Tavante Beckett (born October 21, 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 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, ...

for the

San Antonio Brahmas The San Antonio Brahmas are a professional American football team based in San Antonio, Texas. The team is an owned-and-operated member of the XFL, owned by RedBird Capital, Dwayne Johnson and Dany Garcia's Alpha Acquico, LLC. History The XF ...

of the United Football League (UFL). He played college football at

Virginia Tech Virginia Tech (formally the Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University and informally VT, or VPI) is a public land-grant research university with its main campus in Blacksburg, Virginia. It also has educational facilities in six re ...

and

Marshall Marshall may refer to: Places Australia * Marshall, Victoria, a suburb of Geelong, Victoria Canada * Marshall, Saskatchewan * The Marshall, a mountain in British Columbia Liberia * Marshall, Liberia Marshall Islands * Marshall Islands, an i ...

College career

Beckett began his collegiate career at

. He was suspended indefinitely after his freshman season following an arrest for marijuana possession and ultimately transferred to

Marshall University Marshall University is a public research university in Huntington, West Virginia. It was founded in 1837 and is named after John Marshall, the fourth Chief Justice of the United States. The university is currently composed of nine colleges: ...

. Beckett was named the Conference USA Defensive Player of the Year in his redshirt senior season.

Professional career

Detroit Lions

Beckett signed with the Detroit Lions 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 ...

on May 3, 2021. He was waived on August 31, 2021, during final roster cuts and was re-signed to the practice squad the next day. Beckett was elevated to the active roster on December 5, 2021, for the team's Week 13 game against the

Minnesota Vikings The Minnesota Vikings are a professional American football team based in Minneapolis. They compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the National Football Conference (NFC) North division. Founded in 1960 as an expansi ...

and made his NFL debut in the game. He signed a reserve/future contract with the Lions on January 10, 2022. He was waived on May 10, 2022.

Houston Roughnecks

On November 17, 2022, Beckett was drafted by the

Houston Roughnecks The Houston Roughnecks are a professional American football team based in Houston, Texas. The team is an owned-and-operated member of the new XFL founded by Vince McMahon's Alpha Entertainment and plays its home games at TDECU Stadium. History ...

of the XFL. The Roughnecks brand was transferred to the

Houston Gamblers The Houston Gamblers were an American football team that competed in the United States Football League in 1984 and 1985. The Gamblers were coached by veteran NFL head coach Jack Pardee in both their seasons. They were noteworthy for introducing ...

when the XFL and

USFL The United States Football League (USFL) was a professional American football league that played for three seasons, 1983 through 1985. The league played a spring/summer schedule in each of its active seasons. The 1986 season was scheduled to be ...

merged to create the United Football League (UFL).

San Antonio Brahmas

On January 5, 2024, Beckett was selected by the

during the

2024 UFL dispersal draft The 2024 UFL dispersal draft was the player selection process to fill the rosters of the eight teams for the 2024 UFL season and disperse the rosters from the eight teams from its component conferences, the XFL and USFL, that were not retained i ...

References

External links

Marshall Thundering Herd bioDetroit Lions bio
1997 births Living people American football linebackers Detroit Lions players Houston Roughnecks players Marshall Thundering Herd football players Players of American football from Chesapeake, Virginia San Antonio Brahmas players Virginia Tech Hokies football players {{Linebacker-1990s-stub