Johnathan Bandavious Atkins (born December 21, 1992) 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 ...

nose tackle for the Memphis Showboats of the United Football League (UFL). 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 ...

at Georgia, and has been a member of 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 ...

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) North Division. The team play their home games at Ford ...

, and

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 ...

College career

Atkins spent five seasons as a member of

Georgia Bulldogs The Georgia Bulldogs are the athletic teams that represent the University of Georgia. The female athletic teams are sometimes referred to as Lady Bulldogs. The Bulldogs compete in NCAA Division I and are members of the Southeastern Conference ( ...

, redshirting his freshman year. During his redshirt senior season, Atkins made 38 tackles, including one for a loss, as the Bulldogs' starting nose tackle. He finished his collegiate career with 81 total tackles, 3.5 for loss, five pass deflections and a fumble recovery in 48 games played.

Professional career

New England Patriots

Atkins signed with the

as an

undrafted 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 ...

on April 29, 2018. Considered a long shot to make the team, Atkins was cut by the Patriots at the end of training camp on September 1, 2018.

Detroit Lions

Atkins was signed to the

' practice squad on September 3, 2018. Atkins was waived by the team on November 30, 2018, but subsequently re-signed to the practice squad. Aktins was promoted to the Lions' Active roster on December 18, 2018, after defensive tackle

Da'Shawn Hand Da'Shawn Hand (born November 14, 1995) is an American football defensive end for the Tennessee Titans of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football at Alabama. Early years Hand was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, fath ...

was placed on injured reserve. Atkins made his NFL debut on December 23, 2018, in a 27–9 loss to the

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 ...

, making two tackles (one for loss). On August 31, 2019, Atkins was waived by the Lions as part of final roster cuts, but was signed to the team's practice squad the next day. He was promoted to the active roster on October 14. Atkins played in 12 games during the 2019 season, including six starts, and made 20 tackles. On July 29, 2020, Atkins announced he was opting out of the 2020 season due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

. He was waived after the season on June 2, 2021.

Atlanta Falcons

On June 17, 2021, Atkins signed with the

. He was waived on August 14.

Tampa Bay Bandits

On February 23, 2022, Atkins was drafted in the

2022 USFL draft The 2022 USFL Draft, also known as the 2022 USFL Player Selection Meeting, was the player selection process to fill the rosters of the eight teams for the 2022 USFL season. The draft was held on February 22–23, 2022, with results released throug ...

by the Tampa Bay Bandits.

Memphis Showboats

Atkins and all other Tampa Bay Bandits players were all transferred to the Memphis Showboats after it was announced that the Bandits were taking a hiatus and that the Showboats were joining the league. Atkins was named to the 2023 All USFL Team. He re-signed with the Showboats on December 6, 2023.

References

External links

Georgia Bulldogs bioDetroit Lions bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Atkins, John 1992 births Living people People from Thomson, Georgia Players of American football from Georgia (U.S. state) American football defensive tackles American football defensive ends Georgia Bulldogs football players Under Armour All-American football players New England Patriots players Detroit Lions players Atlanta Falcons players Tampa Bay Bandits (2022) players Memphis Showboats (2022) players