Tyler John Matakevich (born December 22, 1992) 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 ...

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, pl ...

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 ma ...

(NFL). He played college football at

Temple A temple (from the Latin ) is a building reserved for spiritual rituals and activities such as prayer and sacrifice. Religions which erect temples include Christianity (whose temples are typically called church (building), churches), Hindui ...

. He was drafted by 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 Stee ...

in the seventh round (246th overall) in the

2016 NFL Draft The 2016 NFL Draft was the 81st annual meeting of National Football League (NFL) franchises to select newly eligible American football players. As in 2015, the draft took place at the Auditorium Theatre and Grant Park in Chicago. The draft be ...

Early years

Matakevich attended St. Joseph High School in

Trumbull, Connecticut Trumbull is a town located in Fairfield County, Connecticut, United States. It borders on the cities of Bridgeport and Shelton and the towns of Stratford, Fairfield, Easton and Monroe. The population was 36,827 during the 2020 census. Trum ...

. He played linebacker and

running back A running back (RB) is a member of the offensive backfield in gridiron football. The primary roles of a running back are to receive handoffs from the quarterback to rush the ball, to line up as a receiver to catch the ball, and block. The ...

on the football team and also played

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding ...

. He finished his

high school A secondary school describes an institution that provides secondary education and also usually includes the building where this takes place. Some secondary schools provide both '' lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper seconda ...

career with 2,357 yards rushing, 1,355 yards receiving, 3,898 all-purpose yards on offense, and 371 tackles, 4.5 sacks, three forced

fumble A fumble in gridiron football occurs when a player who has possession and control of the ball loses it before being downed (tackled), scoring, or going out of bounds. By rule, it is any act other than passing, kicking, punting, or successful h ...

s, six fumble recoveries, and eight

interception In ball-playing competitive team sports, an interception or pick is a move by a player involving a pass of the ball—whether by foot or hand, depending on the rules of the sport—in which the ball is intended for a player of the same team ...

s on defense. Over the course of his career, he scored 59 total

touchdown 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 ...

s. During a pre-season scrimmage his

senior Senior (shortened as Sr.) means "the elder" in Latin and is often used as a suffix for the elder of two or more people in the same family with the same given name, usually a parent or grandparent. It may also refer to: * Senior (name), a surname ...

year he broke his foot and wound up missing five games, therefore after high school graduation he attended

Milford Academy Milford Academy is a post-secondary school founded in 1916 as Yale Preparatory School. It has been located in New Berlin, New York since 2004. Although founded as a preparatory school, its current focus is as a school for athletes who have t ...

. After one year at

, Matakevich committed to

Temple University Temple University (Temple or TU) is a public university, public Commonwealth System of Higher Education, state-related research university in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It was founded in 1884 by the Baptists, Baptist minister Russell Conwell an ...

to play college football.

College career

As a freshman at Temple in 2012, Matakevich played in all 13 games, making his first start in Week 5 against USF. He became the first freshman in school history to record 100 tackles, finishing with 101. As a sophomore, he had 137 tackles, one sack and one

. As a junior, he had 117 tackles, 1.5 sacks and one interception. During his senior year, he became the seventh player in

FBS FBS may refer to: People * Frederik Batti Sorring, known as FBS, Indonesian politician Schools * Faith Baptist School (disambiguation) * France Business School, in France * Friern Barnet School, in London * Friends Boys' School, one of two ...

history to record 100 tackles all four years. Leading

to the inaugural AAC Championship during his final year of eligibility, Matakevich received national honors including the AAC Defensive Player of the Year, the

Bronko Nagurski Trophy The Bronko Nagurski Trophy has been awarded annually since 1993 to the collegiate American football defensive player adjudged by the membership of the Football Writers Association of America (FWAA) to be the best in the National Collegiate Athle ...

and the

Chuck Bednarik Award The Chuck Bednarik Award is presented annually to the defensive player in college football as judged by the Maxwell Football Club to be the best in the United States. The award is named for Chuck Bednarik, a former college and professional Ame ...

. All three were firsts for Temple football. He also became Temple's third consensus All-American. During the 2015 Boca Raton Bowl, he broke the school's record for career tackles, finishing with 493. For the season he had 138 tackles, 4.5 sacks and five interceptions.

Professional career

Pittsburgh Steelers

The

selected Matakevich in the seventh round (246th overall) of the

. He said, at the time of receiving the call from

head coach A head coach, senior coach or manager is a professional at training and developing athletes. They typically hold a more public profile and are paid more than other Coach (sport), coaches. In some sports, the head coach is instead called the "manage ...

Mike Tomlin Michael Pettaway Tomlin (born March 15, 1972) is an American football coach who is the head coach for the Pittsburgh Steelers of the National Football League (NFL). Since joining the Steelers in 2007, he has led the team to ten playoff runs, se ...

, he was in the process of speaking to other teams about being signed as a priority undrafted free-agent. The Steelers said they selected him because he was their highest rated player on their big board at the time.

2016

On May 5, 2016, the Pittsburgh Steelers signed Matakevich to a four-year, $2.40 million

rookie A rookie is a person new to an occupation, profession, or hobby. In sports, a ''rookie'' is a professional athlete in their first season (or year). In contrast with a veteran who has experience and expertise, a rookie is usually inexperienced ...

contract that includes a signing bonus of $63,502. Throughout training camp, he competed for a roster spot against veteran Steven Johnson, L. J. Fort, and Travis Feeney. He impressed coaches and showed consistent play in the preseason. Head coach

named him the backup inside linebacker to Ryan Shazier to start the regular season. He made his professional regular season debut in the Steelers' season-opening 38–16 victory over the

Washington Redskins 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) ...

. The next game, he made his first career tackle in a 24–16 win over the

Cincinnati Bengals The Cincinnati Bengals are a professional American football team based in Cincinnati. The Bengals compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) North division. The club's home ...

. On November 6, 2016, he recorded a season-high nine combined tackles in a 30–15 loss to the

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

. In the Week 16 match-up against the

Baltimore Ravens The Baltimore Ravens are a professional American football team based in Baltimore, Maryland. The Ravens compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the American Football Conference (AFC) North division. The team plays it ...

, he recorded two solo tackles in a 32–27 victory. He finished his rookie season with 20 combined tackles in 16 games. The Pittsburgh Steelers finished the season first in the

AFC North The American Football Conference – Northern Division or AFC North is one of the four divisions of the American Football Conference (AFC) in the National Football League (NFL). The division was adopted after the restructuring of the 2002 NFL ...

with an 11–5 record and received a playoff berth. On January 8, 2017, Matakevich played in his first career playoff game as the Steelers defeated the

30–12 in the AFC Wildcard game.

2017

He returned to training camp in 2017 and competed to a roster spot against Steven Johnson, L.J. Fort, Travis Feeney, Kevin Anderson, Matt Galambos, and Keith Kelsey. He was named backup inside linebacker to Ryan Shazier and Vince Williams to start the season. Tyler Matakevich (51529189176) (cropped)

Tyler Matakevich (51529189176) (cropped)

On September 10, 2017, Matakevich blocked a punt by Browns' punter Britton Colquitt during the Pittsburgh Steelers' season-opening 21–18 victory over 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 ( ...

. Teammate Anthony Chickillo recovered the ball in the end zone for a touchdown and made the first score of the Steelers' season. On October 15, 2017, Matakevich recorded four combined tackles in the Steelers' 19–13 victory at the

Kansas City Chiefs The Kansas City Chiefs are a professional American football team based in Kansas City, Missouri. The Chiefs compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) West division. The t ...

. On December 4, 2017, he collected a season-high six combined tackles in a 23–20 victory at the

. Matakevich finished the season with 23 combined tackles (18 solo) and a pass deflection in 15 games and zero starts.

Buffalo Bills

On March 30, 2020, Matakevich signed a two-year contract with the

. On March 16, 2021, Matakevich signed a one-year extension through the 2022 season.

References

External links

Temple Owls bioStats
at Yahoo.com {{DEFAULTSORT:Matakevich, Tyler 1992 births Living people All-American college football players American football linebackers American people of Slavic descent Buffalo Bills players Milford Academy alumni People from Stratford, Connecticut Pittsburgh Steelers players Players of American football from Connecticut Sportspeople from Fairfield County, Connecticut Temple Owls football players