Sam Joseph Martin (born February 27, 1990) 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 ...

punter for the

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

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 ...

Appalachian State Appalachian State University (; Appalachian, App State, App, or ASU) is a public university in Boone, North Carolina. It was founded as a teachers college in 1899 by brothers B. B. and D. D. Dougherty and the latter's wife, Lillie Shull Dough ...

, and was drafted by the

Detroit Lions The Detroit Lions are a professional American football team based in Detroit. The Lions compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) North Division. The team play their home games at Ford ...

in the fifth 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 in ...

Early years

Martin was lettered for soccer for four years and also received all-state recognition in his junior season at Starr's Mill High School.

College career

In his senior season, he was selected to the Associated Press All-America First team. He also was named to the first-team All-America by ''College Sports Journal'' and third-team all-America by The Sports Network in his senior season.

Professional career

Detroit Lions

In Week 12 of the 2015 season, Martin was awarded as the NFC Special Teams Player of the Week for four punts totaling 181 yards and only three punt return yards. Martin signed a four-year contract extension with the Lions on September 9, 2016. At the conclusion of the 2016 NFL season, Martin was named as an alternate for the

2017 Pro Bowl The 2017 Pro Bowl (branded as the 2017 Pro Bowl presented by Aquafina for sponsorship reasons) was the National Football League's all-star game for the 2016 season, which was played at Camping World Stadium in Orlando, Florida, on January 29, 201 ...

, but did not participate in the game. On September 2, 2017, Martin was placed on the non-football injury list after suffering an ankle injury during the offseason. He was activated to the active roster on October 28, 2017 for the team's Week 8 game against the

Pittsburgh Steelers The Pittsburgh Steelers are a professional American football team based in Pittsburgh. The Steelers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the American Football Conference (AFC) North division. Founded in , the Steel ...

Denver Broncos

On March 30, 2020, Martin signed a three year, $7.05 million deal with the

Denver Broncos The Denver Broncos are a professional American football franchise based in Denver. The Broncos compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) West division. The team is headquart ...

. Martin was released by the Broncos on August 29, 2022 after he refused to take a pay cut.

Buffalo Bills

On August 31, 2022, Martin signed a one year deal with the

References

External links

Denver Broncos bioAppalachian State Mountaineers bio
1990 births Living people People from Fayetteville, Georgia Sportspeople from the Atlanta metropolitan area Players of American football from Georgia (U.S. state) American football punters Appalachian State Mountaineers football players Detroit Lions players Denver Broncos players Buffalo Bills players {{Amfoot-punter-stub