Breaking Down the NC State NFL Players

The 2015 NFL season officially begins this week, and 17 former Wolfpack players are currently on NFL rosters.  Here’s a comprehensive breakdown of the NC State NFL Players.

Quarterback Philip Rivers is entering his 12th season in the NFL, and he has spent every single one of them with the San Diego Chargers.  This will be Rivers’ 10th season as the Bolts starter, and he has started in every single game over that span, which equals 96 regular season games, and 9 playoff games.  He has been to the Pro Bowl 5 times.  Rivers signed a 4-year $83.25 million dollar contract extension with the Chargers this offseason.

Career Stats – 3,025 completions, 4,678 attempts, 64.7% completion percentage, 36,655 passing yards, 252 passing touchdowns, 122 interceptions, 3 rushing touchdowns, and a 95.7 QB rating

Wide Receiver Jerricho Cotchery is entering his 12th season in the NFL, and his 2nd with the Carolina Panthers.  At one point this offseason, Cothcery was on the roster bubble, but after loosing Kelvin Benjamin for the season, that went out the window.  Cotchery signed a 5-year $8.015 million dollar contract with the Panthers last season.  He enters Week 1 as the Panthers #2 receiver.

Career Stats: 485 receptions, 6,138 yards and 31 touchdowns.

Defensive End Mario Williams is entering his 10th season in the NFL, and he has started every single game that he has played in since entering the league.  Williams is entering his 4th season with the Buffalo Bills, after signing a 6-year $96 million dollar contract back in 2012.  He has been to the Pro Bowl 4 times, named to the 1st Team All-Pro twice, and the 2nd Team All-Pro twice as well.

Career Stats – 293 tackles, 91 sacks, 19 pass deflections, and 16 forced fumbles

Linebacker Stephen Tulloch is entering his 10th season in the NFL, and he has spent every single one of them as a Detroit Lion.  This will be Tulloch’s 8th season as a starter for the Lions.  Tulloch missed 13 games last season after tearing his ACL in the Lions third game of the season.  He looks to be back to full strength, and is the starter going into week 1.  Tulloch signed a 5-year $25.5 million dollar contract back in 2012.

Career Stats – 835 tackles, 13.5 sacks, 25 pass deflections, and 5 interceptions

Linebacker Manny Lawson is entering his 10th season in the NFL, and has been a starter in the league every single season except for last season with the Bills.  However, he does enter this year slated as Buffalo’s starting outside linebacker.  Lawson signed a 4-year $12 million dollar contract with the Bills back in 2013.

Career Stats – 424 tackles, 23.5 sacks, 21 pass deflections, 3 interceptions and 8 forced fumbles

Kicker Steven Hauschka is entering his 8th season in the NFL, and this will be his 5th year as a member of the Seattle Seahawks.  Hauschka signed a 3-year $9.15 contract extension with the Seahawks last season.

Career Stats – 129 career field goals, 85.4% career FG percentage, 202 PATS, and a 98.5% PAT percentage

Linebacker Willie Young is entering his 6th season in the NFL, and this will be his second season with the Chicago Bears.  Young became a starter for the Lions back in 2014, and started 8 games for the Bears last year, tallying a career high 10 sacks.  Young’s position with the Bears has been up in the air this offseason, after they switched to a 3-4 defensive scheme, which bumped him from defensive end to outside linebacker.  He did make the 53 man roster, but is currently on the trade block.  Young enters Week 1 as a 3rd string outside linebacker.  He signed a 3-year $9 million dollar contract with the Bears last season.

Career Stats – 111 tackles, 16 sacks, and 9 pass deflections

Offensive Guard Ted Larsen is entering his 6th season in the NFL, and has started 47 games over the past 5 seasons.  Larsen is entering the final year of a 2-year $2.6 million dollar contract that he signed with the Arizona Cardinals last year.  Larsen enters Week 1 as the backup Left Guard.

Linebacker Nate Irving is entering his 5th season in the NFL, and signed a 3-year $9 million dollar contract with the Indianapolis Colts in the offseason.  Irving started the first 8 games for the Broncos last season before tearing his ACL.  He enters Week 1 as the second string inside linebacker.

Career Stats – 104 tackles, 2 sacks, 1 safety, and 2 pass deflections.

Quarterback Russell Wilson is entering his 4th season in the NFL, and he has started every single game over that span for the Seattle Seahawks.  In the offseason, Wilson signed a 5-year $89.14 million dollar contract extension with Seattle.  Wilson went to the Pro Bowl in 2012 and 2013.

Career Stats – 794 completions, 1,252 attempts, 63.4% completion percentage, 72 touchdowns, 26 interceptions, 98.6 career QB rating, 1,877 rushing yards, 6.1 yards per carry, 11 rushing touchdowns.

Offensive Guard J.R. Sweezy is entering his 4th season in the NFL, and he has started 34 games over the past three seasons, and enters once again as a starter at Right Guard this year.  Sweezy is entering the final year of a 4-year $2.2 million dollar contract that he signed back in 2012.

Defensive Tackle Markus Kuhn is entering his 4th NFL season, and he has spent all of them as a member of the New York Giants.  Kuhn has seen action in 29 games over the past three seasons, starting in 2 of them, and is slated to start for the Giants in Week 1.  He is entering the final year of a 4-year $2.2 million dollar contract that he signed back in 2012.

Career Stats – 28 tackles, 1 sack, and 4 pass deflections

Linebacker Audie Cole is entering his 4th NFL season, and he has spent all of them as a member of the Minnesota Vikings.  For the past two seasons Cole has been competing for a starting job, and in the most recent depth chart released last week, he finally had reached the starting lineup.  Between now and Sunday, there is a good chance that Cole finds himself in a backup role, because he has been in an intense position battle.  We will have to wait and see.  Cole signed a 1-year contract $660,000 for this year.

Career Stats – 71 tackles, 1 sack, and 2 pass deflections

Quarterback Mike Glennon is entering his third NFL season, and he remains the backup for the Tampa Bay Bucs.  Glennon has seen action in 19 games over the past two seasons, and has started in 18 of those.  He signed a 4-year $3.1 million dollar contract with the Bucs back in 2013.

Career Stats – 364 completions, 619 attempts, 58.8% completion percentage, 29 touchdowns, 15 interceptions, and a 83.7 career QB rating

Cornerback David Amerson is entering his 3rd season in the NFL, and he remains with the Washington Redskins who drafted him back in 2013.  Amerson started every game for the Redskins last season, but didn’t live up to the hype of his rookie season, and finds himself as the 2nd string cornerback entering Week 1.  Amerson signed a 4-year $3.85 million dollar contract with the Skins back in 2013.

Career Stats – 109 tackles, 17 pass deflections, 2 interceptions, 1 touchdown and 1 forced fumble

Cornerback Dontae Johnson is entering his second season in the NFL.  He played in all 16 regular season games for the 49ers last season, and even started in 3 of them.  Johnson signed a 4-year $2.6 million dollar contract with San Francisco last season.  Johnson enters Week 1 as a second string cornerback.

Career Stats – 34 tackles, 6 pass deflections, 1 interception and 1 touchdown

Defensive Tackle T.Y. McGill is entering his first season in the NFL with the Indianapolis Colts.  After going undrafted, McGill found a spot on the Seattle Seahawks this summer, and signed a 3-year $1.6 million dollar contract with them in May.  After an impressive preseason in Seattle, McGill was waived this past Saturday, and was claimed off of waivers by the Colts on Sunday.  McGill enters Week 1 as a second string defensive tackle for the Colts.