Kemal Ishmael (born May 6, 1991) is a former American football linebacker and safety.[1] He was selected by the Atlanta Falcons in the seventh round (243rd overall) of the 2013 NFL draft.[2] He played college football at UCF.
 Ishmael with the Falcons in 2013 | |||||||||||||||
| No. 36 | |||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Position: | Linebacker Safety | ||||||||||||||
| Personal information | |||||||||||||||
| Born: | May 6, 1991 Miami, Florida, U.S. | ||||||||||||||
| Height: | 6 ft 0 in (1.83 m) | ||||||||||||||
| Weight: | 206 lb (93 kg) | ||||||||||||||
| Career information | |||||||||||||||
| High school: | North Miami Beach (North Miami Beach, Florida) | ||||||||||||||
| College: | UCF | ||||||||||||||
| NFL draft: | 2013 / round: 7 / pick: 243 | ||||||||||||||
| Career history | |||||||||||||||
| Career highlights and awards | |||||||||||||||
| Career NFL statistics | |||||||||||||||
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College career
editIshmael played college football at UCF.
Professional career
edit2013 season
editIn the 2013 NFL draft, Ishmael was selected in the seventh round with the 243rd overall pick by the Atlanta Falcons.[3] 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 and fellow rookie Zeke Motta. When both Motta and DeCoud were injured, Ishmael was active but only played three defensive snaps in all of 2013.
2014 season
editOn September 18, 2014, Ishmael got his first career interception off Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback Josh McCown and returned it 23 yards for a touchdown on Thursday Night Football. From week 9 to 11, Ishmael had an interception in all three games.
2015 season
editIshmael played in all 16 games with five starts in 2015, totalling 52 tackles with one interception against Blake Bortles and three passes defensed.
2016 season
editIshmael 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.[4] In the 2016 season, the Falcons would reach Super Bowl LI. Ishmael would not get to participate due to his injury.[5]
2017 season
editOn March 14, 2017, Ishmael signed a one-year, $2.5 million contract extension with the Falcons.[6]
2018 season
editOn April 4, 2018, Ishmael re-signed with the Falcons on a one-year contract.[7]
2019 season
editOn April 3, 2019, Ishmael re-signed with the Falcons on another one-year contract.[8] On Wednesday July 24, 2019, it was announced that with strong safety J.J. Wilcox 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.[9] 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 after he tore his Achilles.
After becoming a free agent in March 2020, Ishmael had a tryout with the San Francisco 49ers on August 18, 2020.[10]
NFL career statistics
edit| Legend | |
|---|---|
| Bold | Career high |
Regular season
edit| Year | Team | Games | Tackles | Interceptions | Fumbles | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| GP | GS | Cmb | Solo | Ast | Sck | TFL | Int | Yds | TD | Lng | PD | FF | FR | Yds | TD | ||
| 2013 | ATL | 4 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 2014 | ATL | 16 | 10 | 97 | 67 | 30 | 0.0 | 2 | 4 | 37 | 1 | 23 | 6 | 1 | 1 | 18 | 0 |
| 2015 | ATL | 16 | 5 | 46 | 32 | 14 | 0.0 | 1 | 1 | 84 | 0 | 84 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 2016 | ATL | 13 | 4 | 52 | 32 | 20 | 0.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 2017 | ATL | 16 | 1 | 29 | 15 | 14 | 1.0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| 2018 | ATL | 16 | 0 | 21 | 11 | 10 | 0.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| 2019 | ATL | 14 | 3 | 44 | 25 | 19 | 0.0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 95 | 23 | 290 | 183 | 107 | 1.0 | 6 | 5 | 121 | 1 | 84 | 13 | 2 | 3 | 18 | 0 | ||
Playoffs
edit| Year | Team | Games | Tackles | Interceptions | Fumbles | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| GP | GS | Cmb | Solo | Ast | Sck | TFL | Int | Yds | TD | Lng | PD | FF | FR | Yds | TD | ||
| 2017 | ATL | 2 | 0 | 7 | 6 | 1 | 0.0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| 2 | 0 | 7 | 6 | 1 | 0.0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | ||
References
edit- ^ "Falcons depth chart".
- ^ "Falcons select Central Florida's Kemal Ishmael, becomes 3rd defensive back drafted by Atlanta". washingtonpost.com. August 21, 2012. Retrieved April 27, 2013.[dead link]
- ^ "2013 NFL Draft Listing". Pro-Football-Reference.com. Retrieved May 15, 2023.
- ^ Jackson, Curtis (December 16, 2016). "Ishmael Placed on IR, McKissic Promoted". AtlantaFalcons.com. Archived from the original on October 19, 2017.
- ^ "Super Bowl LI - New England Patriots vs. Atlanta Falcons - February 5th, 2017". Pro-Football-Reference.com. Retrieved August 6, 2017.
- ^ Jackson, Curtis (March 14, 2017). "Falcons Agree to Terms with Kemal Ishmael". AtlantaFalcons.com. Archived from the original on June 26, 2017.
- ^ McFadden, Will (April 4, 2018). "Falcons agree to terms on a one-year deal with safety Kemal Ishmael". AtlantaFalcons.com. Archived from the original on April 8, 2018.
- ^ McFadden, Will (April 3, 2019). "Falcons sign Kemal Ishmael to one-year deal". AtlantaFalcons.com.
- ^ Ledbetter, D. Orlando (July 24, 2019). "Ishmael moved back to strong safety". AJC.com.
- ^ @AlbertBreer (August 18, 2020). "Today's tryout/visit list" (Tweet). Retrieved August 21, 2020 – via Twitter.
External links
edit- Central Florida Knights bio Archived February 27, 2019, at the Wayback Machine