Mountaineers in the Pros: Former players making a mark in the NFL
Every offseason, West Virginia football puts former Mountaineers into the professional ranks, where these players go to show their skills on the largest stage of football, the National Football League.
This is a comprehensive list of every former West Virginia player making an impact in the NFL, which will be updated every week as games are played. Now that Week Eight of the NFL regular season has passed, here's every former Mountaineer who's active on an NFL roster, with some players growing into solid starters and others who are becoming stars.
-- LB Kyzir White & DL Dante Stills - Arizona Cardinals
White and Stills had big days against bolstering down the Cardinals' defense, and Stills specifically had a career game. The rookie defensive lineman had five total tackles with three solo stops, along with 1.5 sacks, one tackle for loss and two quarterback hits.
White also had a stellar game, leading Arizona in tackles with nine, including seven solo tackles and one tackle for loss in the Cardinals' 31-24 defeat to the Baltimore Ravens on Sunday.
-- QB Geno Smith- Seattle Seahawks
Smith had a shaky game for the Seahawks on Sunday but he did enough to grab a 24-20 win over the Cleveland Browns to lift Seattle to 6-2. The former Mountaineer signal caller had two interceptions, one off a tipped pass and another thrown into heavy coverage, but he did finish 23-for-37 passing, with 254 and two touchdowns.
-- LB David Long Jr. - Miami Dolphins
The Dolphins also improved to 6-2 on Sunday with a 31-17 win over the New England Patriots and Long made a solid impact on the defensive side of the ball for Miami. He finished the contest with four tackles, including three solo stops.
-- CB Rasul Douglas - Green Bay Packers
The Packers fell 24-10 on to their rival Minnesota Vikings on Sunday and Douglas made a modest impact in his solidified starting role in Green Bay's secondary. The former West Virginia cornerback, who had eight interceptions for West Virginia in 2016, finished the matchup with five total tackles and three solo stops.
-- LB Tony Fields II - Cleveland Browns
Fields was all over the place in terms of pressuring the quarterback and covering the field in Cleveland's aforementioned 24-20 loss to Seattle on the road, however he ended up only recording three tackles on the game.
-- OT Colton McKivitz - San Francisco 49ers
In two games this week, McKivitz and San Francisco suffered from two-straight losses to inferior opponents. On Monday Night Football on Oct. 23, the 49ers fell to the Minnesota Vikings 22-17 and only amassed 325 offensive yards in the defeat.
Then on Sunday, San Francisco came back home and were defeated once again by the Cincinnati Bengals 31-17, stifling McKivitz and the offensive attack to only 17 points but a strong 400 yards of offense.
-- OG Mark Glowinski - New York Giants
Glowinski started up front once again for New York but with multiple quarterback injuries this season, the Giants offense continued to struggle in Sunday's 13-10 loss to the New York Jets. The Giants were held to only 194 offensive yards in the low-scoring loss.
-- OG Adam Pankey - Dallas Cowboys
Earlier in the week, former WVU offensive lineman Adam Pankey was signed to the Cowboys practice squad following a recent release by the New York Jets. This is Pankey's sixth stop in the NFL since entering the league in 2017.
-- TE Trevon Wesco - Tennessee Titans -
Wesco participated in 50 total snaps in the Titans win over Atlanta.
Players who are rostered but did not appear or record a statistic in Week Five:
-- QB Will Grier - New England Patriots - Grier did not appear for the Patriots and remains the team's third quarterback.
-- CB Daryl Worley - Baltimore Ravens - Worley remains a backup defensive back.
-- WR David Sills V - Denver Broncos - he remains on the Broncos' practice squad.
-- OT Yodny Cajuste - New York Giants - Cajuste remains on the Giants practice squad.
-- WR Bryce Ford-Wheaton - New York Giants - Ford-Wheaton will miss the season for the Giants on the team's injured reserve with a torn ACL.
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