Louisville Professional Athletes

The NFL's Week 5 Ravens-Falcons matchup turned into an unwanted reunion for Louisville fans: two Cardinals were on the sideline instead of the field, and both were watching the same game.

The Jackson Injury

Lamar Jackson — the most decorated Louisville alumnus in NFL history — will miss Sunday night's Ravens-Falcons matchup after suffering what was described as an "unconventional" ankle sprain in Baltimore's Week 4 win over the Tennessee Titans. Jackson exited at halftime, left the stadium in a walking boot, and was officially ruled out Friday. It's the first game he'll miss this season.

The numbers from his final half of play underscore how much Baltimore leans on him: he finished with 222 passing yards, two touchdowns, and 20 rushing yards before Tyler Huntley took over. The Ravens are 3-1, but the gap between Jackson and anyone else on the depth chart is steep — Pro Football Talk noted Baltimore is a markedly different team without him, and the fantasy and betting markets adjusted accordingly the moment the ruling came down.

Abdullah's IR Stint

If one Louisville alum sidelined for the Ravens-Falcons game wasn't enough, the other team contributed one too. Atlanta placed linebacker Yasir Abdullah on injured reserve Saturday with a hamstring injury, knocking him out of the matchup and beyond. Abdullah had appeared in the Falcons' Monday night blowout win over the Saints — a 45-24 rout in Week 5 — before the hamstring issue ended his week.

The IR designation means Abdullah will miss at least four games, a significant blow for a linebacker still carving out his role on Atlanta's defense.

Around the Rest of the Cardinal Alumni

Elsewhere in the league, the week offered a quieter but notable moment for a few other Louisville products.

Tight end Mark Redman caught two passes for 29 yards in the Packers' 17-14 win over the Buccaneers on Sunday — a modest but meaningful contribution in a one-score game. Quarterback Tyler Shough continued his surprising run as New Orleans' starter, throwing for 286 yards and a touchdown in the Saints' 45-24 loss to Atlanta, showing enough arm to keep the conversation going about his role in the offense. Wide receiver Tutu Atwell logged a catch for 8 yards in the Rams' 24-20 win over the Eagles, staying active in L.A.'s offense.

And on the transaction wire, Panthers quarterback Jack Plummer drew interest from the Washington Commanders, who brought him in for a workout — a signal that his profile around the league continues to grow after his UFL MVP performance.

The Bigger Picture

The Jackson injury is the headline that will follow Louisville football through the next few weeks. He's the program's standard-bearer at the NFL level, and his absence from even one game feels like a gap. The Abdullah-IR news compounds a difficult stretch: two prominent Cardinals, the same game, both watching from the sideline. Louisville alumni have a presence across the league — but this week, the story was about who wasn't playing.

Tyler Shough Is the Story — Even in a Loss

Four touchdown passes. MVP buzz. A prime-time debut on the horizon. Louisville's Tyler Shough is doing things no one expected from a Saints quarterback in 2026 — and the football world is starting to pay attention.

In Week 3's 35-27 loss to the Raiders, Shough posted 255 passing yards, four touchdown strikes, and 36 rushing yards, doing everything a quarterback could do before a stunning four-turnover meltdown in the final 15 minutes buried New Orleans. The collapse had nothing to do with Shough's arm — the Saints went scoreless on four straight fourth-quarter possessions, including a strip-sack fumble and an interception — but the bettors weren't spooked. According to Heavy Sports, Shough's MVP odds saw a significant market move following the performance, a rare vote of confidence for a quarterback on a 1-2 team.

Now comes the real test. Shough is set to make his first career prime-time start in Week 4 against the Atlanta Falcons, a divisional rival with added historical weight. The Louisville alum addressed the media Monday with measured confidence, invoking Saints lore — the Steve Gleason punt block, the rivalry — without flinching at the spotlight. "He's not overwhelmed," per Sports Illustrated, and his connection with wide receiver Chris Olave appears to be growing by the week, with Olave publicly breaking down their developing chemistry ahead of the matchup.

One complication: fellow Cardinal alum Yasir Abdullah plays linebacker for those same Falcons, meaning Louisville will have skin on both sides of Monday night's line of scrimmage.

Also worth watching in New Orleans: cornerback Quincy Riley is dealing with off-field heat after a controversial play involving Raiders TE Brock Bowers in the Week 3 loss. Raiders fans are calling for a suspension after video of the sequence circulated widely — a subplot that could follow the Saints into their Week 4 preparations.

Lamar Jackson Keeps Finding Ways

If Shough is the rising star, Lamar Jackson remains the constellation. The two-time MVP went 186 passing yards and two touchdowns in Baltimore's 34-31 walk-off win over Dallas in Rio de Janeiro, adding 50 rushing yards as the Ravens manufactured a seven-second drive to set up a 56-yard game-winning field goal. Drama, thy name is Lamar.

The week wasn't without friction. Jackson was a no-show for the open portion of Wednesday's practice, triggering a brief fan frenzy in Baltimore. Head coach Jesse Minter later confirmed Jackson did practice, and the injury report listed only a minor limitation. His offensive coordinator, meanwhile, used the week to flag a "growing problem" in the Ravens' offense — though the solution, per Sports Illustrated, starts with Jackson himself stepping further into a vocal leadership role as his supporting cast continues to thin.

Around the League

Mekhi Becton is officially a Packer. Green Bay's sweeping offensive line makeover — which added Laken Tomlinson and veteran Kevin Zeitler — included the Louisville guard, a development Sports Illustrated graded positively for a franchise overhauling its trenches.

Yaya Diaby was a full go for Tampa Bay after missing Wednesday's practice with an undisclosed issue. The Louisville LB returned in time for the Buccaneers' Week 3 loss to Minnesota.

Chris Bell quietly put together a solid week for Miami — four catches, 67 yards — in a 24-10 loss to Kansas City, while Storm Duck made headlines for the Dolphins simply by returning to practice after spending the first month of the season on the PUP list.

Shough Outduels Jackson as Saints Stun Baltimore

The marquee Louisville alumni matchup of the young NFL season went to the underdog — and it wasn't particularly close by the final whistle.

Tyler Shough, the Saints' quarterback, upstaged former Cardinal and reigning MVP Lamar Jackson in a 24-17 New Orleans upset over the Baltimore Ravens on Sunday, Sept. 20. Shough finished with 252 passing yards, a passing touchdown, 23 rushing yards, and a rushing score — delivering a complete performance that had Saints beat reporters scrambling to update their stock reports. Jackson, by contrast, threw for 235 yards and a touchdown but was picked off once and couldn't manufacture the late-game magic that has defined his Ravens career, finishing with 34 rushing yards in a more muted outing.

The result flipped the script on what many expected to be a showcase for Jackson. Instead, it was Shough who commanded the moment — and the NFL took notice of how Baltimore's defense responded to being beaten. The league handed down fines to Ravens defenders Trey Hendrickson and Roquan Smith for separate hits on Shough during the game, a footnote that underscores just how much pressure the Saints quarterback absorbed while still orchestrating the upset. Ravens defensive coordinator Anthony Weaver, who had previously dismissed opposing signal-callers with a "poor man's" label, joked after the loss that he'd be retiring that phrase.

Saints cornerback Quincy Riley, another Louisville alum, also suited up in the victory, giving the Cardinals a two-alumni presence on the winning side of one of Week 2's best games.

For Jackson, the loss drops Baltimore to 1-1 heading into a Week 3 trip to Brazil to face the Dallas Cowboys — a game that had already been generating significant buzz before the Ravens stumbled in New Orleans. Despite the defeat, Jackson was characteristically loose in the lead-up to the Cowboys game, trolling Dallas's "America's Team" identity and drawing praise from opposing coaches who called him one of the league's premier weapons.

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Bailey Thrives; Bell Battles Injury

Elsewhere around the league, two Louisville alumni had divergent weeks.

Wesley Bailey, the 25-year-old undrafted rookie linebacker with the Rams, continues to make the most of an expanded opportunity in Los Angeles. With star edge rusher Myles Garrett sidelined, Bailey recorded a sack in the Rams' dominant 28-6 blowout of the Giants on Monday night. Head coach Sean McVay has publicly endorsed Bailey's role, and per Sports Illustrated, the Louisville product is outpacing former Ram Jared Verse — now with Cleveland — in production through the early weeks. Tutu Atwell also saw the field in that game, hauling in one reception for 19 yards.

Meanwhile, Chris Bell, the rookie wideout with the Miami Dolphins, is navigating a frustrating start. Bell was not credited with stats in Miami's Week 2 loss to San Francisco, and a knee injury setback has clouded his availability heading into Week 3 against Kansas City. The Dolphins are already dealing with the absence of Caleb Douglas, making Bell's health situation one to monitor for Louisville fans with fantasy implications on the line.

Shough's Week 2 performance has raised the stakes considerably for his next outing — a Week 3 home opener in New Orleans against an undefeated Raiders squad. The Cardinals' NFL pipeline is producing, and Sunday proved it can deliver at the very highest level.

Tyler Shough Writes His Name Into Saints Lore — Then Faces His Toughest Test Yet

Tyler Shough's 2026 season opener was the kind of performance that earns a quarterback franchise immortality — and a week of tough questions.

In his 10th start for New Orleans, the Louisville product torched the Detroit Lions for a career-high 410 passing yards and three touchdowns in a 31-30 heartbreaker, placing him alongside Drew Brees and Aaron Brooks in Saints franchise history. It was the signature moment of his young career. It was also not enough.

Shough threw two interceptions and committed another turnover — a career-high in turnovers — and the mistakes proved fatal in a one-point loss. The reaction was immediate. Critics zeroed in on the costly errors even as the yardage milestone made headlines, leaving Shough in the paradoxical position of making history while absorbing justified scrutiny.

The Saints now head to Baltimore for a Week 2 matchup that will test Shough in an entirely different way. Ravens defensive coordinator Anthony Weaver has already put the league on notice, offering a backhanded compliment that carries real weight: he compared Shough to Josh Allen — "a poor man's Josh Allen," Weaver clarified, but in a good way. The comparison centers on Shough's dual-threat ability and improvisational instincts, suggesting Baltimore views him as a genuine problem rather than a soft opening.

New Orleans, for its part, has been candid about the challenge ahead. Saints coaches acknowledged there's no clean formula for stopping Lamar Jackson — who torched Indianapolis for 364 total yards and two touchdowns in Week 1 — and have settled on a "hit him hard and stay disciplined" approach. Whether that's a strategy or a prayer remains to be seen.

Lamar Jackson Is Running It Back

Speaking of Jackson: the other Louisville quarterback in the NFL is making an early case for a third MVP award.

The Ravens star was masterful in Baltimore's 41-23 dismantling of the Colts, completing 17-of-25 passes for 324 yards and a touchdown while adding 40 rushing yards and another score on the ground. Nearly 370 yards of total offense in a new system, with zero growing pains. He carries a 25-3 career record against NFC opponents into Sunday's matchup with the Saints — a number that should give New Orleans's game-planning staff nightmares.

Around the Rest of the Cardinal Alumni

Elsewhere in the NFL's opening week, Louisville alumni had a quieter showing. Chris Bell made his Dolphins debut, hauling in one reception for 25 yards in Miami's 13-27 loss to Las Vegas — a modest but notable first step for the third-round pick. Quincy Riley suited up for the Saints in the Detroit loss, though his stat line went unrecorded. Ashton Gillotte was part of a Chiefs defense that rolled Denver 31-10 on Monday night.

The headline this week, though, belongs entirely to Shough and Jackson — two Cardinals quarterbacks, on a collision course in Week 2, carrying the weight of franchise expectations on opposite sidelines. Louisville's NFL alumni have never been more relevant at the game's most important position.