Cougars in the NFL: Updated after the 2023 regular season

Cougars on NFL 53-Man Rosters

Tyler Allgeier, RB, Atlanta Falcons: After posting a thousand-yard season as a rookie last year, Tyler Allgeier might have expected to be the Falcons' lead back and a star in an otherwise dismal offense as a sophomore. Unfortunately, the Falcons' front office had other plans, taking Texas RB Bijan Robinson 8th overall in the 2023 draft. Even with Robinson taking away over half of his touches, Allgeier still had a solid season—he rushed 186 times for 683 yards and 4 TDs while catching 18 passes for an impressive 193 yards and a score. Allgeier's receiving ability was somewhat underused at BYU in my opinion, and he adds a nice dimension to the Atlanta passing game. Also noteworthy is that while Bijan Robinson fumbled five times and lost four of them, Allgeier never once fumbled for the second straight season. Allgeier got a raw deal this year through no fault of his own with the Falcons prioritizing Robinson over him, but he's made the best of an unfortunate situation and continues to produce when called upon. If he can keep that up, he's going to get a lead back opportunity with someone.

Zayne Anderson, S, Green Bay Packers: Somewhat surprisingly, given that he could barely stay on the active roster in Kansas City and never left the practice squad in Buffalo, Zayne Anderson seems to have carved out a backup/special teams role for himself in Green Bay. He appeared in ten games for the Packers this year, recording four total tackles in limited playing time. Nothing spectacular, sure, but he's maintained his roster spot throughout the season and will remain with the Packers heading into the playoffs. For a guy just trying to stick around in the league, that's not a bad season's work.

Chris Brooks, RB, Miami Dolphins: Chris Brooks is another player that I didn't seriously expect to still be on an active roster, yet here we are. Brooks has really impressed as a backup RB in Miami, appearing in nine games this season and recording 19 carries for 106 yards—an impressive 5.6 yard per carry average! Of course, that average is inflated substantially by an explosive 52-yard run he had against the Broncos, but still, he's made the most of limited touches this year. And for an undrafted rookie, that's the most important thing.

Brady Christensen, OL, Carolina Panthers: Of all the former Cougars in the NFL, Brady Christensen suffered perhaps the biggest letdown in 2023. That wasn't his fault—he experienced a season-ending injury in week 1 and watched the rest of the Panthers' disappointing campaign from the injured reserve list. Still, prior to that injury, he was an established starter for Carolina, and he is anticipated to resume that role when healthy.

Michael Davis, CB, Los Angeles Chargers: Since his breakout 2018 season, Michael Davis has had his ups and downs, just as the Chargers' fortunes as a whole have varied wildly. In 2023, he appeared in 16 games, starting 12 (a fairly standard total for him), and he recorded 62 total tackles (including a career-high 47 solo) and an interception. However, those numbers don't tell the whole story—Davis struggled in the Chargers' defensive scheme and was frequently targeted by opposing offenses, to the point where he lost his starting spot at one point and only regained it due to injury. Not all of these issues were his fault—the Chargers' defense as a whole was a miserable mess—but Davis certainly didn't help his future prospects. 2023 was the last year of his three-year contract with the Chargers, and he will become a free agent this offseason. It seems somewhat unlikely that the Chargers will re-sign him, and where his career will go from here is anyone's guess.

Blake Freeland, OL, Indianapolis Colts: Blake Freeland was seen as an intriguing prospect as a 4th-round pick last year, with crazy athletic measurables but a lack of polish. Over the course of the 2023 season, he established himself as much more than just a fascinating developmental piece—he became a regular rotational contributor for the Colts, appearing in 14 games and starting 9. While his starts were more due to injuries ahead of him than anything else, they're still a good sign—the Colts seem to reasonably happy with his production.

Jaren Hall, QB, Minnesota Vikings: Jaren wasn't expected to get major playing time this year behind Kirk Cousins, but Cousins' season-ending injury and poor play from the Vikings' other QBs led to Hall getting two starts. He was knocked out of his first game with a concussion, and benched at halftime in his second after a truly abysmal half of football. It's not the end for Jaren—he was only a rookie this year, and could very well mature into a fine NFL QB with the right development. But to put it bluntly, fifth-round quarterbacks are generally considered pretty interchangeable, and the Vikings might not need too much motivation to discard Jaren entirely.

Taysom Hill, All of the Above, New Orleans Saints: The 2023 season was a weird one for Taysom Hill. Saints head coach Dennis Allen didn't seem to know, for much of the season, how much, where, and even whether to give Taysom touches. Which doesn't make a ton of sense, given how successful the Saints are when Taysom has the ball in his hands—the team is 18-3 all-time when he gets at least 7 carries and/or receptions. Allen seems unable to understand that particular cheat code, with the result that Taysom had arguably the worst season of his year, if for no other reason than a lack of use. His future in New Orleans is unclear—Dennis Allen hasn't been let go yet and seems likely to get at least one more season at the helm for the Saints, which means that Taysom's production could remain limited next season. Unfortunately, he's not a free agent until 2026, so a potential hypothetical escape from Allen's regime and reunion with Sean Payton in Denver would have to wait unless the Saints decide to trade him.

Dax Milne, WR, Washington Commanders: Dax, like Brady Christensen, spent a disappointing 2023 entirely on the injured reserve list. His future in the NFL is murky at best right now—while he established himself as the most reliable (and coach-preferred) punt returner on Washington's roster last year, return specialists are often considered...well...expendable. There will always be talented, surehanded athletes queueing up to get a shot at the PR spot on an NFL roster in hopes of breaking into the league. Dax will have some tough sledding ahead of him as he fights to retain his roster spot.

Puka Nacua, WR, Los Angeles Rams: What Puka Nacua did in 2023 frankly defies superlatives. Even my most radical, blue-goggled expectations for his rookie season did not have him making the Pro Bowl, winning Rookie of the Week four times, and setting all-time rookie records for most receptions and most receiving yards. Fifth-round rookies just don't do things like that! Puka had a rookie season so remarkable that there is essentially no context for it in the history of the NFL. He established himself as the Rams' most trusted pass-catcher with Cooper Kupp injured, then surprised everyone by continuing his production basically unabated when Kupp returned to the lineup. And with Kupp's tutelage, Sean McVay's favorable offensive scheme, and a reliable QB in Matthew Stafford to deliver him the ball, Puka Nacua's future looks incredibly bright. He's already an established star as a rookie, for crying out loud! The sky is the limit!

Sione Takitaki, LB, Cleveland Browns: Having recovered from a nasty ACL injury that occurred in 2022, Sione Takitaki was back to full strength this year—sort of. The ACL was fine, but Takitaki struggled with minor, nagging injuries throughout the season. Still, he managed to appear in 15 games for the Browns, starting 7, and he recorded 66 total tackles, two sacks, and an interception. Takitaki will be a free agent this offseason, but before he can think about his future—be it in Cleveland or elsewhere—he will have to confront an exciting challenge that has come to be all too rare for the Browns: the NFL playoffs.

Khyiris Tonga, DT, Minnesota Vikings: In some ways, Khyiris Tonga's 2023 season was a little underwhelming. His 2022 campaign in Minnesota had generated a fair amount of buzz, and the coaching staff clearly liked him. Many, myself included, expected him to get more playing time and be a serious contributor for the Vikings in 2023. That didn't happen. The defensive staff that brought Tonga to Minnesota was fired in the offseason, and the new staff didn't seem as enamored with him—he played in 14 games, but started just two and generally got limited snaps. The Vikings missed the playoffs this year, and Tonga's future with the team is very much up in the air as he becomes a free agent this offseason.

Kyle Van Noy, LB, Baltimore Ravens: Bizarrely, the uber-talented and experienced Kyle Van Noy, arguably the best defensive player (from a college perspective) in the history of BYU football, spent the entire 2023 offseason and the first three weeks of the season out of the NFL entirely. Nobody would sign him. It's not entirely clear why, but the Ravens eventually made the most of everyone else's oversight when they added him to first their practice squad, and then their active roster, prior to week 4. Since then, he's appeared in every game for the Ravens and started three, and he's played like a man possessed. Despite missing the early part of the season, he's posted a ridiculous career-high total of nine sacks while recording just 30 total tackles—nearly one third of his tackles have been sacks this season. He's grown into an extremely important contributor playing the most effective football of his career on a very good Ravens defense that's headed to the playoffs. It's hard to beat that. KVN's been in the league for a while now, but he very clearly still has plenty left in the tank.

Fred Warner, LB, San Francisco 49ers: I always feel like I do Fred Warner an injustice in these updates, because there's never a whole lot to say. He's still arguably the best linebacker in the NFL—that hasn't changed since the last update I posted. He was just voted to his third consecutive Pro Bowl and is expected to be named First Team All Pro once again as well. He was ranked #15 in the NFL Top 100 Players list to begin the season, and has probably only risen from there after another sensational effort. Perhaps the only change of note in his role is that the Niners staff has recognized that his athleticism makes him surprisingly effective in pass coverage for a middle linebacker, with the result that he recorded a career-high four interceptions in 2023. At this point, Warner is indisputably the second-best NFL player ever to come out of BYU, and he has the top spot, and Hall-of-Famer Steve Young, in his sights.

Jamaal Williams, RB, New Orleans Saints: Nobody seriously expected Jamaal Williams to replicate his ludicrous statistical achievements of 2022 this year—certainly not after he voluntarily accepted a backup role with the Saints in the offseason. Even taking that into account, his 2023 season was somewhat disappointing. He recorded just 106 carries for a paltry 306 yards, and he would have gone scoreless on the season but for a controversial garbage-time TD against the Falcons last week. The Saints offense was awful this year, which meant that a backup RB had little chance of posting impressive numbers. Why would he choose this situation? Well, it may have come down to money—the Saints offered to increase his salary by $1 million a year. That's a lot of money. Where things go for Jamaal from here is unclear. Will he be content to get paid comfortably to back up Alvin Kamara on a dysfunctional Saints team? It's hard to say. But for one of the most irrepressibly likeable players in the NFL, one thing is clear: his impact on the locker room will always be positive, no matter what's happening on the field.

Zach Wilson, QB, New York Jets: The 2023 season was tough on Zach Wilson, to say the least. He struggled with injuries and inconsistency, not to mention the horrors of playing behind the Jets' Swiss-cheese offensive line, as he posted a mostly underwhelming campaign that saw him benched multiple times. But a ray of hope has appeared—it seems increasingly likely that the Jets intend to trade him, which means that maybe, just maybe, he can land with a team that actually has a reasonable chance of developing him and giving him a shot at success. That was, after all, Steve Young's blueprint—Young spent his first two miserable NFL seasons getting beaten into a pulp and lampooned as the ultimate draft bust on a horrendous Buccaneers team before landing with the Niners as a backup, and we all know how things went for him from there. Could Zach follow the same route? Maybe. But even if he doesn't turn into anything more than a modest, happy contributor on a decent team, it will be a major upgrade from the nightmare in which he's found himself in New York.

Cougars on NFL Practice Squads

Matt Bushman, TE, Kansas City Chiefs: Matt Bushman has had possibly the worst injury luck of any former Cougar currently in the NFL. Every time he builds up any kind of career momentum, it seems like he suffers a major injury. Still, he's not exactly living his worst life—his friendship with star TE Travis Kelce saw him celebrating New Years' Eve with none other than Taylor Swift, Kelce's girlfriend (oh yeah, and the most beloved singer of this generation). Whether or not he will ever make it to the Chiefs' active roster is unknown, but he's still got a contract for now, which is at least a start.

James Empey, OL, Tennessee Titans: Empey spent the 2023 season on Green Bay's practice squad, and was picked up by Tennessee a couple of weeks ago. So far, he hasn't spent any time on an active roster since being signed as an undrafted free agent by Dallas during the 2022 offseason, but he's managed to hang around practice squads with the Cowboys, Packers, and now Titans. Hopefully, he gets a shot at a rotational role soon.

Kaleb Hayes, CB, New York Giants: The Giants picked Kaleb Hayes up off waivers after the Jaguars let him go during final roster cutdowns in August. Hayes spent the entire 2023 season on the Giants' practice squad, and on January 8, they signed him to a reserve/future contract which will keep him on their practice squad for the time being. His freakish athleticism generated some buzz in Jacksonville during training camp; hopefully, it helps him stick around the league long-term.

Chris Wilcox, S, Los Angeles Chargers: In a similar situation to that of Kaleb Hayes, Chris Wilcox spent the entire 2023 season on the Chargers' practice squad after they picked him up off waivers when the Steelers dropped him as part of their final roster cutdown. And like Hayes, Wilcox was signed to a reserve/future contract by the Chargers this week, meaning that he will stay put for now. Since being drafted in the 7th round back in 2021, Wilcox has had a whirlwind of a career, spending time with Tampa Bay, Indianapolis, Arizona, and Pittsburgh before arriving in Los Angeles, all without ever actually appearing on an active roster.