Tag: Duke in the NFL

Former Duke quarterback Daniel Jones finds new NFL home with Minnesota Vikings

Former Duke quarterback Daniel Jones found a new NFL team on Wednesday, signing a one-year deal with an NFC playoff contender.

Former Duke football star [autotag]Daniel Jones[/autotag] found his second NFL team on Wednesday.

Jones, the only Blue Devils quarterback ever taken in the first round of the NFL draft, signed a one-year deal to spend the rest of the season with the Minnesota Vikings. ESPN insider Adam Schefter first reported the news.

The New York Giants released Jones last week after he spent six seasons with the franchise. The former No. 6 overall pick played 70 games for the franchise since 2019, including a trip to the Divisional Round in the 2022 playoffs after he, coincidentally, led them past the Vikings in the first round.

Through 10 games this season, Jones threw for 2,070 yards and eight touchdowns while also tossing seven interceptions. Across his NFL career, the former Blue Devil has 14,582 passing yards, 2,179 rushing yards, 85 total touchdowns (70 passing and 15 rushing), and 54 turnovers (47 interceptions, seven fumbles lost).

The Vikings, 9-2 so far this season, are tied for the second-best record in the NFC. They’ll battle the 10-1 Detroit Lions for the NFC North crown down the stretch. Jones will presumably fall into a backup role for current starter Sam Darnold.

Former Duke football star Noah Gray catches two touchdowns for second straight game

Kansas City Chiefs TE Noah Gray, a former Blue Devil, caught two touchdowns from Patrick Mahomes for the second straight game on Sunday.

Former Duke football star [autotag]Noah Gray[/autotag] seems to be emerging as one of Patrick Mahomes’ favorite targets.

Gray caught two touchdown passes from the Kansas City Chiefs quarterback on Sunday, first on a wide-open 35-yard catch-and-run on the opening drive before making a leaping grab in the end zone for a second-quarter score.

Those trips to the end zone, two of Mahomes’ three touchdown passes for the game, helped the Chiefs win another close game with a 30-27 final margin over the Carolina Panthers.

After not catching a touchdown over Kansas City’s first nine games, Gray now has four in the past eight quarters. He snagged two against the Buffalo Bills in Week 11, Kansas City’s first loss of the year, for the first two-score game of his career.

The former fifth-round pick has accumulated 315 receiving yards this season, a personal record with six games left to play. His 27 receptions are one short of his career record, and he’d only caught four touchdowns in his first 58 games combined.

New York Giants release former Duke quarterback Daniel Jones

Former Duke quarterback Daniel Jones, a former first-round pick, will find a new team after the New York Giants released him on Friday.

Former Duke quarterback [autotag]Daniel Jones[/autotag] was released by the New York Giants on Friday afternoon, meaning the Blue Devil will play for a new team for the first time in his NFL career.

The Giants took Jones with the sixth overall pick in the 2019 draft, the only Duke quarterback taken in the first round in program history, and he’s spent each of the past six seasons with the team.

Through 10 games so far this season, Jones amassed 2,070 passing yards with eight touchdowns and seven interceptions. Normally a reliable rushing threat, the former Blue Devil has 265 yards and two scores on the ground. However, New York only won two of those games, and the team demoted Jones from his starting spot earlier this week.

Jones helped the Giants reach the Divisional Round of the playoffs in 2022, his best career season which resulted in him signing a four-year extension worth up to $160 million. The contract is believed to be the largest source of friction between him and New York, and according to ESPN insider Adam Schefter, he’s expected to clear waivers to reach free agency because of it.

In 70 career games, Jones has thrown for 14,582 yards, ran for 2,179 more, and scored 85 total touchdowns against 47 interceptions.

Former Duke football star Noah Gray scores his first touchdown of the NFL season

Former Duke football star Noah Gray, now playing for the Kansas City Chiefs, scored his first touchdown of the 2024 season on Sunday.

Former Duke football star Noah Gray scored his first touchdown of the 2024 season on Sunday in one of the biggest games of the NFL season.

Gray, now a member of the two-time defending Super Bowl champion Kansas City Chiefs (9-0), caught a 2-yard scoring pass from superstar quarterback Patrick Mahomes in the final three minutes of the first half against the Buffalo Bills (8-2).

The Chiefs, as the last undefeated team in the league, entered Sunday’s game with a chance to take command of the top seed in the AFC. Gray’s touchdown put them back in front by a single point.

Kansas City drafted Gray in the fifth round back in 2021, and he entered Sunday’s game with 866 receiving yards and four touchdowns for his career. He put together one of the best games of his career against the San Francisco 49ers on October 20, picking up 66 yards on four receptions, and he amassed 19 receptions for 221 yards through the Chiefs’ first nine games.

Gray ended his four-year collegiate career with 105 receptions for 948 yards and eight touchdowns in Durham. His best year came in 2019 when he caught 51 passes for 392 yards and three scores.

Buffalo Bills place former Duke football star DeWayne Carter on injured reserve

The Buffalo Bills moved DeWayne Carter, Duke’s former All-ACC defensive tackle, to their injured reserve on Friday.

Former Duke football star [autotag]DeWayne Carter[/autotag] will miss at least the next four games of his rookie NFL season after the Buffalo Bills placed him on their injured reserve on Friday.

Buffalo head coach Sean McDermott said earlier that day that Carter’s wrist would require surgery. The move to IR means he won’t be eligible to return until the team’s December 1 game against the San Francisco 49ers.

The Bills took Carter, a First Team All-ACC defensive tackle in 2023, in the third round of the NFL draft this past April. Through his first seven games in the professional ranks, the former Blue Devil had nine total tackles and a pass deflection.

Carter spent five seasons with the Blue Devils from 2019-23, finishing with 126 total tackles and 12 career sacks. Ten of those sacks came between the 2021 and 2022 seasons, and he ended his collegiate career with 11 pass deflections and five forced fumbles.

Former Duke football star signs three-year extension with New York Jets

Former Duke cornerback Michael Carter II signed a three-year extension worth more than $30 million with the New York Jets on Tuesday.

Former Duke football star Michael Carter II signed a three-year extension with the New York Jets on Tuesday, according to a report from NFL Network’s Tom Pelissero.

Pelissero reported that the contract, which keeps Carter with the Jets through the 2027 season, is worth $30.75 million with more than $19 million guaranteed. He officially becomes the highest-paid slot cornerback in NFL history.

Carter, whom the Jets drafted in the 2021, has teamed with superstar cornerback Sauce Gardner and DJ Reed to form the most intimidating pass defense in the league. The Jets finished second in the NFL with 168.3 passing yards allowed per game last season, their second consecutive season giving up fewer than 200 yards per contest.

The former fifth-round draft pick has 185 total tackles, 23 pass deflections, and two interceptions through his first three NFL seasons. He played in 46 games across his four years with the Blue Devils (2017-20), intercepting four passes and breaking up 24 others.

https://twitter.com/NFL/status/1831102008415391823

The Jets get the 2024 season underway against the San Francisco 49ers on Monday night.

Graham Barton named starting center for Tampa Bay Buccaneers

First round pick Graham Barton named as starter for week one.

Tuesday has been a big day for you if you’re a fan of [autotag]Graham Barton[/autotag], the Duke Blue Devils, or the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

The Buccaneers and head coach Todd Bowles announced on Tuesday that Barton, the team’s first-round pick from this April’s NFL draft, would be the team’s starting center for the 2024 season.

The team is set to push itself into a new era of football, with former No. 1 overall pick Baker Mayfield as its franchise quarterback for the foreseeable future after he signed a three-year, $100 million contract to remain in Tampa Bay.

The Bucs doubled down on their investment by taking Barton with the 24th overall pick in the draft.

Barton starred all across the Duke offensive line. He found a home in college at left tackle, where he handled some of the conference’s best edge rushers well enough to make the All-ACC First Team in 2022 and 2023.

When the Bucs made the pick and said they wanted him at center, his transition was a massive topic of discussion. Barton hadn’t played the position since his freshman year in Durham, but the team believed in Barton’s work ethic, size, skill, and willingness to play wherever they could make him their center of the future.

Barton has acclimated well this offseason, playing well in practice and preseason games. Announcing him as the starter gives him and Mayfield around three weeks to work out kinks and continue to build that all-important relationship between a quarterback and the communication lifeline along the offensive line.

The Buccaneers will open their 2024 campaign on September 8th against the Washington Commanders, coached by defensive mastermind Dan Quinn in his first game as the Washington head coach.

Could former Duke quarterback Daniel Jones lose his grip on the Giants’ starting job?

Despite emphatic reports that Daniel Jones will be the New York Giants’ starer in Week 1, there are whispers that backup Drew Lock could be close behind him.

Could former Duke quarterback Daniel Jones be losing his grip on the New York Giants starting quarterback position?

Jones, whom the Giants drafted with the sixth overall pick in 2019 after three years with the Blue Devils, led New York to the playoffs in 2022 and signed a 4-year, $160-million extension after that season.

However, he’s failed to throw 20 touchdown passes in his last three full seasons, and he battled injuries throughout 2023. In just six games last year, he averaged 5.7 yards per attempt and threw two touchdowns against just six interceptions.

The Giants still view Jones as their Week 1 starter, according to a report from NFL Network’s Mike Garafolo. Barring a setback or injury during camp, Jones will begin the season under center for New York.

However, his leash may be shorter than in years past. The Giants brought journeyman Drew Lock, who started for both Denver and Seattle during his NFL career. Earlier this week, after the NFL draft, NFL Network’s Daniel Jeremiah said he thinks Lock has a chance to win the job.

Amid rumors that the team could trade up for a rookie quarterback, Jeremiah said the Giants emphasized that they were comparing the 2024 class to both Jones and Lock in terms of gauging who would improve their team.

Will Jones maintain his grip on the starting job for the entire 2024 season? Duke fans will need to wait until the fall to find out.