Falcons vs. Jets: Seven players to watch during tonight’s preseason matchup on ESPN.
After pulling out a 27-23 win over the Detroit Lions in Week 1 of the preseason, the Atlanta Falcons will face off against the New York Jets on Monday night to conclude Week 2.
The game starts at 8:00 p.m. ET and will air nationally on ESPN. While it doesn’t look like Falcons rookie WR Drake London will play, there are a handful of starting jobs up for grabs and several players fighting to make the 53-man roster.
Here are seven Falcons players to watch during tonight’s prime-time preseason matchup.
A former lacrosse great catching a game-winning TD pass in the preseason? Yep.
There are many fantastic stories in the preseason. None may be better than Jared Bernhardt, who caught the game-winning TD pass from rookie Desmond Ridder in the Atlanta Falcons’ 27-23 victory over the Detroit Lions on Friday.
Why you ask?
Because two years ago Bernhardt was a lacrosse star at the University of Maryland.
He ended his lax career as the Terrapins’ all-time record holder in career points (290), goals (202), single-season points (99), single-season goals (71), goals in a single NCAA tournament (18), and points in a single NCAA tournament (24).
That earned Bernhardt the 2021 Tewaaraton Award, given to the nation’s best lacrosse player, equivalent to the Heisman Trophy in college football.
From Maryland, he ended up at Ferris State University, where he led the Bulldogs to a 14-0 record and rushed for three touchdowns in a 58-17 win in the national championship over Valdosta State.
Overall, Bernhardt passed for 1,322 yards and 11 touchdowns and ran for 1,273 yards and 23 touchdowns in 2021.
During his prep football career, Bernhardt totaled more than 4,000 all-purpose yards and 30 touchdowns over his final two seasons running the triple option. As a senior, he rushed for 1,457 yards and 12 touchdowns and passed for 751 yards and six scores in 11 games.
The son of Catherine and the late Jim Bernhardt, Jared comes from an athletic family. His father played football and lacrosse at Hofstra and later became a longtime collegiate football coach and later an assistant for the NFL’s Houston Texans. Two older brothers, Jake and Jesse, both played lacrosse at Maryland and were members of the 2018 USA Gold Medal Lacrosse Team who went on to play professionally in Major League Lacrosse and the Premier Lacrosse League.
He signed with the Falcons as a free agent at the end of April and that set the stage for his heroics on Friday.
Jared Bernhardt, who won the Tewaarton Trophy as the best lacrosse player in the country at Maryland and then led Ferris St. to a DII national title last year as a QB, is signing with the Falcons to play WR/KR, per source. Awesome story. pic.twitter.com/Pi7OXOJU7B
The list of prospects who have visited the Broncos ahead of the NFL draft includes OT Matt Waletzko, RB James Cook and OLB Nik Bonitto.
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Each offseason, NFL teams are allowed to host 30 non-local prospects at their facilities ahead of the NFL draft. We will be tracking the Denver Broncos’ top 30 visits on this page.
The draft will be held in Las Vegas from April 28-30. The Broncos currently own nine selections, including a second-round pick and a pair of third-round picks.
Jared Bernhardt was the best college lacrosse player in the country, then he transferred to a D2 school to play QB. He’s now a receiver/returner prospect for the NFL.
The Denver Broncos hosted former lacrosse player Jared Bernhardt on a pre-draft visit on Wednesday, according to NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport.
Yes, that’s right, a former lacrosse player.
Bernhardt (6-1, 189 pounds) won the Tewaaraton Award — given to the nation’s best college lacrosse player — as a fifth-year senior at Maryland in 2021. After that, he made a graduate transfer to Ferris State (Michigan) to play quarterback for their Division II football team.
Bernhardt completed 87-of-123 passes last season for 1,322 yards with 11 touchdowns against five interceptions. He also rushed 159 times for 1,421 yards and 26 touchdowns.
Bernhardt led Ferris State to a DII title in his only season of college football, defeating Valdosta State 58-17 in the championship game.
Before becoming a star lacrosse player in college, Bernhardt was a star triple-option quarterback at Lake Brantley High School in Florida. He ran a 40-yard dash in 4.70 seconds at Maryland’s pro day last month and he projects as a receiver/returner in the NFL.
Going from lacrosse to pro football is not unheard of — recent examples include center Jason Kelce, running back Alex Collins, wide receiver Chris Hogan, quarterback Kyle Lauletta and linebacker Micah Kiser, who played with the Broncos last season.
Bernhardt will likely go undrafted and he might be a college free agent target for Denver in early May.
The Nittany Lions’ first-half struggles continued this weekend, but Mac O’Keefe edges closer to D-1 lacrosse history.
Mac O’Keefe scored three goals, bringing his career total to 209 goals, as No. 19 Penn State fell to No. 3 Maryland, 17-10 on Saturday. The Nittany Lions drop to 2-5 on the season, while the Terrapins are 7-0 for the first time since 2014.
O’Keefe has put himself in second place in the D-1 record books. He needs four more goals to surpass former Duke star Justin Guterding, who scored 212 goals in 75 career games. O’Keefe has played in 62 games.
Maryland’s defense had O’Keefe locked down in the first half, which proved costly in the second quarter as the Terrapins outscored the Nittany Lions 7-2. Maryland scored four consecutive goals in the final seven minutes of the first half. One of those goals came from Maryland’s Jared Bernhardt to make him the school’s all-time leading goal scorer. Bernhardt finished the game with five goals and three assists.
History.
Jared Bernhardt is the all-time leading goal scorer at Maryland.
— Penn State Men’s Lacrosse (@PennStateMLAX) April 3, 2021
One highlight to take away from this game was the promising talent Penn State has to come for the next few years. Freshman Mac Costin found the back of the net in the fourth quarter to get his first career goal as a Nittany Lion.
