Los Angeles Rams tight end Nikola Kalinic (83) after an NFL preseason football game Saturday, Aug. 26, 2023, in Denver. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski)

After being eliminated from the NFL playoffs, the Los Angeles Rams signed Canadian tight end Nikola Kalinic to a reserve/future contract.

The 26-year-old was a member of the team’s practice roster for the whole 2023 campaign. Along with outside linebacker Michael Hoecht and offensive lineman Alaric Jackson, he is one of three Canadian players on the Rams.

In 2022, Kalinic played for the Indianapolis Colts, where he was a member of the practice squad for the majority of the season. After being added to the active roster, he played in seven games and had one 15-yard kickoff return during the second half of the campaign.

The Hamilton Tiger-Cats selected the Toronto native in the second round of the 2019 CFL Draft after he was selected by York University. Over the course of two seasons with the team, he appeared in thirty games and caught 23 passes for 192 yards and two touchdowns.

Aside from his forty-yard dash time of 4.79 seconds, Kalinic’s other CFL Combine times included a 4.44-second shuttle, a 7.44-second three-cone, a 30.5-inch vertical leap, a nine-foot, four-inch broad jump, and ten 225-pound bench press repetitions.

During the course of four seasons (2015–18), the six-foot–four, 245-pound player played in 31 games for York, catching 38 passes for 416 yards and two touchdowns. He made school history by being the first player to be selected to the OUA all-star team twice in a single season—once for special teams and once for offense.

Before signing a contract with the Colts in January 2022, Kalinic worked out for a number of teams, including the New York Giants, Packers, Tennessee Titans, New Orleans Saints, and Seattle Seahawks.

 

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