Seven Cougs make NFL active rosters

NFL teams finalized their active rosters and practice squads this week and nearly a dozen Cougars will begin the season on teams.

The NFL Cougars are headlined by Jacksonville Jaguars starting quarterback Gardner Minshew. Minshew begins his second season as the unquestioned starter.

Many Cougs begin the season in familiar places. Jalen Thompson begins year two in Arizona while Frankie Luvu (New York Jets), Joe Dahl (Detroit Lions) and Hercules Mata’afa (Minnesota Vikings) return with their teams from last season. Deone Bucannon will begin his first season with the Atlanta Falcons.

Dezmon Patmon made the Indianapolis Colts’ final roster and is the only WSU rookie to make an active roster for Week 1.

While they didn’t make it through cut down day, River Cracraft and Daniel Ekuale were added to practice squads on Sunday. Cracraft returned to the 49ers, while Ekuale will join Minshew in Jacksonville after being released by the Browns.

Andre Dillard remains with the Eagles, but will miss the 2020 season after being placed on Injured Reserve.

Anthony Gordon, Easop Winston Jr, Cole Madison and Shalom Luani all spent time with various teams during camp, but are not currently on rosters. This season, however, figures to be an active one for transactions and all four could get another chance this season.

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Football:

Former Coug WR Patmon makes final roster for Colts | Sports | lmtribune.com
Former Washington State receiver Dezmon Patmon made the final 53-man roster of the Indianapolis Colts on Saturday, but three other 2019 Cougars were among the hundreds of NFL hopefuls waived

Jaguars: Gardner Minshew enters season secure in his job at QB
It's night and day from a year ago at this time for Gardner Minshew as he begins the 2020 season as the Jaguars No. 1 quarterback.

Mike Pettway becomes third Washington State WR in as many weeks to enter transfer portal | The Spokesman-Review
Whenever Washington State does return to a football field, its wide receiving corps will look different than most expected it would earlier this year.

Local collegians, high school products added to NFL practice squads Sunday | SWX Right Now - Sports for Spokane, CdA, Tri-Cities, WA
Saturday came with discouraging news for various local college and high school products hoping for a spot on an NFL 53-man roster.

Baseball:

Olympia’s Haider, Tumwater’s Orr Commit to Washington State University - ThurstonTalk
Rylan Haider, Olympia High Schoo, and Ryan Orr, Tumwater High School, are incoming juniors who have both committed to Washington State University (WSU), giving the Cougars an early start on building a strong 2022 recruiting class.