D-3 Players in the Pros

Ron Boerger · September 30, 2007, 05:24:45 PM

Jerheme Urban was activated by the Cardinals today for the first time this season ... tough matchup against the 3-0 Steelers ... caught one pass so far, 15 yds. Hoping that they take out Leinart and put in Warner again, Warner was much more effective passing the ball last week.

Edit: Warner came in, Urban caught a 20-yd pass on a third-and-16 to prolong a two-minute drill drive so two catches for 35 yds at the half.

Ron Boerger · September 30, 2007, 06:26:59 PM

Urban scored his second career NFL TD on the Cards' first drive of the second half, from six yards out. He ended the game, a 21-14 win, with five catches for 53 yds, 1 TD, and a tackle after one of the other WRs fumbled. Not bad when you figure (a) he hasn't played a regular-season game since 2005, and (b) his season high (before this year

) was seven catches.

K-Mack · October 01, 2007, 01:43:36 AM

Ron, I knew when I saw Urban's numbers you'd be all over this.

Ron Boerger · October 01, 2007, 09:36:21 AM

Quote from: K-Mack on October 01, 2007, 01:43:36 AM
Ron, I knew when I saw Urban's numbers you'd be all over this.

ROFL ... yeah, I was surfing yesterday when I thot, "why not look at NFL.com to see if they finally let Jerheme play". From reading a couple of stories, one of the Cards' starting WRs was out with a minor injury. It would appear that Jerheme has been bumped up from #6 to #4 on the depth chart. The #3 WR is also having a rough go of it and there's some speculation that Jerheme might be able to get the #3 spot. Arizona primarily runs a 2 WR set but #4 or (#3) is better than #6.

Ron Boerger · October 02, 2007, 06:38:12 PM

Today's update to the Cards' depth chart has moved Urban either to #3 or #4 WR. I had a chat with the guy who writes for the Cards' NFL site (interestingly enough named Darren Urban!) who said that even though he things Jerheme is already a better receiver that those guys are key special teams players and it will be hard for Jerheme to be activated at WR without injuries. Guess we'll have to wait and see!

K-Mack · October 03, 2007, 12:40:41 AM

Steve Breaston took a punt to the house to break a tie in the 4th of the Steelers game, so I'm guessing his job is safe.

And then you have Larry Fitzgerald, Anquan Boldin and Bryant Johnson who all play when healthy.

I think Boldin was deactivated the other day.

Who else is in the mix?

Ron Boerger · October 03, 2007, 11:40:25 AM

Boldin (who was injured last week, leading to Urban's activation) is #1, Fitzgerald is #2.

Bryant Johnson has been having a miserable year so far. According to SI.com he's caught less than half of the passes thrown his way this year with some drops. He is listed as the backup to Boldin, Urban is now shown as the backup to Fitzgerald. In four games Johnson has seven catches; he's been a 40-500 guy the last four seasons, last year he caught more long balls and had nearly 800 yards.

Sean Morey, the other WR (now shown behind Urban), sees a lot of time on special teams. Two catches in four games. Breaston hasn't caught a ball this year but as you say he is the feature return guy (KR/PR) and will be on the roster no matter what.

The Cards generally run a 2 WR set and only rarely go into four wide, so they generally leave a WR on the inactive list.

smedindy · October 03, 2007, 12:40:37 PM

Morey is a kindred spirit, since he's a Brown alum. Morey's also one of the best special teams players in the NFL. So he won't be deactivated.

They may go with six wideouts since Morey is only a WR in emergencies and Breaston is the return man. More and more NFL teams have roster spots for these uber-specialists. I remember when it was unusual to have a roster spot just for the long snapper, but now many teams have one and some now don't even mess with the facade of calling them a TE or a LB.

Ron Boerger · October 07, 2007, 04:23:15 PM

Smed: Cards historically only activate 5 WRs, at least that's been the pattern this year. Maybe they will change but then someone else will have to be inactive ...

Boldin didn't play again today so Urban did, three catches for 28 yds, long of 14. From the stat sheet they (both Leinart and Warner) tried him deep but didn't connect either time.

reality check · October 07, 2007, 11:05:31 PM

Ron

He also became the emergency backup QB when Leinart went down with his injury according to the radio broadcast out here today.

Ron Boerger · October 07, 2007, 11:39:41 PM

Yep, he was the emergency QB last week too - normally Boldin's role. Given that Jerheme hasn't played QB competitively since high school it's probably a good thing he wasn't pressed into service.

Ron Boerger · October 14, 2007, 07:18:05 PM

Not a good game for Urban today, I'm afraid. He had a couple of balls thrown his way deep, bobbled both of them, the last was a pass that would have gotten the Cards in position for a possible game-tying TD but instead was pulled out of the air by the defender for an interception. *&*&^*&^!!!

No catches on the day. His one catch (for five yards) was wiped out by a penalty the Cards elected to take.

Anquan Boldin probably comes back next week which may mean back on the inactive list for Jerheme. Given the Cards' QB problems that may even be optimistic (e.g. they might want to cut him to sign another QB). Warner was hurt today and Rattay played nearly the entire game.

EDIT: He caught a pass on the last play of the game, for 42 yards. Now I just hope it's not the last of his NFL career.

ovc00777 · October 18, 2007, 05:58:31 AM

I am sure the famous Joe Green from North Texas expected to land in a bigger college, but he did ok. And N. Texas is D1 and seems to be getting roundly thumped, so they are no better in most football fans' eyes than a lot of D3 teams. I bet there are a lot of pro players from small schools.

frank uible · October 18, 2007, 07:22:15 AM

My rough guess is that currently there are in the neighborhood of 12 DIII players on NFL game-day rosters and that no more than a small handful are members of their teams' starting 22. Of course someone could check the rosters for precise resolution of this question, but I ain't going to be it.

Ron Boerger · October 18, 2007, 10:51:29 AM

Quote from: frank uible on October 18, 2007, 07:22:15 AM
My rough guess is that currently there are in the neighborhood of 12 DIII players on NFL game-day rosters and that no more than a small handful are members of their teams' starting 22. Of course someone could check the rosters for precise resolution of this question, but I ain't going to be it.

Here's the list as of the first of this season:

http://www.d3football.com/faq.php?answer&category=General&id=30

QuoteAt the beginning of the 2007 season, here are the players who were on active rosters or injured:

Arizona: Jerheme Urban, WR, Trinity (Texas) - #4 WR, 9-123 1TD
Buffalo: Fred Jackson, RB, Coe - # 4 RB, no carries
Denver: Nate Jackson, WR, Menlo - TE on IR, 3-34 1 TD
Detroit: Tony Beckham, CB, UW-Stout - #5/6 DB, 1 tackle
Houston: Matt Turk, P, UW-Whitewater - starting P, 16 punts/44.5 yd avg
Kansas City: Michael Allan, TE, Whitworth - now on Chiefs' practice squad
Pittsburgh: Clint Kriewaldt, LB, UW-Stevens Point - #2 ILB, 5 tackles
Washington: London Fletcher, LB, John Carroll - starting MLB, 39 tackles, 1 INT

This specifically does not include practice squad players, of which there were a few at the beginning of the 2007 season: UW-Whitewater WR Derek Stanley (St. Louis), Ohio Northern LB Jason Trusnik (N.Y. Jets) and Salisbury CB Byron Westbrook (Washington) - all still practice squad

Interesting to note that the two starters are both long-term guys (ninth, tenth years respectively).