2 WA football players are at the Vegas Super Bowl. One is from Tri-Cities
Pasco High graduate Sebastian Gutierrez may not get on the field in Sunday’s Super Bowl in Las Vegas. But he’ll have a hand in contributing to what the San Francisco 49ers do when they play the Kansas City Chiefs.
Gutierrez has spent the week practicing with the 49ers in Las Vegas as part of San Francisco’s practice squad.
Members of the practice squad spend the week on the field working with the 53-man active roster. But they don’t suit up and play during the game. Usually, each NFL team carries a 20-man practice squad roster.
He is one of just two players from Washington state listed as members of one of the Super Bowl teams, according to the U.S. Census Bureau, which released an interactive map showing the home states of the players.
The other is Jesse Davis from Asotin, south of Lewiston-Clarkston near the Washington-Idaho border.
Davis, 32, a former Seattle Seahawks player, also is on the 49ers practice squad.
The 6-foot-6, 309-lb offensive lineman from the University of Idaho entered the NFL as an undrafted free agent with the Seahawks in 2015 and played for the New York Jets. But he spent most of his time with the Miami Dolphins, playing there for several years before joining the Pittsburgh Steelers and then the Minnesota Vikings.
Pasco native Gutierrez, 25, finished his college football career in the fall of 2021 at Minot State University, where he came to the team as a tight end and receiver as a freshman but left as a 6-foot-6, 308-pound offensive lineman.
In the spring of 2022, Gutierrez didn’t hear his name called during the National Football League draft. But soon after, he was signed as a free agent with the Denver Broncos.
Since then he has been signed and released as a member of the practice squad for the Broncos, New England Patriots, Las Vegas Raiders and, ironically, the Kansas City Chiefs at the beginning of 2023.
While with the Raiders late in the fall of 2022, Gutierrez was activated by the Raiders, and he played in a regular-season NFL game.
This season, Gutierrez was signed to the 49ers practice squad on Dec. 27.
There is always a chance Gutierrez or some other practice squad member could be activated for Sunday’s championship game.
But either way, Gutierrez and Davis have been busy this week helping the 49ers get ready to battle the Chiefs.
Jeff Morrow is former sports editor for the Tri-City Herald.
