Roy Jacob Lopez (born August 7, 1997) 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 ...

defensive tackle A defensive tackle (DT) is a position in American football that will typically line up on the line of scrimmage, opposite one of the offensive guards, however he may also line up opposite one of the tackles. Defensive tackles are typically the la ...

for 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 ...

of the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the ...

(NFL). 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 ...

New Mexico State New Mexico State University (NMSU or NM State) is a public land-grant research university based primarily in Las Cruces, New Mexico. Founded in 1888, it is the oldest public institution of higher education in New Mexico and one of the state's tw ...

before transferring to

Arizona Arizona ( ; nv, Hoozdo Hahoodzo ; ood, Alĭ ṣonak ) is a state in the Southwestern United States. It is the 6th largest and the 14th most populous of the 50 states. Its capital and largest city is Phoenix. Arizona is part of the Fou ...

and was drafted by the Texans in the sixth round of the

2021 NFL Draft The 2021 NFL Draft was the 86th National Football League Draft, the annual meeting of National Football League (NFL) franchises to select newly eligible players for the 2021 NFL season. The draft was held in Cleveland from April 29 to May 1, 2021 ...

College career

Lopez was ranked as a twostar recruit by

247Sports.com 247Sports is an American network of websites that focus mainly on athletic recruitment in college football and basketball. It is owned and operated by Paramount. The website hosts a large network of team-specific subsites, with each subsite be ...

coming out of high school. He committed to

on August 23, 2016. Lopez broke his leg in the first week of the 2019 season and returned only briefly at the end of the season. He was granted a fifth year of eligibility and transferred to

on July 19, 2020.

Professional career

Lopez was drafted by the

in the sixth round with the 195th pick of the

on May 1, 2021. On May 12, 2021, Lopez officially signed with the Texans. During a November 7, 2021 game against the

Miami Dolphins The Miami Dolphins are a professional American football team based in the Miami metropolitan area. They compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member team of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) East division. The team pla ...

, he sacked

quarterback The quarterback (commonly abbreviated "QB"), colloquially known as the "signal caller", is a position in gridiron football. Quarterbacks are members of the offensive platoon and mostly line up directly behind the offensive line. In modern Ame ...

Jacoby Brissett Jacoby Jajuan Brissett (born December 11, 1992) is an American football quarterback for the Cleveland Browns of the National Football League (NFL). Following a college football stint with Florida, he played at NC State and was selected in the t ...

and later recovered a fumble forced by teammate Kamu Grugier-Hill. They were the first sack and first takeaway of his professional career.

Personal life

Lopez is of

Mexican-American Mexican Americans ( es, mexicano-estadounidenses, , or ) are Americans of full or partial Mexican heritage. In 2019, Mexican Americans comprised 11.3% of the US population and 61.5% of all Hispanic and Latino Americans. In 2019, 71% of Mexica ...

descent. His mother and several other members of his family are police officers.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lopez, Roy Living people Arizona Wildcats football players Houston Texans players Players of American football from Arizona Sportspeople from Tempe, Arizona New Mexico State Aggies football players American football defensive linemen 1997 births American sportspeople of Mexican descent