Tag: Jesse Luketa

Ji’Ayir Brown accepts Senior Bowl invitation

Ji’Ayir Brown will have a great opportunity to improve his draft stock in the Senior Bowl

The Senior Bowl has long been one of the best tools for college players looking to make the jump to the NFL to make an impact on their draft stock. Over the 75-plus year history of the game there have been 128 Penn State players to represent the Nittany Lions in Mobile, Alabama and this year they are adding another.

[autotag]Ji’Ayir Brown[/autotag] is officially going to Mobile, Alabama in January and into February to perform in front of 32 NFL teams as he looks to prove why he is worth the investment from a team. On Sunday, the Senior Bowl announced Brown had accepted his invitation to the 2023 Senior Bowl.

Upon coming to State College as a JUCO transfer, expectations weren’t really set for the incoming junior. It was the heart of COVID-19 in 2020 when he made the transfer but that didn’t stop him from making adjustments and making an impact right away.

His second year on the team in 2021 saw his biggest impact. Brown would end up being tied for the lead in interceptions with five and would be a member of the All-Big Ten team.

Brown would follow that up with strong final season in State College where he would emerge as an overall player making plays both in the run and pass game. He would end up totaling 145 tackles, 7.5 TFL, 3 sacks, and nine interceptions.

Brown now heads to Mobile as the first of potentially many Nittany Lions to be named to the Senior Bowl roster. Last year the team sent [autotag]Tariq Castro-Fields[/autotag], [autotag]Arnold Ebiketie[/autotag], [autotag]Jesse Luketa[/autotag], and [autotag]Jordan Stout[/autotag]. All four players would end up hearing their name called during the 2022 NFL Draft and the same can be said for Brown heading into the 2023 NFL Draft season.

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Jesse Luketa signed to active NFL roster

Jesse Luketa could be making his official NFL debut this weekend after being promoted to the active roster in Arizona.

This weekend in the NFL could mark the professional debut of a former Penn State defensive standout. [autotag]Jesse Luketa[/autotag] was signed to the active roster by the Arizona Cardinals this week amid some roster moves made by the NFC West franchise this week. Luketa could potentially make his official NFL debut this weekend as the Cardinals visit the Carolina Panthers.

The Cardinals announced the roster move with Luketa on Wednesday and confirmed Luketa was promoted from the team’s practice squad to fill a roster spot left open by the release of safety Deionte Thompson, who played mostly on special teams.

Luketa was drafted by the Cardinals with the idea of having him be a leader on special teams, so expect to see the former Penn State defensive star appearing on special teams duties for the Cardinals.

The Cardinals used a seventh-round draft pick to select Luketa, who played linebacker and defensive end for the Nittany Lions. Luketa signed his rookie contract with the team in May with a four-year deal valued at $3.7 million. Luketa, who hails from Canada, had also been drafted by the CFL’s Ottawa Redblacks in the 2022 CFL draft.

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Cardinals promote LB Jesse Luketa, release S Deionte Thompson

The Cardinals now have seven outside linebackers on the roster and only two safeties.

The Arizona Cardinals announced a couple of roster moves that will be a bit of a surprise. They released safety Deionte Thompson and signed rookie linebacker Jesse Luketa from the practice squad to the active roster.

It is surprising because it leaves the Cardinals with only two safeties on the roster and gives them seven outside linebackers.

The move could be for special teams but perhaps there is an injury to someone in the outside linebacker room.

With only two safeties on the roster, if Thompson clears waivers and is re-signed to the practice squad, he could be elevated to the active roster for the game this week.

Luketa was a seventh-round pick out of Penn State by the Cardinals this year. He stood out in the preseason and the team wanted to keep him on the active roster but didn’t have the numbers with some of the injuries they had.

Thompson, drafted in the fifth round in 2019, had been with the Cardinals for four seasons.

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Who are the experts picking in Penn State’s matchup at Auburn?

The experts seem to agree on who will be winning this weekend’s Penn State-Auburn game.

Penn State takes on Auburn for the second year in a row. The Nittany Lions came away with a 28–20 win last year at home for the white out. This year, they’re on the road to take on the Tigers.

So, who are the experts picking for the matchup this time around? Let’s take a look.

To start, ESPN is giving Penn State a 61.7% and Auburn a 38.3% to win the game.

Both teams lost key players to the transfer portal and the NFL.

Let’s start with Auburn. Quarterback TJ Finley was still on the team last year but he was backing up Bo Nix, who is now the starting quarterback at Oregon. The Tigers still have Tank Bigsby, but it’s worth noting he almost transferred from the program over the offseason.

As for Penn State, its biggest piece lost on offense is [autotag]Jahan Dotson[/autotag]. However, it brought in Western Kentucky transfer wide receiver [autotag]Mitchell Tinsley[/autotag]. And you could certainly make the argument that the offense is stronger this year. On defense, the Nittany Lions lost key players [autotag]Arnold Ebiketie[/autotag] and [autotag]Jesse Luketa[/autotag]. This will be another big test to see how well Penn State can adapt to the departure of those players.

Let’s head back to our predictions from experts. Heading over to College Football News, its experts have Penn State winning, 27-23, in another close one.

Lastly, we have the writers over at Athlon Sports. All three of its writers picked the Nittany Lions to defeat the Tigers on Auburn’s home turf.

Even though many of these experts have Penn State winning, they still predicted to be a close game. After all, Auburn only lost by eight points last year at Beaver Stadium. Will we see a similar score or deficit this year? Some of the experts seem to think so.

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Every Penn State player on an NFL opening day roster in 2022

Here is every former Penn State plater on an NFL roster to start the new NFL season in 2022.

The start of a new season in the National Football League is here and there will be a good amount of Penn State flavor throughout the league this season. Penn State will have the eighth most players on an NFL opening day roster this season with 34 players appearing on an NFL team’s 53-man roster to start the season (plus two additional players on injured reserve and another on the physically unable to perform list). In all, Penn State claims 44 players are on NFL rosters to start the year with the inclusion of practice squad players.

That includes nine players who were on the Penn State roster in 2021, including wide receiver [autotag]Jahan Dotson[/autotag], defensive end [autotag]Arnold Ebiketie[/autotag], and safety [autotag]Jaquan Brisker[/autotag]. Dotson is one of four Penn State players on the Washington Commanders, the most of any NFL franchise to start the season.

Former kicker [autotag]Robbie Gould[/autotag] continues to be the elder statesman of the Nittany Lions football family in the NFL. Gould, of the San Francisco 49ers, is entering his 19th season in the NFL.

Here is a look at every Penn State player on either an NFL team’s 53-man roster or practice squad at the start of the 2022 season.

Penn State snapshot profile: No. 36 Zuriah Fisher

Snapshot profile: Where Zuriah Fisher looks to improve in 2022 for Penn State’s defensive line

Going into the 2022 football season, Nittany Lions Wire will be looking at each scholarship player listed on the Penn State roster.

Over the preseason, each profile will cover where the player is from, how recruiting websites rated them coming out of high school, and what role they will play for [autotag]James Franklin[/autotag] this season.

The next player is Penn State defensive end [autotag]Zuriah Fisher[/autotag]. The Nittany Lions will have an intriguing room full of defensive ends and some quite big shoes to fill.

Their biggest losses there are [autotag]Arnold Ebiketie[/autotag] and [autotag]Jesse Luketa[/autotag]. Now, Penn State will look to fill those shoes next season, with Fisher hopefully being one of them.

Penn State snapshot profile: No. 46 Nick Taburton

Snapshot profile: Nick Tarburton could be in for an impressive year with the Nittany Lions.

Going into the 2022 football season, Nittany Lions Wire will be looking at each scholarship player listed on the Penn State roster.

Over the preseason, each profile will cover where the player is from, how recruiting websites rated them coming out of high school, and what role they will play for James Franklin this season.

Next up is defensive and [autotag]Nick Tarburton[/autotag]. Penn State‘s biggest losses upfront are [autotag]Arnold Ebiketie[/autotag] and [autotag]Jesse Luketa[/autotag].
Those are some fairly big shoes to fill, but it is certainly doable.
 Tarburton could be in for an impressive year with the Nittany Lions.

Cardinals LB Jesse Luketa’s salary, contract details, salary cap implications

Luketa, drafted in the seventh round by the Cardinals, gets a four-year deal worth about $3.74 million.

The Arizona Cardinals have signed seven of their eight 2022 draft picks. The first trio of signees was running back Keaontay Ingram, offensive lineman Lecitus Smith and linebacker Jesse Luketa.

Ingram and Smith were selected in the sixth round and Luketa was one of the Cardinals’ three seventh-round picks.

We know the details of their four-year rookie contracts, as the key numbers were shared by SI.com’s Howard Balzer.

Jesse Luketa’s salary, contract details

Luketa’s contract is four years and worth a total of less than $3.74 million. He receives a signing bonus of $77,012 and his salary each year will be the league minimum. In 2022, that will be $705,000 and it increases to $870,000 in 2023, $985,000 in 2024 and $1.1 million in 2025.

Salary cap implications

Luketa’s signing bonus will be a prorated charge over the four years of the deal, which $19,253 per year. That, added with his salary each year, will equal his cap hit.

His cap hits each season are as follows:

  • 2022: $724,253
  • 2023: $889,253
  • 2024: More than $1 million
  • 2025: Almost $1.12 million

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Jahan Dotson signs rookie contract with Washington Commanders

Breaking down the details in Jahan Dotson’s rookie contract with the Washington Commanders

Arguably the best wide receiver to come out of Penn State since [autotag]Bobby Engram[/autotag] has now signed his first contract as an official NFL player. [autotag]Jahan Dotson[/autotag] has reportedly signed his rookie contract with the Washington Commanders, the team that used a first-round draft pick on the former Nittany Lions wide receiver in the 2022 NFL draft.

According to Nicki Jhabvala of The Washington Post, Dotson signed a four-year contract valued at $15.05 million. That amount is reportedly guaranteed as well, making for a nice way to start breaking in that NFL bank account for Dotson.

Dotson received a signing bonus of $8.1 million from the Commanders. which will be paid out in even distributions over the next four seasons on top of Dotson’s base salary. That base salary will start at $705,000 for his rookie season in 2022 and jumps up to $1.3 million in 2023, then just over $2 million in 2024, and up to $2.75 million in 2025.

Dotson’s contract includes an option for a fifth year in 2026, and Dotson is set to become an unrestricted free agent in 2027.

Dotson is the third member of the Penn State draft class to ink his rookie contract with his new team. [autotag]Jesse Luketa[/autotag] just recently signed his rookie contract with the Arizona Cardinals, and [autotag]Rasheed Walker[/autotag] got the ball rolling with his rookie deal with the Green Bay Packers.

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ESPN not too high on future defensive outlook for Penn State defense

ESPN ranked the future defensive rankings. Where does Penn State rank over the next three seasons?

Penn State will have some new looks on the defensive side of the football this fall. After sending off four players through the NFL draft — [autotag]Jaquan Brisker[/autotag], [autotag]Brandon Smith[/autotag], [autotag]Tariq Castro-Fields[/autotag], and [autotag]Jesse Luketa[/autotag] — in the spring, the Nittany Lions will have some big shoes to fill in the fall. And with a new defensive coordinator, [autotag]Manny Diaz[/autotag], the fate of the defense is one to pay close attention to for Penn State in 2022. But despite all of the turnover on the entire defensive side of things, there are some good reasons to be excited about what the defense could be capable of doing this year.

But what about what happens after 2022? What might the Penn State defense look like in 2023, and again in 2024? ESPN took a look into its analytical crystal ball to see how the best defenses in the nation may stack up over the span of the next three seasons. And while things look pretty solid overall for Penn State, the ESPN ranking of future defensive strengths wasn’t particularly high on what Penn State will be doing on defense.

Penn State comes in at an otherwise respectable No. 17, matching its outlook in the 2021 version of this three-year window exercise. But compared to the rest of the Big Ten, Penn State has some catching up to do on defense.

Wisconsin has the best three-year projection on defense in the Big Ten according to ESPN’s ranking. The Badgers rank No. 5 overall in ESPN’s ranking, which is led by Clemson and followed by Georgia, Texas A&M, and Alabama before reaching the Badgers. Iowa has the second-best projection among Big Ten teams by coming in at No. 7, with only Notre Dame sitting between the Hawkeyes and Badgers.

Michigan checks in at No. 10 after an incredibly strong season en route to a Big Ten title in 2021. Just behind the Wolverines is Ohio State at No. 11 in ESPN’s ranking.

Penn State is the fifth-best Big ten team in defensive futures according to ESPN’s methodology here. No other Big Ten team managed to break into the top 25.

You can check out the entire future defensive ranking from ESPN with an ESPN+ subscription.

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