Bulls in the Pros: NFL Season Wrap

Another NFL regular season has come and gone and many of the USF alumni in the league were major contributors for their teams. A couple of them are still playing and have a shot to win the Super Bowl.

We started this weekly wrap during the beginning of the year, but things got kind of hectic in USF Football world with a freefall final month to the season, the firing of a coach and hiring of a new one, so we’ve been pretty busy with that stuff.

However, here we’ll give a brief synopsis for each former Bull and how they fared in the pros in 2019.

Marlon Mack, RB- Indianapolis Colts

Mack showed flashes of greatness throughout the year and proved he’s the Colts RB1 moving forward. He rushed for over 1,000 yards for the first time in his career, which isn’t shocking considering it was his first season as the featured back. Mack could be rather feast or famine at some times, rushing for over 100 yards three times, but also ran for under 50 yards four times.

He finished the season on a high note, with two touchdowns in a loss against Jacksonville.

He missed two games due to injury and finished the season with eight TD’s and 1,091 yards.

Marquez Valdes-Scantling, WR-Green Bay Packers

MVS started the season off hot but cooled down rapidly toward the end of the year. He saw action in every game except one, and recorded a reception in 11 of them. In fact, he only grabbed more than three receptions twice on the season. In total, he caught 26 passes for 452 yards and two TD’s.

The highlight of the year for Valdes-Scantling was his week 7 performance against the Raiders. He caught two passes for 133 yards and a 74-yard touchdown.

He may have slowed down, catching only three passes for 19 yards in the last four games, but he has a chance to get hot again when the Packers take on the Fighting To Be Determined’s in the divisional round of the playoffs.

Jason Pierre-Paul. LB-Tampa Bay Bucs

JPP is probably the biggest-name former Bull in the NFL and considering his age and injury, he had a fantastic season. He didn’t play until week 8 because of a neck injury he suffered in the preseason. But when he came back, he proved he can still play with the best of them.

On one of the first snaps of his first game back, he got the first of his season. The 8.5 sacks he got in 2019 is the 4th most in his career, even more impressive considering he missed nearly half the season.

His snap count was lower than it was most years, hovering at around 50% for the season, but that’s expected in the 10th year of a pass rusher’s career.

D’Ernest Johnson. RB-Cleveland Browns

The Junkyard Dog survived the death of the AAF and earned a spot in the NFL with the Browns. He started out the year as the 3rd down pass-blocking back, but slowly saw his snaps decrease, especially when Kareem Hunt came back from suspension.

Johnson didn’t get a carry since week 2 and didn’t get a catch since week 5, though he was used on special teams consistently, even though he wasn’t always returning the ball.

He ended 2019 on a high note though, taking the opening kickoff 47 yards and added another 29 yards on a kickoff return later in the game.

Nigel Harris. LB-Tennessee Titans

Nigel was on the Titans practice squad for the majority of the season before getting pulled up to the active roster in week 16. He played 2 snaps and didn’t record a tackle in his one game with the Titans.

He was released after his one game on the 53.

Bruce Hector. DT-Philadelphia Eagles

Hector was on the Eagles practice squad most of the year, but he got called up and activated for three games, week eight against Buffalo and the final two games of the season.

Hector didn’t record any tackles or stats, and played 38 snaps over three games, most of which came in a blowout win over the Bills. He still gets to play a bit longer though, the Eagles won the NFC East and will play the Seahawks on Sunday in the Wild Card round.

Mike Love. DE- Buffalo Bills

Love was looking like he was going to crack the opening day roster in Buffalo, but got injured right before camp ended. Instead of releasing him, the Bills kept him around on IR, which says they probably think he can contribute on their elite defense next season.

Aaron Lynch. LB-Chicago Bears

Lynch was brought in to the Bears for depth in their LB corps and he gave just that. He saw snaps in every game and always saw somewhere between 20-30 percent of the snaps.

He finished the season with 2 sacks and four tackles.

Terrell McClain. DT-Oakland Raiders

McClain saw time with two teams this year, the Chiefs and Raiders. During his stint with the Chiefs, he played in two games and mde three total tackles. With the Raiders, he got into three games and made six total tackles.

He was released by Oakland on December 10.

Austin Reiter. C-Kansas City Chiefs

Reiter is the starting center for one of the best offenses in the NFL. He’s played virtually every offensive snap this season and will continue to in the NFL playoffs. Reiter was flagged eight times on the year, mostly holding calls. He also recovered one fumble for -2 yards cause he’s an #Athlete.

Reiter and the offense were the 5th best passing offense in the NFL and the 6th best offense overall, averaging over 28 points per game.

Kayvon Webster. DB- Washington

Webster signed with Wasington late in the year and saw action in two games, recording 7 tackles and 2 PBU’s. The Super Bowl Champion played 70 percent of the defensive snaps.

Mazzi Wilkins. DB- Tampa Bay Buccaneers

Wilkins was a long shot to stick around from the start of training camp, but he made play after play and found himself a spot on the practice squad. Eventually, he showed earned a spot on the active roster toward the end of the season.

He was activated in week 13 and played in the final five games of the season. Wilkins made three total tackles and contributed a lot for the Bucs special teams units.

Deadrin Senat. DT Atlanta Falcons

Although he made the active roster out of training camp, the former third round pick was a healthy scratch in all but two of the Falcons games.

Senat played 12 defensive snaps and recorded no tackles.