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 Nine 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
Despite a day that led to a shutout and a 27-point loss to the Cleveland Browns, the Cardinals' defense was led by two former Mountaineers who are putting up numbers half way through the season. In the 27-0 loss to Cleveland on Sunday, White was second for Arizona in total tackles with seven, including three solo stops and a tackle for loss.
Stills has also maintained his starting role on the defensive front and came away with five tackles, two solo tackles, one tackle for loss and a quarterback hit.
-- QB Geno Smith- Seattle Seahawks
Against a stout Ravens defense, Smith struggled in his worst game to date as a Seahawks player, as Seattle fell 37-3 to Baltimore on the road on Sunday. Seattle finished with a pitiful 151 yards of total offense with Smith passing 13-for-28, for 157, one interception and one fumble. Despite not much help from his offensive unit as a whole, Smith struggled for the second-straight game in the defeat.
-- LB David Long Jr. - Miami Dolphins
The Dolphins faced off against the Kansas City Chiefs in the NFL's annual slate of games in Frankfurt, Germany early in the morning on Sunday, walking away with a 21-14 defeat despite a strong performance from one former WVU star.
Long finished the game with the team-high in total tackles at eight, including three solo stops in the defeat.
-- CB Rasul Douglas - Buffalo Bills
In a substantial trade deadline move, Douglas was traded from the Green Bay Packers to the Buffalo Bills ahead of last Tuesday's NFL trade deadline. Green Bay sent away the former WVU cornerback and a fifth-round pick to Buffalo in exchange for a third-round pick with just under an hour remaining before the deadline passed.
This made the Bills, a Super Bowl contender, the newest stop for this Mountaineer. Then, on Sunday Night Football against the Cincinnati Bengals in Douglas' first game with the team, he put together two total tackles and a pass deflection as Buffalo fell 24-18 on the road.
-- LB Tony Fields II - Cleveland Browns
Fields and the Cleveland defense dominated Arizona in the aforementioned 27-0 victory over the Cardinals and the former WVU linebacker was only able to record one tackle in the win.
-- OG Mark Glowinski - New York Giants
The Giants struggled once again as Glowinski and the offense only accumulated six points and 277 yards of offense in a 30-6 loss to the Las Vegas Raiders on Sunday. Glowinski has maintained his starting role in three straight weeks following his miss from the starting lineup.
-- TE Trevon Wesco - Tennessee Titans -
Wesco played in Tennessee's 20-16 loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers on Thursday Night Football and the former WVU tight end was primarily utilized as a blocker.
Players who are rostered but did not appear or record a statistic in Week Nine:
-- OT Colton McKivitz - San Francisco 49ers - The 49ers were on a bye week in Week Nine.
-- QB Will Grier - New England Patriots - Grier remains the team's third quarterback and is yet to appear.
-- CB Daryl Worley - Baltimore Ravens - Worley did not record a statistic against Seattle on Sunday.
-- WR David Sills V - Denver Broncos - he remains on the Broncos' practice squad.
-- OG Adam Pankey - Dallas Cowboys - he remains on the Cowboys' 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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