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Shiyazh Pete (Navajo, Salish) Makes History

  • Writer: MIP Author
    MIP Author
  • 9 hours ago
  • 5 min read

Shiyazh Pete’s first NFL appearance became a historic celebration for the Navajo Nation

Before Shiyazh Pete stepped onto the field, the crowd was already waiting for him.

Throughout State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Navajo Nation flags rose above the seats. Families wore Pete’s number 75. Supporters had traveled from communities across Arizona, New Mexico, and the Navajo Nation to witness something that had never happened before.

Then, during the fourth quarter of the Dallas Cowboys’ preseason game against the Arizona Cardinals on August 22, 2026, Pete ran onto the field. The response was immediate.


Thousands of Diné supporters stood and cheered as the rookie offensive lineman joined the Cowboys’ offense. Pete played six snaps on a drive that ended with a Dallas touchdown. On a football stat sheet, it was a brief appearance. For the people who had come to see him, it was much larger.


Pete had become the first member of the Navajo Nation to sign with an NFL team and the first to take the field in NFL preseason competition.


When he returned to the sideline, the ovation continued. Pete turned toward the crowd and raised his helmet. Around him were Navajo Nation flags, handmade signs, children wearing his jersey, and a Salish flag honoring another part of his family and identity. For a few minutes, the stadium did not feel like someone else’s stage. It felt like home.



“I Saw Hope and Courage” – Shiyazh Pete


After the Cowboys’ 34–13 victory, Pete struggled to describe what the moment meant. English, he suggested, was not enough.


He used the Diné word hózhǫ́.

There is no single English translation that fully holds its meaning. Hózhǫ́ is often connected to beauty, balance, harmony, and moving through life in a good way. For Pete, it expressed something he could feel in the stadium even if he could not completely explain it.

“I saw hope, courage,” Pete said. “Hope and courage.”


That hope was visible in the families who came to Glendale. It was visible in the children watching a Diné and Salish athlete stand on an NFL field with his long hair, his identity, and the support of his people fully present.


CBS Texas spoke with the family of a young Diné boy who had been bullied for wearing his hair in a braid. Seeing Pete on the field gave the boy someone to look toward, not because Pete had left his culture behind to reach professional football, but because he carried it with him.


That is what made the evening more than a sports milestone. Pete did not stand alone. His family, his communities, and thousands of people who understood the importance of the moment stood with him.


Shiyazh Pete (Navajo, Salish) from KU to a Dallas PRO
Shiyazh Pete (Navajo, Salish) from College to PRO (AI-generated image)


A Journey Rooted in Family and Community


Pete is the son of Geraldine and Natani Pete. His mother is Diné, and his father is Diné and Salish. His father also serves as a captain in the United States Army.


Pete was born in Ronan, Montana, and lived in several places while growing up. By the time he entered high school, his family had settled on Navajo Nation lands in northeastern Arizona.


He first attended Red Valley/Cove High School in Apache County. The school did not have a football program, so Pete transferred to Shiprock High School across the Arizona-New Mexico border. There, he developed into a two-way lineman while earning recognition for his leadership and academic work.


College recruiters did not immediately treat Pete as a future NFL prospect. In 2021, he joined New Mexico State University as a walk-on, without the security of an athletic scholarship.


He kept working.


Pete eventually earned a scholarship, became a starting offensive tackle, and helped New Mexico State reach consecutive bowl games. In 2023, he started all 15 games, received First Team All-Conference USA honors, and helped the Aggies complete their first 10-win season in more than 60 years.


After four seasons at New Mexico State, Pete transferred to the University of Kentucky. He started every game at left tackle during the 2025 season, competing against some of the strongest football programs in the country. He also completed his bachelor’s degree in communication studies from New Mexico State.


Pete was not selected during the 2026 NFL Draft. That could have ended the journey. Instead, the Dallas Cowboys signed him as an undrafted free agent and gave him the opportunity to compete for a place in professional football.


...this game, this star, this team will make us brothers. — Shiyazh Pete (Navajo, Salish)

More Than a First


Calling Pete “the first” matters, but the meaning of his accomplishment extends beyond a historical record.


For generations, Native children have grown up with few opportunities to see athletes from their own tribal nations represented in professional sports. When that representation does appear, it is sometimes separated from the person’s family, culture, and community.


Pete’s moment in Glendale was different. Diné people did not simply watch history happen from a distance. They arrived together, carried their flags, called his name, and made themselves visible within one of the largest institutions in American sports.


Navajo Nation President Buu Nygren joined the supporters in Glendale. He described Pete’s journey as an example of what commitment, discipline, and belief can make possible. Each time Pete steps onto the field, Nygren said, he carries the pride of his family, his community, and the Diné people.


Pete is still working to secure his long-term place in the NFL. The Cowboys must decide whether he will join the regular-season roster, continue on the practice squad, or pursue another opportunity. Those decisions are part of the difficult reality facing every undrafted rookie.


But no roster decision can take away what happened in Glendale.


A Diné and Salish athlete entered an NFL game. Thousands of Native people rose to meet him. Children saw someone who looked like them, wore his hair like them, and carried his culture into a place where they had never seen it represented before.

Six plays were enough to make history.


When number 75 took the field, he carried more than the star on his uniform. He carried the people who raised him, the communities that believed in him, and the hopes of young athletes who can now point to Shiyazh Pete and know that someone from the Navajo Nation reached that field before them.


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