Tag: Irish in the NFL

Irish in the NFL: Raiders sign Te’Von Coney to practice squad

The Oakland Raiders brought back former Notre Dame linebacker Te’Von Coney, signing him to the practice squad on Wednesday.

The Oakland Raiders made a series of roster moves on Wednesday, including signing former Notre Dame linebacker Te’Von Coney to their practice squad.

Coney starred at Notre Dame from 2015-2018, racking up 313 total tackles, including 23 for a loss and seven sacks.

Despite getting a fifth round grade from Draft Network, and getting lauded for his potential as an early-down, run-stuffing linebacker, Coney went undrafted in the 2019 NFL draft.

He managed to catch on with the Raiders as an undrafted free agent, but they waived him on August 31 and added him to their practice squad a week later, which he has bounced off and on throughout the season.

Raiders coach Jon Gruden promised Raider fans that some changes were coming, and while Coney’s path to the active roster is still blocked, his return to the practice squad gives him a better chance of making his NFL debut before the 2019 season is concluded.

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Irish in the NFL: C.J. Prosise to see expanded role following injury

Former Notre Dame running back C.J. Prosise was elevated to backup RB for the Seattle Seahawks following Rashaad Penny’s injury.

Former Notre Dame Fighting Irish running back C.J. Prosise was active on Sunday for the Seattle Seahawks for the first time since Week 7. He appeared on 11 snaps on offense, recording one carry for two yards.

However – his role with the Seahawks will likely expand over the next few weeks following the ACL sprain suffered by running back Rashaad Penny, which will likely keep him out for the rest of the season.

“Thankfully we have C.J. coming in ready to play,” Seahawks coach Pete Carroll commented on ESPN’s Pete Carroll show Monday morning. “He was able to be active in this game to get him started. But he’s been sitting for awhile. He needs to get going. He’s very capable of helping us, he has a lot of assets that we like in the offense. Numbers-wise we just haven’t been able to get him up. So he’s ready to go.”

In seven games this season, Prosise has 14 rushes for 43 yards and a touchdown, along with nine receptions (on 11 targets) for 66 yards out of the backfield.

Prosise will still be behind Chris Carson on Seattle’s depth chart, but the shifty change-of-pace back will get a chance to shine in the final few weeks of the season for a 10-3 Seahawks squad that is still hoping to secure a first-round bye in the playoffs.

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Irish in the NFL: DeShone Kizer elevated to backup QB

The Oakland Raiders have bumped former Notre Dame QB DeShone Kizer to number two on the depth chart, and plan to activate him Sunday.

Former Notre Dame quarterback DeShone Kizer is inching closer to being a starting NFL quarterback.

The third-string QB for the Raiders behind Derek Carr and Mike Glennon for the majority of the 2019 season, Kizer was recently informed that he has passed Glennon on the depth chart and will be active for the first time this season on Sunday against the Titans.

“We’ve looked at him and we’ve made the decision that we’re going to move him up to the number two spot this week,” said offensive coordinator Greg Olson. “But I’ll let Jon [Gruden] answer those questions in regards to the entire depth chart and the decisions that were made there. We do like what we’ve seen out of DeShone.”

Glennon fumbled twice against the Jets two weeks ago when he came in to replace Carr in a blowout loss.

Kizer is a third-year vet who signed with Oakland just before the season started, and has spent the entire year getting caught up.

It appears he is ready to go now, and should anything happen to Carr he would be the man under center for this Raiders squad.

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Irish in the NFL: Make A Bennett Jackson Movie Already

Bennett was back for camp with the Giants in 2015 but tore his ACL in their second pre-season game, missing the entire year.  The Giants would end up releasing him at the end of pre-season the following year.

You ever have a player in any sport you take a special fandom to for an odd reason?  We all do, that’s a silly question.

Here’s the tale of one of mine, a Notre Dame grad who is pretty much the NFL example of Rudy.

Do you remember Bennett Jackson, the former Notre Dame cornerback?

Jackson was a member of the Notre Dame football team from 2010-2013 and a starting cornerback on the 2012 team that wound up playing for the national championship game.  After an entirely random encounter and high-five with him after the Michigan game in 2012, I took a special-liking to the young man.

After his eligibility was up in 2013 he was drafted by the New York Giants in the sixth round of the 2014 NFL Draft and was signed to their practice squad that fall.

Bennett was back for camp with the Giants in 2015 but tore his ACL in their second pre-season game, missing the entire year.  The Giants would end up releasing him at the end of pre-season the following year.

Fast forward to 2018 and Jackson still hadn’t let that dream of playing in a regular season NFL game go and in January of ’18, he signed a reserve/future contract with the Baltimore Ravens.

Unfortunately injury again hit Jackson who was put on Injured Reserve on August 31 before being released a week later.

Yet he didn’t quit, instead fought to get back and re-signed with the Ravens practice squad that November.  Shortly after their season concluded the Ravens and Jackson then agreed to another reserve/future contract.

However again at the end of this past pre-season Jackson was waived by the Ravens before being claimed by the New York Jets a day later.  He was waived by the Jets on September 16 before having played in a regular season for the Jets, but did sign with their practice squad.

Finally on October 15 the Ravens signed Jackson to their active roster, the only way they could get him off the Jets practice squad.

Jackson played in his first NFL game five days later, playing 14 special teams plays and one defensive snap when the Ravens won at Seattle, 30-16.

He’d play three more games for the Ravens, getting a career-high 22 defensive snaps played in their November 11 rout of Cincinnati.

Jackson was however waived Monday by Baltimore but not out of work long as Tuesday he again was signed by the Jets.

Props to him for never giving up on his dream regardless of how many times he was hit with injuries or cut.  Whether he takes another snap in an NFL regular season game or not his story is already Hollywood-worthy.

 

Irish in the NFL: Bennett Jackson waived by Ravens

Former Notre Dame Irish safety Bennett Jackson was waived by the Baltimore Ravens after the 28-year-old made his NFL debut this year.

The Baltimore Ravens waived former Notre Dame safety Bennett Jackson on Monday. He is now a free agent.

An immediate roster move was not announced, but the Ravens are expected to activate safety Brynden Trawick from the injured reserve to take his place.

Jackson has primarily been a special teamer in his time with the Ravens, which began in Week 7. He was active in four of the team’s six games since then, recording two combined tackles.

It was Jackson’s first NFL action, despite being drafted in the sixth round way back in 2014 by the New York Giants. A plethora of time on the practice squad and on the injured reserve prevented Jackson from actually playing until this year, at age 28.

Jackson starred at Notre Dame from 2010-2013, recording six interceptions and 158 combined tackles in the secondary for the Irish.

Now, he’ll have to work hard to find another team willing to take on a 28-year-old journeyman – but at least he was able to realize his goal of playing in an NFL game with Baltimore.

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Irish in the NFL: Chargers sign cornerback KeiVarae Russell

The Los Angeles Chargers signed former Notre Dame Fighting Irish cornerback KeiVarae Russell to their practice squad.

The Los Angeles Chargers signed former Notre Dame Fighting Irish defensive back KeiVarae Russell to their practice squad on Tuesday.

Russell starred at Notre Dame for three seasons, missing the 2014 season with an injury but returning his senior year to record 48 solo tackles, 3.5 tackles for loss, one sack, two interceptions and two forced fumbles.

That was enough for him to get picked in the third round of the 2016 NFL draft by the Chiefs – but not enough for him to stick with them, as he was released in September of that year.

He caught on with the Bengals and appeared in 20 games with them over the last three seasons, recording one interception, two passes defended and 17 solo tackles as a backup defensive back and a special teams contributor.

Cincinnati cut him just before the start of the 2019 season however, and he has remained without a team until Los Angeles signed him on Tuesday.

The former Irish cornerback will have a long road ahead of him to make it onto LA’s active roster, but at least he’s back in the NFL for now.

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Ricky Watters named Pro Football Hall of Fame semifinalist

Former Notre Dame Fighting Irish running back Ricky Watters is one of 25 finalists for the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

The Pro Football Hall of Fame’s modern era ballot was cut from 122 all the way down to 25, but former Notre Dame Fighting Irish running back Ricky Watters made it through the second round of cuts, and is still eligible for induction as a member of the class of 2020.

The ballot will be pared down to 15 at some point in January, before the five inductees are announced on the Saturday before the Super Bowl.

Watters was named to five straight Pro Bowls from 1992-1996, and was a Super Bowl champion in 1994 with the San Francisco 49ers. His career was cut short by injuries, but he was arguably a top-two running back in the NFL in the early-1990’s, and still finished with 10,643 rushing yards and 78 rushing touchdowns, both just outside the top-20 of all-time.

Watters starred at Notre Dame before getting drafted 45th overall by the 49ers in the 1991 NFL draft. He rushed for 1,814 yards and 21 touchdowns with the Irish, while also hauling in 610 receiving yards.

He also excelled as a punt returner, leading the NCAA in punt return touchdowns in 1988, with two.

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Irish in the NFL: Quenton Nelson named to ESPN’s 25 under 25

Former Notre Dame Irish guard Quenton Nelson was named to ESPN’s all 25-under-25 team.

Former Notre Dame offensive lineman Quenton Nelson was the only offensive lineman named to ESPN writer Mike Clay’s 25 under 25 team – a list of the 25 best players in the league who are age 25 or younger.

Nelson has had an incredible start to his NFL career as the starting left guard for the Indianapolis Colts, where he was drafted sixth overall in the 2018 draft.

Nelson immediately took over as a starter for the Colts, and has played all but one offensive snap in the last two years.

He was a Pro Bowler and a first team All-Pro in his rookie season, but amazingly he’s playing even better in year two.

Here’s an excerpt from Clay’s article, where Nelson came in at No. 5.

The lone offensive lineman on our list, Nelson has been the driving force for the emergence of the Colts’ line as one of the league’s best units. The Notre Dame product has been on the field for all but one of Indianapolis’ offensive snaps since he was selected with the sixth pick of the 2018 draft. His 94.1% pass block win rate ranked 11th among guards during his rookie season and sits at 93.7% (11th best) this season.

Nelson was named to the Pro Bowl and was a first-team All-Pro during an outstanding rookie season, and he’s on track for significantly more award recognition over the next decade.

Nelson starred at Notre Dame from 2014-2017, and was named an All-American in his final season with the Irish. He has a chance to be one of the best offensive linemen in the league, and perhaps of all-time, if he keeps this pace up.

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Watch: Julian Love’s First NFL Pick, Golden Tate’s Touchdown

It was Love’s first career NFL interception and happened to take place in his hometown of Chicago as Love grew up just outside Chicago.

It’s been on a long few seasons for the New York Giants, entering Sunday just 2-8 on the year and with a defense that has struggled to slow almost anything down.

Well, things didn’t go a whole lot better for the Giants this Sunday as they fell to the Bears 19-14. Despite the score a couple of former Notre Dame stars made some big-time plays for Big Blue.

Trailing 19-7 at the start of the third quarter the Giants forced a third and ten when Bears quarterback Mitch Trubisky tried to throw deep, only to connect with former Notre Dame Thorpe Award finalist Julian Love.

It was Love’s first career NFL interception and happened to take place in his hometown of Chicago as Love grew up just outside Chicago.

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Love’s interception probably meant a little more to him this week as two of his childhood friends he was planning on seeing while in Chicago died in an automobile accident earlier this week.

Still trailing 19-7 later in the fourth quarter it was former Biletnikoff Award Winner and Notre Dame product Golden Tate making another outstanding grab to cut the lead to 19-13.

The touchdown was Tate’s fourth of the season.

Despite the help from a couple of Domers, the Giants ultimately dropped the game 19-14 in Chicago while falling to just 2-9 on the year.

Irish in the NFL: Will Fuller excels in return for Texans

Former Notre Dame wide receiver Will Fuller excelled in his return from a lengthy absence with the Houston Texans, hauling in seven catches.

Former Notre Dame Fighting Irish receiver Will Fuller returned to the field for the Houston Texans after missing about a month with a hamstring injury, and the speedy deep threat picked up right where he left off.

Fuller hauled in seven receptions (on 11 targets) for 140 yards, including a 51-yard gain, helping lead the Texans to a narrow 20-17 victory over the Colts on Thursday Night Football.

The 51-yard gain travelled 59.4 yards in the air, the third-longest throw by air yards of the NFL season, according to Next Gen Stats

Fuller now has 41 receptions for 590 yards and three touchdowns through eight games this season, and has proven himself a crucial piece of Houston’s offense.

In fact, quarterback Deshaun Watson is much more dangerous with Fuller in the mix. He averages 62.5 more passing yards per game and 1.1 more passing touchdowns per game when Fuller is healthy and on the field.

Fuller was a beast at Notre Dame, hauling in 144 receptions for 2,512 yards and 30 touchdowns in three seasons before Houston made him a first round pick in 2016.

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