| Intro | American football player | ||
| Is |
American football player Football player |
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| From | United States of America | ||
| Type | Sports | ||
| Gender | male | ||
| Birth | 2 December 1992, Stratford, Fairfield County, Connecticut, U.S.A. | ||
| Age: | 27 years | ||
| Star sign | Sagittarius | ||
| Stats |
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Tyler John Matakevich (born December 22, 1992) is an American football linebacker for the Pittsburgh Steelers of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football at Temple.
Early years
Matakevich attended St. Joseph High School in Trumbull, Connecticut. He played linebacker and running back on the football team and also played baseball. He finished his high school career with 2,357 yards rushing, 1,355 yards receiving, 3,898 all-purpose yards on offense, & 371 tackles, 4.5 sacks, 3 forced fumbles, 6 fumble recoveries, & 8 interceptions on defense. Over the course of his career he scored 59 total touchdowns. During a pre-season scrimmage his senior year Matakevich broke his foot and wound up missing 5 games, therefore after high school graduation he attended Milford Academy. After one year at Milford Academy, Matakevich committed to Temple University 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 vs 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 interception. As a junior he had 117 tackles, 1.5 sacks and one interception. During his senior year he became the seventh player in FBS history to record 100 tackles all four years. Leading Temple 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 and the Chuck Bednarik Award. 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
| Ht | Wt | Arm length | Hand size | 40-yd dash | 10-yd split | 20-yd split | 20-ss | 3-cone | Vert | Broad | BP | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 6 ft 0 in | 238 lb | 31¼ in | 9½ in | 4.81 s | 1.66 s | 2.80 s | 4.50 s | 7.19 s | 31 in | 9 ft 4 in | 22 reps | ||||||||
| All values from NFL Combine, | |||||||||||||||||||
On April 30, 2016, Matakevich was drafted in the seventh round (246th overall) of the 2016 NFL draft by the Pittsburgh Steelers. He said, at the time of receiving the call from head coach Mike Tomlin, he was in the process of speaking to other teams about being signed as a priority undrafted free-agent. The Pittsburgh Steelers said they selected him because he was their highest rated player on their big board at the time.
On May 5, 2016, the Pittsburgh Steelers signed Matakevich to a four-year, $2.40 million rookie contract that includes a signing bonus of $63,502.
He entered training camp competing with veteran Steven Johnson to be the backup right inside linebacker. He began the regular season as the backup inside linebacker to Ryan Shazier and made his professional regular season debut in the Pittsburgh Steeler’s season-opening 38-16 victory over the Washington Redskins. The next game, he made his first career tackle in a 24-16 win over the Cincinnati Bengals. On November 6, 2016, Matakevich recorded a season-high nine combined tackles in a 30-15 loss to the Miami Dolphins. In a Week 16 matchup against the Baltimore Ravens, he racked up two solo tackles in a 32-27 victory. He finished his rookie season with 20 combined tackles in 16 games.