Which G5 And Below Players Will Be In The Buffalo Bills At Jacksonville Jaguars Matchup?

By Keith Allison from Hanover, MD, USA - Flickr

Wild card weekend in the NFL is here and now is a great time to take a look at the "small program" players that will participate in the upcoming games. We will start with the 3/6 matchup of Buffalo and Jacksonville.

Buffalo (17):

AAC (3):

• Dion Dawkins, LT (Temple): Starting left tackle. 11 starts as a rookie in 2017.
• Charles Clay, TE (Tulsa): Starting tight end. 49/558/2TD. 318 catches for 3,447 yards and 23 touchdowns during his career.
• Zay Jones, WR (East Carolina): Backup wide receiver. 27/316/2TD as a rookie in 2017.

MAC (1):

• Cap Capi, DE (Akron): Backup defensive end. 5 tkl, 1 sack in 2017.

CUSA (2):

• Jordan Mills, RT (Louisiana Tech): Starting right tackle. 16 starts in 2017. 66 career starts.
• Joe Webb, QB (UAB): Third team quarterback. 35 yards passing, 54 yards rushing in 2017.

MW (2):

• Eddie Yarbrough, DE (Wyoming): Starting defensive end. 34 tackles, 1 sack in 2017.
• Tanner Vallejo, LB (Boise State): Backup MLB. 4 tkl in 2017.

Sun Belt (1):

• Mike Tolbert, FB (Coastal Carolina): Backup RB/FB. 66/247/1TD in 2017. 696/2,649/34TD during his career.

Independents (1):

• Vladimir Ducasse, G (Massachusetts): Starting right guard. 12 starts in 2017. 42 career starts.

FCS and below (7):

• Colton Schmidt, P (UC Davis): Starting punter. 44.7 punt average in 2017. 44.1 career punting average.
• Colt Anderson, S (Montana): Backup free safety. 3 tkl in 2017.
• Ryan Davis, DE (Bethune-Cookman): Backup defensive end. 26 tkl, 3 sacks in 2017.
• Ramon Humber, LB (North Dakota State): Backup WLB. 89 tkl, 1 sack in 2017.
• Deon Lacey, LB (West Alabama): Backup SLB. 7 tkl in 2017.
• Khari Lee, TE (Bowie State): No stats in 2017.
• Cedric Thornton, DT (Southern Arkansas): Backup defensive tackle. 27 tkl, 2 sacks in 2017.

Jacksonville (15):

AAC (2):

• Blake Bortles, QB (UCF): Starting quarterback. 3,687 yards passing and 21 TD in 2017. 14,928 yards passing and 64 career touchdowns.
• AJ Bouye, CB (UCF): Starting cornerback. 56 tkl, 6 INT in 2017. Pro Bowl selection.  

MAC (2):

• Barry Church, S (Toledo): Starting strong safety. 74 tkl, 1.5 sacks, 4 INT in 2017.
• Blair Brown, LB (Ohio): Backup WLB. 15 tkl, 0.5 sacks in 2017. 

CUSA (1):

• Josh Walker, OL (MTSU): Third string left guard.

MW (2):

• Tashaun Gipson, S (Wyoming): Starting free safety. 64 tkl, 4 INT in 2017.
• Peyton Thompson, S (San Jose State): Backup free safety. 12 tkl in 2017.

Sun Belt (1):

• Montay Crockett, WR (Georgia Southern):No stats in 2017

Independents (0):

• None.

FCS and below (7):

• Keelan Cole, WR (Kentucky Wesleyan): Backup wide receiver, but second on the team in catches. 42/748/3TD as a rookie in 2017.
• Chris Ivory, RB (Tiffin): Backup running back. 112/382/1TD in 2017.
• James O’Shaughnessy, TE (Illinois State): Third team tight end. 14/149/1TD and 5 tkl in 2017.
• Donald Payne, LB (Stetson): Backup MLB. 13 tkl in 2017.
• William Poehls, OT (Montana): Third string right tackle.
• Chris Reed, OL (Minnesota State): Backup left guard.
• Josh Wells, OL (James Madison): Backup left tackle. 

Notes:

• Three of the five starters on the Buffalo offensive line are from the G5 (Temple, Louisiana Tech, Massachusetts). 
• Three of the four starters in the Jacksonville secondary are G5 (UCF, Wyoming, Toledo).
• Blake Bortles is one of 10 G5 or below quarterbacks to start a majority of the season for his team. 
• Undrafted free agent Keelan Cole is the only NAIA player to participate in this game and is second on the team in receptions as a rookie. 
• Including special teams, there are 10 starters in this game from the G5 and below. A case could be made the Zay Jones and Keelan Cole are basically starters despite being listed as #2 on the depth chart. 

Undrafted free agent signings

With many players from the MWC, MAC, Sun Belt, Conference USA and Independents getting overlooked, being an undrafted free agent is the best way to earn a spot on an NFL roster. As of 10:01 AM CST, this is the list I have of players from those conferences that signed UDFA contracts. Please let me know if any need to be added.

FCS Players in the NFL

Think a player has to go the FBS route to get a shot at the NFL. With scouting as detailed as it is in 2015, if a player has talent, he will be found. Just like these 187 FCS players that are currently on NFL rosters.

FBS Independent players in the NFL

Conference USA players in the NFL

61 players from Conference USA are in the NFL with Louisiana Tech (10), Southern Miss (8) and Marshall (8) leading the way. Every CUSA team expect Old Dominion has a player on an NFL roster.

Mountain West Players in the NFL

The Mountain West Conference is churning out players that end up on NFL rosters at an incredible rate lately with 106 MWC players on NFL rosters. Fresno State (17), Boise State (16), San Diego State (13), San Jose State (11), Nevada (15) and Utah State (12) all have double digit players in the NFL currently.

MAC players in the NFL

In honor of the combine and the upcoming NFL draft, here is a list of the MAC players in the NFL. Every MAC program has at least one player in the NFL with Toledo leading the way with 9 NFL players. In total, 64 players from the MAC are in the NFL.

What NFC West players are not from big five conferences?

The NFC has not been afraid to look at the non big five conference for talent and currently have 77 players from non big five conference programs including several pro bowlers. The 49ers have been rewarded on the offensive line with two multi-pro bowl linemen in Staley and Iupati as well as other starter Daniel Kilgore. Seattle has found several important role players in addition to All-Pro middle linebacker Bobby Wagner.

What NFC South players came from non big five conference football programs?

82 players on NFC South teams came from non big five conferences with New Orleans and Tampa Bay dipping into the wealth of talent the most. Several teams have multiple pro bowl players and a huge amount of young talent that could supply this division for several years to come.

What NFC North players came from non big five conference programs?

83 players in the NFC North came from non big five conferences with all four teams dipping deeply into the pool of players. The NFC runners up Green Bay dipped the farthest with 24 players on the roster coming from non big five conference programs.

What NFC East players came from non big five conferences?

The NFC East has an impressive 73 players on active rosters or injured reserve with Dallas, New York and Washington all adding 20+ players to that pool. The lone outlier is Philadelphia with only eight players from non big five conferences.

AFC West players not from big five conference programs

A total of 93 players from the AFC West came from schools that are not in the big five conferences. Nevada alone has two players on the Chiefs and the Broncos with Central Michigan and BYU also showing up well in the AFC West. Two basketball playing tight ends in Antonio Gates and Julius Thomas made their name in the NFL after going to non big five schools.

What AFC South players came from non big five conferences?

The AFC South is one division that benefited greatly by non big five conference players with 81 players coming that route. The Colts led the way with a staggering 34 players coming that route as important players T.Y. Hilton and Adam Vinatieri among others attended FIU and SDSU respectively.

What players in the AFC North came from non big five conferences?

One thing that stands out immediately is the lack of non big five conference players on the Bengals roster. The Bengals have 10 fewer than any other team in the AFC North with Pittsburgh having the second fewest at 17 players, There are more players from the FBS (MWC, MAC, CUSA, SBC, Indep.) than with the AFC East but still several players coming from the FCS, DII, DIII and other ranks.

Non-Big 5 Combine Participants

Camping in the NFC South

There are 55 players from the MWC, MAC, WAC, Sun Belt, CUSA, and Independents that made it to camp in the NFC South. Central Florida product Asante Samuel moves to the Falcons after previously being on the Eagles roster.

Camping in the NFC North

The MAC, WAC, MWC, Sun Belt, CUSA, and Independent teams have 62 players on NFC North rosters going into camp. The Packers have 5 players from the WAC on the roster (2 on offense/3 on defense).

Camping in the NFC West

The Mountain West Conference dominates the NFC West with 26 of the 61 players from the MWC, MAC, WAC, Sun Belt, and Independents.

Camping in the NFC East

The Sun Belt, CUSA, MAC, WAC, MAC and Independents are very well represented in the NFC East with 63 players going into camp.  20 of those 63 players are represented by Conferece USA.

Camping in the AFC South

The AFC North is predominately a Conference USA and MAC division. There are 20 Conference USA players breaking camp and 15 from the MAC. There area total of 65 players from the MAC, WAC, MWC, CUSA, Sun Belt, and Independent conferences.