Rakeem Nuñez-Roches looking dapper (Photo courtesy of the Kansas City Chiefs).
In honor of the final edition of NFL Hispanic Heritage Month of 2024, we will discuss Rakeem Nuñez-Roches. Everyone knows him since his talent has made him a household name during his many seasons in the NFL, but do we really know the Belizean man? We haven’t discussed someone from Belize before, so this is an exciting way to finish Hispanic Heritage Month.
Rakeem Nuñez-Roches Life & Times
Rakeem Nuñez-Roches is kind of a private guy. A fun-fact about the defensive end is that he is bilingual – speaking English and Garifuna. The Garifuna language is a minority language that is niche. The Garifuna people are descendants of an Afro-indigenous people from the Caribbean that had been exiled to Honduras and on to Belize. The language can mostly be traced through this group of people’s travel pathway. Rakeem Nuñez-Roches is of Garifuna descent. He was the first Garifuna Belize American to win a Super Bowl.
We don’t know that much about Nuñez-Roches’s childhood. We do know he was born in Dangriga, Belize, in 1993. He migrated to America, Alabama specifically, when he was eight years old with his family. His mother’s name is Nancy Nuñez, and he has three siblings. A brother Raul, and two sisters Rashada and Reesheda. The defensive end played high school football in small Phenix City, Alabama, where he was considered a three-star defensive lineman by ESPN. He was an Alabama Top 50 player. It’s not a Hispanic Heritage Game in the NFL, but it’s still a pretty cool title.
The Defensive End Speaks
Two tattoos are present on Nuñez-Roches’s arms – one of the Belize National Flag and another with the word ‘Dangriga’ his home town. He had this to say when he was asked what it meant to him to represent his Garifuna Belize community: ““Маn, І аlwауѕ bеlіеvе thаt уоu саn dо, І gоt Веlіzе rіght hеrе, Dаngrіgа, уоu аll ѕее іt, Ѕtаnn Сrееk ‘Ѕtаnd uр.’ Gоt thе flаg оn mе. І lоvе Веlіzе аnd mеаnѕ ѕо muсh tо bе thе fіrѕt аnd thе оnе аnd оnlу, уоu knоw, drаftеd Веlіzеаn рlауеr. І undеrѕtаnd hоw muсh, уоu knоw, thіѕ mеаnѕ tо mу соасh аnd mу соmmunіtу, but аlѕо hоw muсh іt mеаnѕ tо mе. Hоld mу hеаd wіth рrіdе but І lіkе thе іdеа оf mу реорlе hоmе.”
NFL Career
Much like Josue Matias being the first Dominican-born athlete to play in the NFL, Rakeem Nuñez-Roches was the first Belizean-born NFL player. NFL Hispanic Heritage Month 2024 has been one of the best yet! After a solid career at the University of Southern Mississippi, where he pursued a degree in biological sciences, Nuñez-Roches was drafted in the sixth round by the Kansas City Chiefs in 2015. The defensive end played in seven games his rookie year and had four solo tackles.
In 2016, the Chiefs did Nuñez-Roches wrong. He was released, signed on to the practice squad, and then was back on the active roster by October. He played in 11 games and got his first sack! The following year, the Chiefs didn’t mess around with him, and he got to play in all 16 games like he deserved. In 2018, the Chiefs were back at it and cut him from the team. He almost dealt with as much nonsense as Hispanic quarterback Joe Kapp, who played in the late 1960s and early 1970s, did.
Post-Chiefs Success
The next stop in Nuñez-Roches career was with the Indianapolis Colts in 2018. He was waived by the Colts in October of 2018, though. Just one day later, after being tossed by the Colts, he signed with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. He stayed with the Buccaneers until 2022. He was even on the Super Bowl-winning team of 2020.
Despite being 29 at the time, Nuñez-Roches was signed by the Giants for a three-year contract for $12 million. The New York Giants do love to shovel money into contracts. He has a solid career in New York and even got the most assisted tackles of any one season last year.
Conclusion
Rakeem Nuñez-Roches is an often overlooked member of the NFL but an incredibly important one. He has been a solid defensive end since 2015, and when he isn’t being messed around with by different teams, he is on his A-game. Getting into the NFL is hard; staying in it for this long is practically a miracle. Sometimes people don’t remember that when they measure the success of an NFL player.
In addition to being a Super Bowl champion, Nuñez-Roches brings some much-needed important awareness about his Belizian community. This author, and likely many readers, learned about the indigenous Afro-Caribbean people, known as the Garifuna people today. What a beautiful culture to come from and represent. That is truly where the NFL gets it’s strength—such diverse cultures coming together to create magic on the gridiron.
