FOXBORO, Mass. — There are two ways to look at the young career of New England Patriots defensive end Ufomba Kamalu.
Kamalu is in his third NFL stop after a two-year stint with the Houston Texans and a brief stay with the Arizona Cardinals. He came to the Patriots as a man without a position and spent nearly two months on New England’s practice squad. So, it’s easy to say he just might be a tweener: At 6-foot-6, 300 pounds, not quite fast enough to play on the edge nor strong enough to line up inside.
Or maybe there’s still untapped potential there, and it took pairing him with the right team and coach to unleash him. That the Patriots signed Kamalu off their practice squad and played him over other young defenders like Derek Rivers and Keionta Davis shows the Patriots must see something there.
Kamalu has a unique background. He was born in California but was raised in Nigeria. He played soccer growing up and took up football on the fly after moving to Fayetteville, Ga., (Atlanta has direct flights to Nigeria) in high school at the behest of his father, a retired Cal Poly professor.
Kamalu started receiving interest from bigtime schools as a senior in high school but played a year at Butler (Kansas) Community College before transferring to the University of Miami. He started nine games as a senior in 2015 but ultimately went undrafted and signed with the Texans in 2016.
He’s shown spurts of greatness. His first snap in a Patriots uniform was a 4-yard tackle for loss. He had three sacks in 13 regular season games with the Texans. He’s always shined in the preseason. And the combination of his late start to football plus his athleticism gives off hope of upside.
“I think other people learn bad habits growing up,” Kamalu said. “I guess me starting in high school and college, I learned to play the right way.”
Kamalu ran a 4.88-second 40-yard dash with a 31.5-inch vertical leap at his pro day in 2016. He ran a 7.32-second 3-cone drill with a 4.58-second short shuttle with 26 bench press reps of 225 pounds at the 2016 NFL Scouting Combine.
Because of the athleticism that produced those testing numbers, Houston saw Kamalu as an oversized 300-pound outside linebacker. There’s probably a good reason that’s not a common body type for that position. Patriots head coach Bill Belichick said earlier this month the Patriots were “trying to figure … out” how to use Kamalu, who was on the practice squad at the time. On Sunday, it seemed the Patriots view Kamalu more as a defensive end who can kick inside on third down.
“It was more of working out everything,” Kamalu said. “This defense here is a very multiple defense. Sometimes the D-ends are 3-techniques, sometimes we’re (5-techniques). It’s been kind of exciting working at every position.”
Kamalu enjoys the versatility.
“There’s different techniques and different ways to get the quarterback,” Kamalu said. “When you’re in on third down and you’re at 3-technique, it’s a lot faster than being at the 5. It’s just different ways to play the game.”
We’ll find out Sunday if Kamalu showed enough in Week 16 to be active in the Patriots’ regular-season finale. And if he shows up Sunday, then he could be a contributor in the playoffs, as well.
Players with Kamalu’s size and speed don’t grow on trees. And if anyone can figure out how to turn Kamalu loose, it’s Belichick.
