Rontez Lamotte Miles (born November 25, 1988) 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 ...

strong safety Safety is a position in gridiron football on the defense. The safeties are defensive backs who line up ten to fifteen yards from the line of scrimmage. There are two variations of the position: the free safety and the strong safety. Their dut ...

. He was signed by the Jets 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 ...

in 2013. 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 California (PA).

Early years

Miles attended

Woodland Hills High School Woodland Hills Junior / Senior High School is a large, suburban public high school providing grades 9-12 for the Woodland Hills School District located in Churchill, Pennsylvania, USA. It serves the communities of Braddock, Braddock Hills, Chalfa ...

in Pennsylvania. He was teammates with future NFL'ers

Rob Gronkowski Robert James Gronkowski (born May 14, 1989) is an American former football tight end who played in the National Football League (NFL) for 11 seasons. Nicknamed "Gronk", Gronkowski played nine seasons for the New England Patriots, then played h ...

and Monte Simmons. He was also a three-year letterman, two-time all-conference and Big 33 while at Woodland Hills.

College career

Freshman season

On November 11, 2009, he was named the PSAC West Freshman of the Year. On November 18, 2009, he was selected to the PSAC West Second-team.

Sophomore season

He was selected to the Football Gazette Third-team All-Region team. He was also selected to the All-PSAC West First-team.

Junior season

On August 22, 2011, he was selected to the preseason D2Football.com First-team All-American team. He was selected to the AFCA First-team All-American and AP First-team All-American team. He was named to the 2011 All-PSAC West First-team. He selected to the All-American, Don Hansen Second-team All-American, Daktronics First-team All-Region and Don Hansen First-team All-Region team following the conclusion of his Junior season. On November 16, 2011, he was selected as the PSAC West Defensive Player of the Year. He was selected as the Daktronics Super Region 1 Defensive Player of the Year.

Senior season

Prior to his Senior year, he was selected to the Preseason Lindy’s First-team All-American and Preseason Beyond Sport Network (BSN) First-team All-American team.

Professional career

New York Jets

On April 27, 2013, he signed with the

New York Jets The New York Jets are a professional American football team based in the New York metropolitan area. The Jets compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) East division. The J ...

as an undrafted free agent. He was released on August 31, 2013. He was signed to the team's practice squad a day later. He was promoted to the active roster on November 1, 2013. He was released 10 days later after suspended tight end

Kellen Winslow II Kellen Boswell Winslow II (born July 21, 1983) is an American former professional football player and a convicted sex offender. He was a tight end in the National Football League (NFL) and played college football at the University of Miami, wh ...

returned to the active roster. He was re-signed to the practice squad on November 13, 2013. Miles was released on August 30, 2014 and signed to the team's practice squad a day later. He was promoted to the Jets' active roster before the Jets' Week 17 season finale, and according to former head coach

Rex Ryan Rex Ashley Ryan (born December 13, 1962) is an American former football coach and analyst. Ryan was formerly the head coach of the New York Jets and Buffalo Bills of the National Football League (NFL), and also held various coaching position ...

, Miles was going to play a role on special teams. However, Miles suffered a leg injury in practice, after colliding with Marcus Williams. Miles was placed on injured reserve after undergoing surgery on December 26, 2014. On December 6, 2015, Miles recorded his first career interception against

New York Giants The New York Giants are a professional American football team based in the New York metropolitan area. The Giants compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) East division. ...

quarterback

Eli Manning Elisha Nelson Manning (born January 3, 1981) is a former American football quarterback who played in the National Football League (NFL) for 16 seasons with the New York Giants. A member of the Manning football dynasty, he is the youngest son o ...

on fourth down in the 4th quarter which helped the team comeback from a ten-point deficit in their overtime win against the

. On March 14, 2018, the Jets placed a second-round restricted free agent tender on Miles. He re-signed for one year and just over $1 million, and later had surgery related to a torn meniscus. He was placed on the

physically unable to perform Physically unable to perform (PUP) is a roster designation used in the National Football League (NFL) for players who suffered injuries during football-related activities prior to the start of training camp. Players on the PUP list may participate ...

list on September 1, 2018 to start the season due to the knee surgery. He was activated off PUP on November 2, 2018. On November 6, 2019, Miles was placed on injured reserve with neck and hip injuries.

References

External links

California (PA) bioNew York Jets bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Miles, Rontez Living people 1988 births New York Jets players American football safeties California Vulcans football players People from Braddock, Pennsylvania Players of American football from Pennsylvania Sportspeople from the Pittsburgh metropolitan area Ed Block Courage Award recipients