Khaseem Greene (born February 4, 1989) 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 ...

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, ...

. He was drafted by the Chicago Bears in the fourth round of the

2013 NFL Draft The 2013 NFL Draft was the 78th annual meeting of National Football League (NFL) franchises to select newly eligible football players. The draft, which is officially called the "NFL Player Selection Meeting", was held at Radio City Music Hall ...

. He played college football at

Rutgers Rutgers University (; RU), officially Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, is a public land-grant research university consisting of four campuses in New Jersey. Chartered in 1766, Rutgers was originally called Queen's College, and w ...

Early years

Greene was born in Elizabeth, New Jersey. He attended Elizabeth High School, where he played high school football for the Elizabeth Minutemen. He also had a

postgraduate year A postgraduate (PG) year is an extra year of secondary coursework at a boarding school following high school graduation, but before entering college. It is a gap year option intended for students who either have not applied or were not admitted ...

Avon Old Farms , motto_translation = Aspiring and Persevering , address = 500 Old Farms Road , city = Avon , state = Connecticut , zipcode = 06001 , country = United St ...

school in Avon Connecticut where he was a standout in basketball, football and track. During his time at Avon Old Farms he was part of the school's first ever New England track championship along with former New York Giants running back Michael Cox.

College career

While attending

Rutgers University Rutgers University (; RU), officially Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, is a public land-grant research university consisting of four campuses in New Jersey. Chartered in 1766, Rutgers was originally called Queen's College, and was ...

, Greene played for the Rutgers Scarlet Knights football team from 2008 to 2012. As a junior in 2011, he switched from

safety Safety is the state of being "safe", the condition of being protected from harm or other danger. Safety can also refer to the control of recognized hazards in order to achieve an acceptable level of risk. Meanings There are two slightly dif ...

to weakside linebacker. He led the

Big East Conference The Big East Conference is a collegiate athletic conference that competes in NCAA Division I in ten men's sports and twelve women's sports. Headquartered in New York City, the eleven full-member schools are primarily located in Northeast and ...

with 141 tackles, 3.5 sacks and two forced fumbles. As a senior in 2012, Greene recorded 136 tackles and six sacks with two interceptions, six forced fumbles and two touchdowns via fumble recoveries, and was named the Big East Defensive Player of the Year and a first-team All-American by

ESPN ESPN (originally an initialism for Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by ESPN Inc., owned jointly by The Walt Disney Company (80%) and Hearst Communications (20%). Th ...

Professional career

Chicago Bears

Greene was drafted in the fourth round (117th pick overall) by the Chicago Bears, the second linebacker taken by the team. He signed a four-year contract with the Bears on May 2, 2013. Greene signed a four-year, $2.592 million contract. The deal included a $432,092 signing bonus. Greene made his NFL debut in week nine against the Green Bay Packers in place of the injured

Lance Briggs Lance Marell Briggs (born November 12, 1980) is an American former professional football player who was a linebacker for the Chicago Bears of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football for the Arizona Wildcats and was select ...

, recording four tackles. Greene concluded 2013 with 38.5 tackles, an interception, and a forced fumble. In March 2014, Greene

tweeted Twitter is an online social media and social networking service owned and operated by American company Twitter, Inc., on which users post and interact with 280-character-long messages known as "tweets". Registered users can post, like, and ...

that he will change his number from #59 to #52, in honor of Rutgers teammate

Eric LeGrand Eric J. LeGrand (born September 4, 1990) is a former American football defensive tackle who played college football at Rutgers. He became paralyzed while making a tackle in an October 2010 game, but has since regained movement in his shoulders ...

. On May 11, 2015, he was waived by the Bears.

Tampa Bay Buccaneers

Greene was claimed off waivers by 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) South division. The cl ...

on May 12, 2015. He was released by the Buccaneers on September 4, 2015.

Detroit Lions

On November 18, 2015, Greene was signed to the Lions' practice squad. On January 4, 2016, Greene signed a futures contract with the Detroit Lions. On September 3, 2016, he was waived by the Lions.

Kansas City Chiefs

On January 21, 2017, Greene signed a futures contract with the Chiefs. On May 9, 2017, he was waived by the Chiefs.

Massachusetts Pirates

He was signed by the

Massachusetts Pirates The Massachusetts Pirates are a professional indoor football team of the Indoor Football League based in Worcester, Massachusetts, with home games at the DCU Center. The Pirates began play in the 2018 season as a member of the National Arena Lea ...

on November 9, 2019.

Personal life

Greene's half-brother, Ray Graham, is a running back who played college football for the

Pittsburgh Panthers The Pittsburgh Panthers, commonly also referred to as the Pitt Panthers, are the athletic teams representing the University of Pittsburgh, although the term is colloquially used to refer to other aspects of the university such as alumni, facu ...

and who has played in the NFL. Their father is Raymond Graham. Greene has a daughter.

References

External links

Chicago Bears bioScarlet Knights bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Greene, Khaseem 1989 births Living people All-American college football players American football safeties American football linebackers Elizabeth High School (New Jersey) alumni Rutgers Scarlet Knights football players Sportspeople from Elizabeth, New Jersey Players of American football from New Jersey Chicago Bears players Tampa Bay Buccaneers players Detroit Lions players Kansas City Chiefs players Avon Old Farms alumni