North Dakota State Professional Athletes

Christian Watson Pulls Off the Impossible at Lambeau

Some stories don't need embellishment. Christian Watson, the North Dakota State product turned Packers wideout, left Thursday Night Football in an ambulance — broken rib, coughing up blood — and came back to deliver one of the most surreal individual performances of the NFL season.

The sequence unfolded in the first half of Green Bay's Week 8 showdown with the Carolina Panthers. Watson hauled in a 53-yard reception, absorbed a brutal hit, and was carted off Lambeau Field into an emergency vehicle for precautionary testing. By halftime, the assumption around the stadium was that his night — maybe his week — was over.

It wasn't close to over.

Watson returned to Lambeau in the second half to a thunderous ovation, stepped back onto the field, and proceeded to finish with 8 catches for 113 yards as the Packers held off the Panthers 27-19. He later revealed he had been spitting up blood on the way to the hospital. The diagnosis: a broken rib. The decision to return anyway was vintage Watson — and vintage Bison.

"Nothing can stop him," was the understated postgame vibe around Green Bay. Quarterback Jordan Love made clear the return left a deep impression on the entire team, and head coach Matt LaFleur echoed the sentiment. The moment went far beyond football — WWE's Triple H joked on social media that Watson needs entrance music, while Hall of Famer Paul Heyman posted his own reaction to the ambulance-return video that went viral across every platform.

Watson had also been productive the Sunday prior, catching 5 passes for 57 yards in a 20-17 loss to the Lions, making his week-long body of work — across two games, playing through a legitimate rib injury — genuinely remarkable.

Around the Rest of the Alumni

Watson was the dominant NDSU story this week, but two other Bison alumni saw action worth noting.

Hunter Luepke, the Cowboys' fullback and a fan favorite among the NDSU faithful, logged 3 rushing yards in Dallas's 38-21 Monday night loss to Philadelphia. The Cowboys' offense struggled as a unit, and Luepke's role remained limited.

Bryce Lance, the younger Lance brother now catching passes in New Orleans, pulled in 2 receptions for 12 yards as the Saints fell 16-10 to Pittsburgh on Sunday. Lance has flashed potential as a developmental piece for New Orleans, but the Saints' offense continues to sputter overall.

On the offensive line, Grey Zabel — the Seahawks' rookie guard out of NDSU — faces an interesting situation heading into the stretch run. Seattle's trade for All-Pro guard Quenton Nelson has pushed Zabel from left guard to right guard, a positional adjustment the rookie described as "such a growing experience." He remains in the starting lineup, just in a new role, as Seattle tries to maximize one of the league's more intriguing O-line experiments.

The week belonged to Watson, though — as it probably should. The NDSU alum didn't just play through injury. He rode back in an ambulance, walked back into Lambeau, and put up a box score that would've been impressive for a healthy man. That's the Bison way, apparently, and Green Bay is very glad for it.

The Watson Show Rolls On

Christian Watson is not just having a good NFL season. According to Sports Illustrated, he is on "a blazing pace that's second to none in NFL history" — and his Week 5 performance against the Chicago Bears was the latest proof.

The former North Dakota State standout hauled in 6 catches for 143 yards and 2 touchdowns in Green Bay's dominant 31-7 win, both scores coming on deep balls from Jordan Love. One of them — a spectacular sliding grab despite colliding with a defender — drew a raw, unfiltered reaction from teammate Javon Bullard in the locker room afterward. "That [expletive] was nasty," Bullard said, per Heavy Sports.

Watson's footprint on the season is growing by the week. He now ranks No. 4 among all NFL wide receivers in fantasy football rankings, per Sports Illustrated's Week 6 board — a reflection of real-world production, not just volume. The buzz around him has escalated to the point where Heavy Sports tagged him as a "dark horse" candidate for a major NFL award, noting that Green Bay has quietly built one of the league's most explosive passing attacks. Jordan Love, for his part, wasn't downplaying expectations: "There's more out there," he told SI.

For NDSU faithful, Watson is doing something that goes beyond any single Bison alum's NFL career to date — he is becoming a legitimate star at the sport's most visible position, on a nationally relevant team, in the middle of a historically efficient stretch of play.

Elsewhere in the NDSU NFL Diaspora

The week wasn't without turbulence for other Bison alumni.

Jayden Price, the Saints cornerback and former NDSU defensive back, was waived by New Orleans on the heels of a rough moment: he fumbled the opening kickoff of the second half in the Saints' loss to the Vikings — the same game, coincidentally, where fellow NDSU alum Carson Wentz was in uniform for Minnesota. The Saints moved quickly, signing a replacement cornerback within days, per Yahoo Sports.

In Philadelphia, Cole Payton — the undrafted rookie quarterback out of NDSU — is navigating an unexpectedly chaotic situation. With Jalen Hurts sidelined indefinitely due to a blood clot, Payton finds himself on an active NFL depth chart that now also includes newly signed Joe Milton. Per Sports Illustrated and Yahoo Sports, Payton is embracing the uncertainty, competing alongside Tanner McKee and absorbing the experience of a live NFL quarterback room under pressure. He's unlikely to see the field, but the development environment he's in is as real as it gets.

Meanwhile, Trey Lance in Los Angeles is not practicing at all — he landed on injured reserve with a groin injury, per Pro Football Talk, prompting the Chargers to sign Jake Browning. Lance's season is over before it meaningfully began.

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The headline in Bison Country this week is clear: Watson is operating at a level that separates him from every other NDSU product in the league right now, and possibly from most of NFL history at his current pace. The rest of the alumni roster is grinding through the league's unpredictable machinery — some rising, some falling — but the conversation begins and ends in Green Bay.

A Fargo Pipeline Runs Through San Francisco

When Marques Sigle went down with a high ankle sprain during the 49ers' 24–14 win over the Denver Broncos on Oct. 4, the team didn't have to look far for a replacement. Malik Mustapha — another North Dakota State product — is set to step into the starting safety role, a development that puts two Bison in the defensive backfield conversation on the same NFL roster.

Sigle's injury had a brutal twist: he initially left in the third quarter with a stinger, returned on Denver's very next possession, and then sustained the more serious ankle injury shortly after. He'll miss time ahead of San Francisco's matchup with the Seahawks, but the 49ers' coaching staff appears confident the defense won't miss a beat. Kyle Shanahan said he was "real excited" about Mustapha's opportunity, a vote of confidence that carries weight from one of the league's more demanding head coaches. Sports Illustrated's analysis backed that optimism, noting that Mustapha has a prime chance to reclaim a starting role and that San Francisco's defensive infrastructure can absorb the hit.

The storyline is a genuine rarity — two alums from the same FCS program not only on the same NFL roster but now directly linked by a single injury. NDSU's reputation as a safety factory is real, and this week it's playing out on one of the league's highest-profile defenses.

Trey Lance Heads to IR

Elsewhere, Trey Lance's turbulent NFL chapter took another difficult turn. The Chargers placed the former first-round pick on injured reserve ahead of their Week 5 game against the Broncos. Lance — who transferred the NDSU-to-NFL pipeline into national headlines when San Francisco drafted him third overall in 2021 — has struggled to find footing since being traded to Los Angeles. The IR move effectively ends his season.

Coincidentally, the Lance name is getting renewed attention in the league for a different reason: rookie wide receiver Bryce Lance, a Saints undrafted free agent and NDSU product, caught one pass for seven yards in New Orleans' 45–24 loss to Atlanta on Oct. 5. Bryce is carving out his own path, separate from the Trey Lance narrative that heavy coverage has linked them to — and at this rate, he may be the more active Lance in the NFL this season.

Watson Stays Consistent in Green Bay

Christian Watson continued to be a reliable target for the Packers in their 17–14 win over Tampa Bay on Oct. 4, hauling in three catches for 47 yards. It wasn't a headline-grabbing performance, but Watson's steady presence as a deep-threat option remains a key part of Green Bay's offensive identity.

Luepke Does What Luepke Does

Cowboys fullback Hunter Luepke logged touches in both of Dallas's games this week — two receiving yards in the win over Houston on Oct. 4, and five rushing yards in Thursday's loss to the Buccaneers on Oct. 8. Luepke's role is narrow by design, but his presence on a Cowboys offense searching for consistency is a testament to how NDSU fullbacks continue to find NFL homes.

The Bison footprint across the league remains wide. But this week, all roads lead back to San Francisco, where a high ankle sprain turned a depth chart shuffle into an NDSU showcase.