The former Bison comes out of retirement and signs with the Las Vegas Raiders.

After his four-year contract with the Chargers was up in 2019, former Bison standout, Kyle Emanuel, hung up his cleats for the last time… or so we thought. He went on to join KVLY’s Bison Pregame Show in his new role as one of the hosts and analysts for NDSU’s 2019-20 season. 

Emanuel quickly interested several NFL teams prior to this year’s NFL season, and last Saturday, the 29-year old unretired and signed with the Las Vegas Raiders.

Joining the Herd in 2010, Emanuel redshirted his first season in the green and gold. In 2011, Emanuel started eight of the 15 games played during his freshman season accumulating 41 tackles and three and a half sacks for the Bison. 

After a solid sophomore campaign, Emmanuel really started to make a name for himself as a junior. The linebacker started all fifteen games for the Bison with a team-high ten tackles for loss. Adding 47 tackles and seven and a half sacks was enough to earn Emanuel a second-team All-Missouri Conference bid.

In his senior season, Kyle Emanuel won the 2014 Buck Buchanan Award as the top defensive player in the FCS.  Emanuel finished his final season for the Bison leading the FCS with 19.5 sacks and 32.5 tackles for loss. Kyle was selected to the Capital One Academic All-America first team and the FCS All-America first team.

Drafted by the San Diego Chargers in the fifth round of the 2015 NFL Draft, Emanuel started three games for San Diego. Impressing Chargers coaches in 2016, Emanuel went on to start 11 of San Diego’s 16 games, with 36 tackles and 22 assisted tackles.

The signing makes Emanuel the eighth former Bison that is currently on an NFL roster.