Steven Montez (born January 14, 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 wit ...

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 ...

for the

Edmonton Elks The Edmonton Elks are a professional Canadian football team based in Edmonton, Alberta. The club competes in the Canadian Football League (CFL) as a member of the league's West Division and plays their home games at the Brick Field at Commo ...

of the

Canadian Football League The Canadian Football League (CFL; french: Ligue canadienne de football—LCF) is a professional sports league in Canada. The CFL is the highest level of competition in Canadian football. The league consists of nine teams, each located in a ...

(CFL). He played college football at

Colorado Colorado (, other variants) is a state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It encompasses most of the Southern Rocky Mountains, as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the wes ...

and signed with the

Washington Football Team The Washington Commanders are a professional American football team based in the Washington metropolitan area. The Commanders compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) E ...

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 ...

in 2020.

Early years

Montez attended Del Valle High School in

El Paso, Texas El Paso (; "the pass") is a city in and the seat of El Paso County in the western corner of the U.S. state of Texas. The 2020 population of the city from the U.S. Census Bureau was 678,815, making it the 23rd-largest city in the U.S., the ...

. During his career, he passed for 6,512 passing yards with 86

touchdowns A touchdown (abbreviated as TD) is a scoring play in gridiron football. Whether running, passing, returning a kickoff or punt, or recovering a turnover, a team scores a touchdown by advancing the ball into the opponent's end zone. In Americ ...

, and 8,149 yards of total offense. He committed to the

University of Colorado Boulder The University of Colorado Boulder (CU Boulder, CU, or Colorado) is a public research university in Boulder, Colorado. Founded in 1876, five months before Colorado became a state, it is the flagship university of the University of Colorado s ...

to play college football. A three-star recruit, Montez chose Colorado over offers from

Air Force An air force – in the broadest sense – is the national military branch that primarily conducts aerial warfare. More specifically, it is the branch of a nation's armed services that is responsible for aerial warfare as distinct from an ar ...

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 ...

, and

UTEP The University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP) is a public research university in El Paso, Texas. It is a member of the University of Texas System. UTEP is the second-largest university in the United States to have a majority Mexican American stude ...

College career

After redshirting his first year at Colorado in 2015, Montez played in 10 games and made three starts as a redshirt freshman in 2016. He spent most of the season as the backup to

Sefo Liufau Iosefo Sua Liufau (born October 29, 1994) is a former American football quarterback . He played college football at Colorado. Early years Liufau attended Bellarmine Preparatory School in Tacoma, Washington. During his career he led the team to ...

, but started three games due to Liufau injuries. Overall he completed 83 of 140 passes for 1,078 yards, nine touchdowns and five interceptions. Montez entered 2017 as the starting quarterback. In 12 starts, he completed 228 of 377 passes for 2,975 yards, 18 touchdowns and nine interceptions. Montez returned as the starter in 2018. He returned again for his senior season in 2019.

Professional career

Washington Football Team

Montez signed with the

as an

following the

2020 NFL Draft The 2020 NFL Draft was the 85th annual meeting of National Football League (NFL) franchises to select newly eligible players for the 2020 NFL season. The first round was held on April 23, followed by the second and third rounds on April 24. The ...

. He was waived on September 5, 2020 and signed to the practice squad the next day. Montez was elevated to the active roster on December 19 and December 26 for the team's weeks 15 and 16 games against the

Seattle Seahawks The Seattle Seahawks are a professional American football team based in Seattle. The Seahawks compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) West, which they rejoined in 2002 a ...

and

Carolina Panthers The Carolina Panthers are a professional American football team based in Charlotte, North Carolina. The Panthers compete in the National Football League (NFL), as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) South division. ...

, and reverted to the practice squad after each game. He was signed to the active roster prior to the Week 17 game against the

Philadelphia Eagles The Philadelphia Eagles are a professional American football team based in Philadelphia. The Eagles compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) East division. The team play ...

. Montez was waived by Washington on August 31, 2021.

Detroit Lions

On September 2, 2021, Montez was signed to 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 For ...

' practice squad. He signed a reserve/future contract with the Lions on January 10, 2022, but was waived on May 11, 2022. He re-signed to the Lions' practice squad on December 22.

Seattle Sea Dragons

Montez was allocated to the

Seattle Sea Dragons The Seattle Sea Dragons (formerly known as the Seattle Dragons) are a professional American football team based in Seattle, Washington. The team is a franchise of the new XFL and plays its home games at Lumen Field in Seattle. Originally founde ...

of the XFL on November 15, 2022, but re-signed to the Lions' practice squad on December 22. He re-joined the Sea Dragons after his practice squad contract with the Lions expired. The Sea Dragons folded when the XFL and USFL merged to create the United Football League (UFL).

Edmonton Elks

Montez signed with the

on January 18, 2024.

Personal life

Montez's father, Alfred, played in the NFL with the

Oakland Raiders The Oakland Raiders were a professional American football team that played in Oakland from its founding in 1960 to 1981 and again from 1995 to 2019 before relocating to the Las Vegas metropolitan area where they now play as the Las Vegas Ra ...

in 1996 and was his quarterback coach at Del Valle. During his time at Colorado, Montez was a member of the

Sigma Pi Sigma Pi () is a collegiate fraternity with 233 chapters at American universities. As of 2021, the fraternity had more than 5,000 undergraduate members and over 110,000 alumni. Sigma Pi headquarters are in Nashville, Tennessee. The fraternity ...

fraternity.

Spring League career statistics

Regular season

References

External links

*
Colorado Buffaloes bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Montez, Steven 1997 births Living people Players of American football from El Paso, Texas Players of American football from Oakland, California American football quarterbacks Colorado Buffaloes football players Detroit Lions players Washington Football Team players American sportspeople of Mexican descent Seattle Sea Dragons players Edmonton Elks players