Kemal Ishmael (born May 6, 1991) 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 ...

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, ...

and

safety Safety is the state of being "safe", the condition of being protected from harm or other danger. Safety can also refer to the control of recognized hazards in order to achieve an acceptable level of risk. Meanings There are two slightly di ...

. He was drafted by the Falcons in the seventh round (243rd overall) 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 ...

. 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 in the United States, American football rules first gained populari ...

at UCF.

College career

Ishmael played

at UCF.

Professional career

2013 season

In the 2013 NFL Draft, Ishmael was selected in the seventh round with the 243rd overall pick by the Atlanta Falcons. In his rookie year, he got very little playing time. Head coach Mike Smith was worried he lacked the size and speed needed to start professionally and Ishmael was set to play behind veteran

Thomas DeCoud Thomas DeCoud ( ; born March 19, 1985) is a former American football free safety. He played college football for the University of California, Berkeley. He was drafted by the Atlanta Falcons in the third round of the 2008 NFL Draft. DeCoud curr ...

and fellow rookie

Zeke Motta Ezekiel Ranieri Motta (born May 14, 1990) is a former American football safety who played for two seasons with the Atlanta Falcons of the National Football League (NFL). He was drafted by the Falcons in the seventh round of the 2013 NFL Draft. He ...

. When both Motta and DeCoud were injured, Ishmael was active but only played three defensive snaps in all of 2013.

2014 season

On September 18, 2014, Ishmael got his first career interception off

Tampa Bay Buccaneers The Tampa Bay Buccaneers are a professional American football team based in Tampa, Florida. The Buccaneers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) South division. The cl ...

quarterback

Josh McCown Joshua Treadwell McCown (born July 4, 1979) is an American football quarterback who is a free agent. He attended Jacksonville High School in Jacksonville, Texas, where he was named the East Texas Player of the Year and earned All-State honorab ...

and returned it 23 yards for a touchdown on

Thursday Night Football ''Thursday Night Football'' (often abbreviated as ''TNF'') is the branding used for broadcasts of National Football League (NFL) games that broadcast primarily on Thursday nights. Most of the games kick off at 8:15 Eastern Time (8:20 prior to 2 ...

. From week 9 to 11, Ishmael had an interception in all three games.

2015 season

Ishmael played in all 16 games with five starts in 2015, totalling 52 tackles with one interception against

Blake Bortles Robby Blake Bortles (born April 28, 1992) is a former American football quarterback who played in the National Football League (NFL) for eight seasons, primarily with the Jacksonville Jaguars. He played college football at UCF, where he received ...

and three passes defensed.

2016 season

Ishmael played in 13 games with four starts in 2016, totaling 49 tackles playing at safety and linebacker throughout the season before being placed on injured reserve on December 16, 2016 with a shoulder injury. In the 2016 season, the Falcons would reach

Super Bowl LI Super Bowl LI was an American football game played at NRG Stadium in Houston, Texas, on February 5, 2017, to determine the champion of the National Football League (NFL) for the 2016 season. The American Football Conference (AFC) champion New ...

. Ishmael would not get to participate due to his injury.

2017 season

On March 14, 2017, Ishmael signed a one-year, $2.5 million contract extension with the Falcons.

2018 season

On April 4, 2018, Ishmael re-signed with the Falcons on a one-year contract.

2019 season

On April 3, 2019, Ishmael re-signed with the Falcons on another one-year contract. On Wednesday July 24, 2019, it was announced that with strong safety

J.J. Wilcox James Edward "J. J." Wilcox, Jr. (born February 14, 1991) is a former American football safety. He was drafted by the Dallas Cowboys in the third round of the 2013 NFL Draft. He played college football at Georgia Southern University. He has als ...

out for the season with a torn right ACL, Ishmael would return to his original position as SS and now see 75 percent of his practice time at safety and 25 percent at linebacker. On September 23, 2019, Ishmael took over the starting strong safety role he had earlier in his career after another season ending injury to Pro Bowl safety

Keanu Neal Keanu Neal (born July 26, 1995) is an American football safety for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers of the National Football League (NFL). He was selected by the Atlanta Falcons with the 17th overall pick in the 2016 NFL Draft. He played college foot ...

after he tore his Achilles. After becoming a free agent in March 2020, Ishmael had a tryout with the

San Francisco 49ers The San Francisco 49ers (also written as the San Francisco Forty-Niners) are a professional American football team based in the San Francisco Bay Area. The 49ers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the league's Nationa ...

on August 18, 2020.

References

External links

Atlanta Falcons bio

Central Florida Knights bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ishmael, Kemal 1991 births Living people American football safeties Atlanta Falcons players Players of American football from Miami UCF Knights football players Ed Block Courage Award recipients