Keleki Latu Is America's Newest Search: an Undrafted Tight End, One Catch, and a First NFL Touchdown on Monday Night
Buffalo's No. 83 had four career catches before Monday night. His fifth went for a 25-yard touchdown just before halftime against Minnesota - and by Tuesday morning his name was one of the most searched in the country.
The most searched football name in America on Tuesday morning belongs to a tight end who entered Monday night with four career receptions. Keleki Latu, an undrafted tight end for the Buffalo Bills, caught a 25-yard touchdown pass from Josh Allen late in the second quarter of Buffalo's 23-6 Monday Night Football win over the Minnesota Vikings - the first touchdown of his NFL career, on his first reception of the season.
The play finished an eight-play, 80-yard drive and gave Buffalo a 10-3 lead with under a minute left in the first half, USA TODAY's Touchdown Wire reported. Latu, who played college football at California, Nevada and Washington before signing with Buffalo as an undrafted free agent in 2025, is the younger brother of Indianapolis Colts defensive end Laiatu Latu. His career line now reads five receptions, 85 yards and one touchdown.
The rest of the night belonged to Buffalo's ground game and defense: James Cook III carried 31 times for 107 yards and a fourth-quarter touchdown, Tyler Bass made all three of his field goals, and the Bills pulled away in a defensive game at U.S. Bank Stadium to close Week 9.
Latu spoke with reporters afterward in the Bills' locker room, in a session the team posted under a simple heading: his first career touchdown, and being ready when his opportunity came. Search boards measured the same moment from the other side - a name almost no one outside Buffalo knew on Monday afternoon was a top-three U.S. sports search and a brand-new 50,000-plus query by Tuesday morning.
