- Kroy Biermann and his wife, Kim Zolciak, star in a realitt TV show centered on their home life.
- Zolciak has family that hails from Buffalo, and some relatives still live where her husband will now play.
- Biermann played eight seasons for Atlanta before signing with the Bills earlier this week.
Kroy Biermann is used to drama, so what happened this week at Buffalo Bills training camp, highlighted by the four-game suspension of Marcell Dareus, barely even moved the needle for him.
Biermann, a ninth-year NFL veteran who joined the Bills on Tuesday after signing a one-year contract to play outside linebacker, is married to television personality Kim Zolciak, so commotion away from the football field is nothing new.
His wife was one of the original members of the cast of Real Housewives of Atlanta, and during the end of her tenure on that show she was married to Biermann in 2011 and the Bravo cameras were constantly set up in the couple’s house, capturing how they went about their lives.
Zolciak appeared briefly on Dancing With the Stars, and she currently stars — along with Biermann — in a reality show called Don’t Be Tardy for the Wedding which centered on their preparation for their marriage. That show, since renamed Don’t Be Tardy, now chronicles their everyday family life as they pursue their careers while raising four young children. Season 5 begins on Sept. 14.
► MORE: Injury-ravaged Bills sign ex-Falcons LB Kroy Biermann
“She’s sort of taught me the ropes, per se," Biermann said of his on-screen persona. “She was my coach in that arena and she did a very good job. What you see is what you get. We don’t act, we’re not actors, we live our life how you see it on camera. My wife is an amazing woman and she’s got amazing things going on for herself, in what she’s got going on. If that means being by her side in front of a camera, I enjoy it the whole way.”
Right now, he’s not by her side as he came north to western New York to rejuvenate his football career, which had stalled since the Falcons opted not to re-sign him. To do so, he had to stop treading water in the free agent pool and leave behind his family because the Bills were the first team willing to sign him following five months of unemployment.
"Today has been quite an emotional day for me and our children and my husband,” Zolciak said in a video Tuesday for The Daily Dish. “So excited to sign with Buffalo. My family's actually from there. My parents grew up there. My aunts still live there. The fan base in Buffalo is like no other and the coaches and team is incredible, so I know that my husband is super excited to join the family."
Biermann is expected to see playing time — “Yep, absolutely he’ll play,” Rex Ryan said — Saturday night when the Bills host the New York Giants at newly named New Era Field, and he’ll be playing a position in Ryan’s defense that has been more jinxed than Spinal Tap drummers. Google it, millennials.
Thankfully, no one has spontaneously combusted, but Shaq Lawson went down due to shoulder surgery; Manny Lawson suffered a torn pectoral muscle and missed the first two weeks of camp; and IK Enemkpaliblew out his knee in the preseason opener last week and is done for the season. Beware, Biermann.
“I wouldn’t say jinxed,You know it’s just very unfortunate for that part of the business,” he said of the string of injuries. “I’ve been there. I had an Achilles tear in ’13 and I lost a season there. But you know, it is a part of the business. You’ve got to have guys who are willing to step in there and do the same job that they were doing.”
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The 6-foot-3, 255-pounder played collegiately at Montana and entered the NFL as a fifth-round (154th overall) pick by the Falcons in the 2008 draft. During his time in Atlanta he started 37 of 106 games (including 15 in 2014) and he totaled 285 tackles, 23.5 sacks, 60 quarterback hits and 37 tackles for loss.
Biermann visited Buffalo early in free agency, but the two sides couldn’t come to an agreement. Now, the fit is perfect because Biermann had nothing else percolating, and the Bills are desperate for help.
“I feel like coaches here will shoot you straight,” said the 30-year-old. “I think they’ll tell you how it is. I feel comfortable in this sort of system. I’ve actually played a little bit of it in Atlanta (under Mike Nolan). He kind of ran some similar stuff. You know, a lot of things are the same. You know, football is football. When you get down to the basics of it, just the terminology is different.”
Ryan said he hasn’t completely mapped out playing time for the Giants’ game, but he did say of quarterback Tyrod Taylor, “I think Tyrod will play more. How much more I’m not sure, but could he play in the second quarter? That’s a possibility, but we want to get the other guys work as well.”
Of wide receiver Sammy Watkins, Ryan said, “Thinking about playing him, probably won’t be more than a series. I think it would be good to get him out there, but we’ll see.”
Among the injured players, Ryan said for sure that offensive linemen Richie Incognito and Cordy Glenn, and safety Aaron Williams, would not play.
MAIORANA@Gannett.com
Listen to Marcell Dareus, Rex Ryan and Doug Whaley discuss Dareus' four-game suspension in the SalSpeak Bills podcast.
