Bengals’ Kwamie Lassiter II gets 1st career catch in homecoming vs. Cardinals

Cincinnati Bengals wide receiver Kwamie Lassiter II made his visit to State Farm Stadium as an active player, a special homecoming on Sunday against the Arizona Cardinals.

Lassiter, an alumnus of Hamilton High School in Chandler, is the son of the late former Cardinal Kwamie Lassiter.

For the younger Lassiter, the game allowed him to experience some of the first big moments in his young NFL career after going undrafted out of the University of Kansas in 2022 and spending all of that year on the Bengals’ practice squad.

Lassiter was activated from the practice squad for Sunday’s game on Saturday by Cincinnati to replace the injured Tee Higgins.

With the game all but wrapped up, a 34-20 Bengals lead at 1:11 to go in the fourth quarter, Cincinnati dialed up a play for Lassiter on 3rd-and-7 and he reeled in a two-yard completion. It was the first catch of Lassiter’s career.

Zac Taylor on getting Kwamie Lassiter II his first NFL catch late in the game, in the same place his late father played 8 seasons: “Anytime you can give a player that kind of moment, you do it.”

Adds: “Kwamie represents everything that we want to be about.” @WLWT pic.twitter.com/XVrDdy5jXk

— Charlie Clifford (@char_cliff) October 8, 2023

The senior Lassiter played eight years as a safety for the Cardinals, playing in 115 games, starting 71. He made 24 interceptions, returning one for a touchdown, and defending 33 passes. He died of a heart attack in 2019 while working out.

The senior Lassiter, like his son, went to the University of Kansas.