Yesterday was the deadline for NFL teams to trim their rosters down from 90 to 53. Which Mountaineers made the cut?
While some Mountaineers made their respective rosters, other became what the people of the XFL would call “Player No. 54”.
If you know anything about the NFL, you know that making it to the NFL is hard. There have been roughly 27,000 players to ever play at least one NFL game, which is a little under half of WVU’s Milan Puskar Stadium capacity.
Let’s start out by looking at who did make their respective teams.
With them being projected starters with their respective teams, LB Kyzir White, CB Rasul Douglas, LB David Long Jr., OG Mark Glowinski, QB Geno Smith, and OT Colton McKivitz had no problems making their 53-man rosters.
Others that weren’t projected starters weren’t locks to make their respective teams but managed to stick around in a depth role.
LB Tony Fields of the Cleveland Browns made the 53-man roster. He was drafted by the team in 2021 and is projected to serve as a depth piece at linebacker.
TE Trevon Wesco of the Tennessee Titans made the 53-man roster. He was originally drafted by the New York Jets in 2019 and has also played for the Chicago Bears. He will look to serve as a TE2 with the Titans.
West Virginia’s two rookies in the NFL, DL Dante Stills of the Arizona Cardinals and WR Bryce Ford-Wheaton of the New York Giants, are on their respective team’s rosters. However, Bryce Ford-Wheaton is on the Giants’ injured reserve after tearing his ACL in preseason.
Dante Stills was drafted by the Cardinals in the sixth round of this year’s draft and will look to serve as a depth piece along the Cardinals’ defensive line.
Then you have the guys who did not make their respective team’s roster. There was a total of eight Mountaineers who were cut as part of roster cutdowns.
DB Daryl Worley was cut by the Baltimore Ravens. He has bounced around the league since being drafted in 2016.
WR Gary Jennings was cut by the Carolina Panthers. He has bounced around the NFL since being drafted in 2019 and has also spent time in the XFL.
WR David Sills was waived by the New York Giants. He had been with the Giants since the 2019 after being undrafted, primarily spending time on the practice squad.
OL Adam Pankey was released by the New York Jets. He has bounced around a little bit after being undrafted in 2017.
The three guys who were on the Pittsburgh Steelers, DB Kenny Robinson, LB Nick Kwiatkoski, and LS Rex Sunahara, were all released by the team.
When the Dallas Cowboys traded for San Francisco 49ers QB Trey Lance, it made QB Will Grier expendable. Grier put on a show in his last preseason game and is now being signed to the Cincinnati Bengals practice squad.
Like any of the other guys who were cut, they could now sign to a team’s practice squad like Grier did or wait for an opportunity to be called upon to an active roster.
They could also consider playing in one of the other professional football leagues like the XFL or the USFL. Gary Jennings and Rex Sunahara were previously in the XFL earlier this year and could consider returning to the XFL.
