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BCSP NFL REPORT
Numbers up in NFL
LUT WILLIAMS
BCSP Editor
With a total of 14 players either on practice squads or on injured reserve, the number of players from black colleges on opening day NFL rosters jumped eight from 46 to 55 players in a review of NFL websites conducted by the BCSP this week.
The NFL regular season gets underway Thursday night (September 4) as the Super Bowl champion New York Giants host the Washington Redskins at the New Jersey Meadowlands. Conspicuously absent from the Giants' roster and from the list of black college players in the NFL this season is 15-year veteran defensive end Michael Strahan out of Texas Southern, who decided to hang up his cleats after winning his first Super Bowl title in last year's stirring defeat of the previously undefeated New England Patriots.
The retirement of Strahan coupled with the retirement of 13-year veteran NFL quarterback Steve McNair out of Alcorn State, who most recently played with Baltimore, brings to an end a glorious decade-plus of accomplishment and excitement from these two outstanding veterans. Both posted numbers that should qualify them for the Pro Football Hall of Fame. Left to carry the mantle as the most tenured black college player in the NFL this year is accomplished Green Bay Packers' veteran wide receiver Donald Driver out of Alcorn State, who is entering his tenth season.
In addition to eight players on practice squads and five on injured reserve, an unprecedented 13 rookies made rosters most on those practice squads. Those making active rosters included draftees Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie (Tennessee State/1st Round, Arizona), Kendall Langford (Hampton/3rd Round, Miami), William Hayes (Winston-Salem State/5th Round Tennessee) and Alex Hall (St. Augustine's/7th Round Cleveland). Jackson State wide receiver Jaymar Johnson, selected in the seventh round by Minnesota, was placed on the Vikings' practice squad.
Two undrafted SIAC free agents, DB Brian Witherspoon (Stillman/Jacksonville) and DE Curtis Johnson (Clark Atlanta/Indianapolis) made active rosters.
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