Player Information
He was born on September 12, 1985 and graduated from Hardin (MT) High. As a freshman, he appeared in 14 games and finished the season with 22 tackles, 6.5 tackles for loss, 3 sacks, 1 fumble recovery, and 1 pass defended. In 12 games as a sophomore, he had 48 tackles, 7 for loss, 3 sacks, 1 forced fumble, 2 fumble recoveries, and 2 passes defended. As a junior, he started 10 of 14 games finishing the year with 78 tackles, 14 for loss, 11 sacks, 3 forced fumbles, 2 recoveries, and 5 passes defended. He earned 1st team Big Sky and 2nd team All-American honors. As a senior, he won the Buck Buchanan Award, given to the top defensive player in the FCS. He also earned 1st team All-BIg Sky honors. He finished the year with 70 tackles, 18.5 for loss, 16 sacks, 5 forced fumbles, 2 recoveries, 1 pass defended, and 2 blocked field goals. He was selected by the Atlanta Falcons in the fifth round (154th overall) of the 2008 NFL Draft.
Career Statistics
| Year | Team | G | GS | Tot | Ast | Sack | Int | Yds | TD | FF | FR |
| 2008 | ATL | 16 | 0 | 14 | 3 | 2.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 2009 | ATL | 16 | 2 | 37 | 8 | 5.0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| 2010 | ATL | 16 | 14 | 28 | 5 | 3.0 | 1 | 31 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| 2011 | ATL | 16 | 1 | 27 | 17 | 2.5 | 1 | 50 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| TOTALS | 64 | 17 | 106 | 33 | 12.5 | 2 | 81 | 3 | 1 | 2 | |
Transactions
Signed by Atlanta Falcons on June 26, 2008 ... Re-signed by Falcons on March 7, 2012.
Contract details
Signed by Falcons to a four-year contract. He has base salaries of: $295,000 (2008); $385,000 (2009); $470,000 (2010); and $555,000 (2011) ... Signed a three-year deal in 2012 worth $9.15 million, including a $3.1 million signing bonus. His base salaries are: $1.1 million (2012); $2.4 million (2013); and $2.55 million (2014). His cap hits are (rounded to nearest thousand): $2.133 million (2012); $3.433 million (2013); and $3.583 million (2014).