Kendell Beckwith (born December 2, 1994) 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 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 ...

. 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 ...

Louisiana State University Louisiana State University (officially Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College, commonly referred to as LSU) is a public land-grant research university in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. The university was founded in 1860 nea ...

(LSU).

Professional career

Coming out of LSU, Beckwith was projected by the majority of NFL draft experts and scouts to be a third or fourth round draft pick. He received an invitation to the NFL combine, but was unable to perform any drills besides the bench press due to a torn ACL in his left knee that he suffered in November. On April 5, 2017, he attended LSU's pro day along with

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, Tre'Davious White, and 11 other players. Beckwith was ranked the fifth-best inside linebacker prospect by NFLDraftScout.com. 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 ...

selected Beckwith in the third round (107th overall) of the

2017 NFL Draft The 2017 NFL Draft was the 82nd annual meeting of National Football League (NFL) franchises to select newly eligible American football players. It was held in front of the Philadelphia Museum of Art on April 27–29, returning to Philadelphia f ...

. On May 23, 2017, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers signed Beckwith to a four-year, $3.17 million contract that includes a signing bonus of $706,288. He competed with

Cameron Lynch Cameron Ellis Lynch (born August 4, 1993) is a former American football linebacker. He played college football at Syracuse. He signed with the St. Louis Rams as an undrafted free agent in 2015. College career Lynch played college football for ...

Devante Bond Devante Bond (born July 3, 1993) is an American football linebacker for the Dallas Cowboys of the National Football League (NFL). He was drafted by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in the sixth round of the 2016 NFL Draft. He played college football at ...

, and Eric Nzeocha for a job as a starting outside linebacker. Head coach

Dirk Koetter Dirk Jeffrey Koetter ( ; born February 5, 1959) is an American football coach who is currently serving as the interim offensive coordinator at Boise State University. He was the head coach of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers of the National Football Lea ...

named him the starting strong side linebacker to begin the regular season. He made his professional regular season debut and his first career start during the Tampa Bay Buccaneers' season-opener against 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 ...

and recorded five solo tackles and deflected a pass in the 29–7 home victory at

Raymond James Stadium Raymond James Stadium is a multi-purpose stadium in Tampa, Florida that opened in 1998 and is home to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers of the National Football League (NFL) and the University of South Florida (USF) Bulls college football program. The se ...

. On October 5, 2017, he recorded a season-high fourteen tackles in a 14–19 loss 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 April 12, 2018, Beckwith was in a car accident with former LSU teammate Lamin Barrow and suffered a fractured ankle which required surgery. He was placed on the reserve/non-football injury list on September 1, 2018, to start the season. On May 10, 2019, the Buccaneers placed Beckwith on the reserve/non-football injury list for the second consecutive season, due to ongoing problems arising from the accident. He was waived with a non-football injury designation on July 28, 2020.

References

External links

LSU Tigers bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Beckwith, Kendell 1994 births Living people People from Jackson, Louisiana Players of American football from Louisiana American football linebackers LSU Tigers football players Tampa Bay Buccaneers players