A well-traveled special-teams safety who has landed with five organizations since being drafted in 2022.
Russ Yeast is a safety for the Cincinnati Bengals who has bounced around the league since the Los Angeles Rams drafted him in 2022, cycling through Carolina, Arizona and Houston before signing on with Cincinnati. He built his college reputation at Kansas State after starting his career at Louisville.
Path to the league
Yeast played four seasons at Louisville (2017-2020) before transferring to Kansas State for his final year of eligibility in 2021, where he earned First-team All-Big 12 honors. The Los Angeles Rams selected him in the seventh round, 253rd overall, of the 2022 NFL Draft.
Career highlights
Yeast made his first NFL start for the Rams in the 2022 season finale against Seattle after primarily working special teams as a rookie. He has carved out a career largely on special teams and as depth in the secondary, appearing for the Rams, Panthers, Cardinals and Texans before joining Cincinnati.
2025 season recap
Yeast signed with the Cincinnati Bengals' practice squad in August 2025 after being waived by Houston during final roster cuts, then signed a reserve/future contract with Cincinnati in January 2026. Across his NFL career through 2025, he has totaled 82 tackles and 5 pass deflections, largely as a special-teams contributor.
Sources
- Wikipedia: Russ Yeast
- Pro Football Reference: Russ Yeast
Statistics
2025 season and career▶Defense · career
| Year | Team | GP | TOT | SOLO | SACK | INT | FF | FR | PD |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2024 | texans | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 2023 | rams | 17 | 61 | 37 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 |
| 2022 | rams | 15 | 20 | 16 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Player Profile
Background
- Position
- Safety
- Group
- defense
- College
- Kansas State
- Hometown
- Danville, KY, USA
- Age
- 27
- Status
- active
