Kamal Adrian Martin (born June 17, 1998) 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 ...

outside 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, ...

who is a free agent. 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 ...

Minnesota Minnesota () is a state in the upper midwestern region of the United States. It is the 12th largest U.S. state in area and the 22nd most populous, with over 5.75 million residents. Minnesota is home to western prairies, now given over to ...

, and was selected by the

Green Bay Packers The Green Bay Packers are a professional American football team based in Green Bay, Wisconsin. The Packers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC North, North division. It ...

in the fifth round of the

2020 NFL Draft The 2020 NFL Draft was the 85th annual meeting of National Football League (NFL) franchises to select newly eligible players for the 2020 NFL season. The first round was held on April 23, followed by the second and third rounds on April 24. The d ...

. He has also played for the

Carolina Panthers The Carolina Panthers are a professional American football team based in Charlotte, North Carolina. The Panthers compete in the National Football League (NFL), as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) South division. T ...

Early life and high school career

Martin was born and grew up in

Burnsville, Minnesota Burnsville () is a city south of downtown Minneapolis in Dakota County, Minnesota. The city lies on a bluff overlooking the south bank of the Minnesota River upstream from its confluence with the Mississippi River. Burnsville and nearby subur ...

and attended

Burnsville High School Burnsville High School (BHS) is a four-year public high school in Burnsville, Minnesota, United States. Burnsville is a southern suburb about 15 miles south of Minneapolis. The school is part of Burnsville-Eagan-Savage School District 191, which ...

, where he played quarterback and safety on the football team. He was named first-team All-State 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. newspa ...

as an all-purpose performer after completing 63 of 117 passes for 877 yards and nine touchdowns with one interception and rushing 400 yards and eight touchdowns on offense and recording 79 tackles, two forced fumbles, one interception and 13 pass breakups on defense.

College career

Martin played mostly as a reserve linebacker as a freshman, playing in all 13 of Minnesota's games with one start and 10 tackles and one interception. He became a starter going into his sophomore season and finished the year with 42 tackles, 6.5 tackles for a loss, one interception, two forced fumbles and two fumble recoveries. As a junior he made 59 tackles, including tackles 3.5 for loss, and two passes broken up in twelve games but did not play in the team's bowl game due to a violation of team rules. Martin's senior season was cut short after eight games due to injury, but he was named honorable mention All-Big Ten after making 66 tackles with 2.5 tackles for loss, one sack, two interceptions, and two forced fumbles.

Professional career

Green Bay Packers

The

selected Martin in the fifth round (175th overall) of the

. He signed his rookie contract on July 9, 2020. On September 2, 2020, it was reported that Martin had undergone surgery to repair a

torn meniscus A tear of a meniscus is a rupturing of one or more of the fibrocartilage strips in the knee called menisci. When doctors and patients refer to "torn cartilage" in the knee, they actually may be referring to an injury to a meniscus at the top of ...

in his left knee and would be out for at least six weeks. The Packers placed him on injured reserve on September 7. The Packers activated him off injured reserve on October 24, 2020. He made his NFL debut the following day against the

Houston Texans The Houston Texans are a professional American football team based in Houston. The Texans compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC South, South division, and play their home ga ...

, recording six solo tackles (including one for loss) during the 35–20 victory. Martin was placed on the reserve/

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was COVID-19 pandemic in Hubei, identified in Wuhan, China, in December ...

list by the team on November 3, 2020, and activated six days later. On November 29, 2020, Martin recorded his first career sack on

Mitchell Trubisky Mitchell David Trubisky (born August 20, 1994) is an American football quarterback for the Pittsburgh Steelers of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football at North Carolina and was drafted second overall by the Chicago ...

during a Week 12 win over 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 ''Sunday Night Football''. On August 23, 2021, Martin was released by the Packers.

Carolina Panthers

On September 10, 2021, Martin was signed to the

' practice squad. He was promoted to the active roster on October 4, 2021. He was waived on August 14, 2022, and was placed on injured reserve the next day. He was released on August 20.

NFL career statistics

Regular season

Postseason

References

External links

Minnesota Golden Gophers bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Martin, Kamal 1998 births Living people Players of American football from Minnesota Sportspeople from the Minneapolis–Saint Paul metropolitan area American football linebackers Minnesota Golden Gophers football players People from Burnsville, Minnesota Green Bay Packers players Carolina Panthers players