steelers players People from Lumberton, North Carolina Players of American football from North Carolina