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Sammis Daniel Reyes Martel (born October 19, 1995) is a Chilean professional football tight end and former basketball player. The first player from Chile to play in the NFL, Reyes grew up playing basketball as a youth member of their national team before moving to the United States on an athletic scholarship at 14. He played college basketball for the Hawaii Rainbow Warriors, Palm Beach Panthers, Tulane Green Wave, and Loyola Wolf Pack.
Despite being a student in the United States, Reyes continued to play with the Chile national team before deciding to switch to football after failing to qualify for the 2019 FIBA Basketball World Cup. He joined the NFL's International Player Pathway (IPP) program in 2021 and signed with the Washington Football Team that season, making a few game appearances on special teams before being released the following year due to injuries. Reyes has also been a member of the NFL's Chicago Bears, Jacksonville Jaguars, and Minnesota Vikings.
While on a US tour with the Chilean youth national team in 2010, Reyes was scouted by American recruiters and offered a scholarship to attend Westlake Prep, a school in the Miami metropolitan area. He accepted and left Chile by himself at age 14 to attend the following year. He arrived knowing almost no English language and had to quickly learn it, which he did through exposure from film and music. During this time he met and befriended Alex Rifkind, the son of music entrepreneur Steve Rifkind, while playing together in an Amateur Athletic Union basketball circuit. Reyes eventually moved in with the Rifkinds and transferred to North Broward Preparatory School in Coconut Creek, Florida, after briefly attending Saint Andrews School in Boca Raton due to Westlake Prep shutting down.
Reyes signed a National Letter of Intent to play college basketball at the University of Hawaii in 2014, but suffered a hand injury while practicing with them that forced him to miss his freshman season. Later feeling Homesickness and disapproving with the school's decision to fire head coach Gib Arnold mid-season, he dropped out and returned to Florida to recover from his injuries. Reyes then attended a semester at Palm Beach State College and played with their basketball team before transferring to Tulane University in 2016. He spent two seasons with the Tulane Green Wave but played in just two games in 2017 after opting-out due to being unhappy with his playing time.
Reyes graduated from Tulane's Freeman School of Business with a degree in business management before playing his final year of collegiate eligibility for the Loyola Wolf Pack at Loyola University New Orleans in 2018, where he also graduated with a Master of Business Administration degree. In addition to college basketball, he still participated with the Chile national team in international events such as the 2011 FIBA Americas Under-16 Championship and the 2019 FIBA Basketball World Cup qualifiers. He primarily played the power forward position throughout his basketball career.
Reyes made his professional debut against the New Orleans Saints in October 2021, where he played a limited number of snaps on special teams. He spent a week on the team's COVID-19 reserve list alongside several other players in December 2021. He finished the season playing in 11 games, primarily on special teams, where he recorded two tackles. During training camp for the 2022 season, Reyes suffered a hamstring injury and was placed on the injured reserve list before being released by the team with an injury settlement on August 23, 2022.
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