Breno Gomes Giacomini (born September 27, 1985) 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 ...

offensive tackle. He was drafted by the Green Bay Packers in the fifth round in the 2008 NFL Draft. He played college football at

Louisville Louisville ( , , ) is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Kentucky and the 28th most-populous city in the United States. Louisville is the historical seat and, since 2003, the nominal seat of Jefferson County, on the Indiana border. ...

. Giacomini is of Brazilian descent. Along with

Gary Barnidge Gary Michael Barnidge (born September 22, 1985) is an American former professional American football, football player who was a tight end in the National Football League (NFL). He was drafted by the Carolina Panthers in the fifth round of the 2 ...

of the

Cleveland Browns The Cleveland Browns are a professional American football team based in Cleveland. Named after original coach and co-founder Paul Brown, they compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the American Football Conference (A ...

, Giacomini founded American Football Without Barriers in 2011, a football-related charity foundation.

Early years

The son of two Brazilian expatriates from

Governador Valadares Governador Valadares is a Brazilian municipality in the countryside of Minas Gerais. In 2020, its population was 281,046 inhabitants, thus being the ninth most populated city in the state. It is an economical axis of the middle valley of the Doce R ...

, Giacomini was born in

Cambridge, Massachusetts Cambridge ( ) is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. As part of the Boston metropolitan area, the cities population of the 2020 U.S. census was 118,403, making it the fourth most populous city in the state, behind Boston ...

and raised in Malden. His interest in playing football begun as Giacomini was brought to meet New England Patriots quarterback

Drew Bledsoe Drew McQueen Bledsoe (born February 14, 1972) is a former American football quarterback who played in the National Football League (NFL) for 14 seasons, primarily with the New England Patriots. He played college football at Washington State, whe ...

at the Boston Marriott, where his father worked. Giacomini was a three-year starter as a

defensive end Defensive end (DE) is a defensive position in the sport of gridiron football. This position has designated the players at each end of the defensive line, but changes in formations over the years have substantially changed how the position is ...

and outside linebacker at Malden High School with Joe Morrisey. He started his freshman and sophomore years, but decided to not play football as a junior to concentrate on basketball, as he averaged 21.0 points per game as a senior and was second in the league in scoring. However, one of his high school football coaches convinced him to resume playing football for college. Despite taking an almost two year long absence from football in high school, Giacomini was rated as a 2-star recruit by 247 Sports and a 3-star recruit by Rivals coming out of high school. Giacomini ultimately committed to play for

, which was the lone Division I-A college program to offer him a scholarship.

College career

Giacomini played college football at

. While he had played on the defensive side of the ball in high school, the Louisville coaches were so impressed with his speed and catching ability they converted him to a

tight end The tight end (TE) is a position in American football, arena football, and Canadian football, on the offense. The tight end is often a hybrid position with the characteristics and roles of both an offensive lineman and a wide receiver. Lik ...

for his freshman and sophomore seasons. When he reported to fall camp in 2006, he had grown from a 242-pound tight end to a 303-pound offensive tackle forcing the coaching staff to move him to the offensive line. He started two games his junior year when starter

George Bussey George Bussey (born October 24, 1984) is a former American football offensive guard. He was drafted by the New England Patriots in the fifth round of the 2009 NFL Draft. He played college football at Louisville. Early years Bussey attended Wes ...

was out with an injury. During his senior season, Giacomini moved to starting right tackle. The team's ground game struggled, but he provided solid pass protection, allowing only four sacks and two pressures on 491 pass plays. He earned second-team All-Big East Conference honors.

Professional career

Green Bay Packers

Giacomini was drafted by the Green Bay Packers in the fifth round, 150th overall, in the 2008 NFL Draft. On July 23, he was signed to a four-year rookie contract with a signing bonus of $179,000.

Seattle Seahawks

Giacomini was acquired by the Seattle Seahawks from the Packers practice squad on September 28, 2010, and released on October 23, 2010. He was re-signed for the 2011 season, during which he played in 15 games and started 8. He started every game of the 2012 season, including both postseason games. Giacomini started in 9 games during the 2013 season, missing 7 games (week 4-10) while recovering from knee surgery. Giacomini started all three post-season games for the Seahawks including their 43-8 Super Bowl win over the Denver Broncos in

Super Bowl XLVIII Super Bowl XLVIII was an American football game between the American Football Conference (AFC) champion Denver Broncos and National Football Conference (NFC) champion Seattle Seahawks to decide the National Football League (NFL) champion for th ...

New York Jets

Giacomini was signed by the New York Jets on March 12, 2014. He started every game of the 2014 and 2015 seasons. Giacomini started the 2016 on the Reserve/PUP list due a back injury and missed the first seven games. He was activated to the active roster on October 29, 2016, prior to Week 8 of the 2016 season. He was placed on injured reserve on December 13, 2016, after re-injuring his back in Week 13. On February 23, 2017, Giacomini was released by the Jets.

Houston Texans

On May 16, 2017, Giacomini signed with the Houston Texans.

Oakland Raiders

On March 22, 2018, Giacomini signed with the Oakland Raiders, reuniting with former Seahawks offensive line coach

Tom Cable Thomas Lee Cable Jr. (born November 26, 1964) is an American football coach who last was the offensive line coach for the Las Vegas Raiders of the National Football League (NFL). He previously served as the Seattle Seahawks assistant head ...

. He was released on August 27, 2018.

References

External links

Official website

New York Jets bio

Seattle Seahawks bio

Green Bay Packers bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Giacomini, Breno 1985 births Living people Sportspeople from Malden, Massachusetts Players of American football from Massachusetts American sportspeople of Brazilian descent American people of Italian descent American football offensive tackles Louisville Cardinals football players Green Bay Packers players Seattle Seahawks players New York Jets players Houston Texans players Oakland Raiders players