Pittsburgh Professional Athletes

Kenny Pickett Inherits a Mess in Carolina

It was never going to be a glorious debut. When the Carolina Panthers benched Bryce Young during Sunday's blowout loss to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers — a 43–13 shellacking — Kenny Pickett inherited the wreckage. The Pitt product stepped in and managed just 47 passing yards and 15 rushing yards in mop-up duty, but the story wasn't his stat line. It was the signal: Carolina is officially moving on from their No. 1 overall pick, at least for now, and Pickett is the man holding the clipboard-turned-starter's-role.

Pickett's path here has been winding — drafted by Pittsburgh, traded to Philadelphia, then signed by Carolina — but this is his clearest shot at a sustained starting opportunity since his Steelers days. The Panthers' season is already a write-off at 13–43 on the scoreboard Sunday, but for Pickett personally, the audition is real. Also on that field: fellow Pitt alum Patrick Jones II, who suited up at linebacker for Carolina in the loss but didn't register a stat line.

Jones II was back out Thursday in Carolina's Week 8 clash against Green Bay — a 27–19 Packers win — giving the Pitt-to-Panthers pipeline another look. The Panthers are not a good football team right now, but they're stocked with Pitt alum — which is either a recruiting testament or a commentary on roster construction, depending on your mood.

Aaron Donald: Still Searching for a Sack, Still Unbothered

Five games into his comeback from a two-year retirement, Aaron Donald has yet to record a sack. His response to that fact? Something close to a shrug. Donald has been characteristically direct in addressing it, offering a "that's football" truth bomb that suggests the seven-time All-Pro isn't losing sleep over the box score.

What the stats do show is that Donald's presence is reshaping the Rams' defensive interior. One beneficiary has been pass rusher Braden Fiske, who has been one of the hotter pass rushers in the league since Donald returned to command double-teams and attention. The trickle-down is real even when the sack column is empty.

Donald appeared in LA's 35–21 win over the Las Vegas Raiders on Sunday — a clean result if not a personally flashy one. At 33 and playing on what remains an unofficial comeback timeline, the standards are different now. But if his line is drawing blocks so Fiske can feast, Pitt's all-time greatest Panther may be doing exactly what the Rams need.

Fellow Pitt alum Konata Mumpfield also contributed in that Raiders game, hauling in one reception for 15 yards as a depth piece in the Rams' receiver rotation.

Around the League

Damar Hamlin is getting a starting nod for Buffalo's Week 8 home game against Baltimore after safety CJ Gardner-Johnson was suspended. The Bills are turning to the Pitt product — and Pittsburgh native — as "old reliable," per Sports Illustrated. It's the kind of quiet, steady role that defines Hamlin's post-cardiac event NFL chapter.

Gavin Bartholomew chipped in one reception for 17 yards for Minnesota in the Vikings' 16–10 win over Indianapolis, as Pitt's TE quietly continues building his NFL résumé as a complementary piece in Kevin O'Connell's offense.

Three Pittsburgh alumni dominated the NFL conversation this week — two in Los Angeles, one in Tampa Bay — and the stories couldn't be more different in texture.

Donald Looks Like Donald Again

The most compelling subplot in the Rams' otherwise grim season is unfolding in real time: Aaron Donald is rounding back into form. The Pitt legend's snap count has climbed steadily with each passing week, and against the Arizona Cardinals in Week 7 he looked, by multiple accounts, like his old dominant self — no small statement for a player who spent his college days terrorizing ACC blockers before doing the same to NFL quarterbacks for a decade.

The Rams lost to the Cardinals 18–16 to fall to 2–4, hitting what Yahoo Sports called "rock bottom," but Donald's resurgence was one of the few bright spots in the wreckage. He entered the week with clear intent, reportedly not mincing words about the expectations ahead of the team's matchup with Las Vegas. His ascending snap count suggests the coaching staff shares his confidence. For Pitt fans, watching Donald reclaim his edge — even on a stumbling team — remains must-see television.

Mumpfield Emerges from the Depth Chart

While Donald turns back the clock, fellow Pitt alum Konata Mumpfield is writing something new. The Rams receiver caught 2 passes for 15 yards against Arizona, modest numbers on the surface — but the context matters enormously. With Puka Nacua leaving practice with an injury ahead of Week 7, Sports Illustrated flagged Mumpfield as a top waiver-wire target in fantasy football, a designation that signals real opportunity in real football, too.

The Rams' injury situation at receiver has created a genuine path for Mumpfield to see expanded targets. For a player scratching his way up the depth chart, this is exactly the kind of opening that defines careers. Pitt fans tracking the waiver wire should be watching closely.

Kancey Gets His Vindication

The strangest story of the week involving a Pitt alum happened off the field — and the NFL had to answer for it. The league admitted that a penalty called on Buccaneers defensive lineman Calijah Kancey in Week 5 was, in fact, committed by a Cowboys player. A Cowboys lineman put his hands in Kancey's face, and somehow the Bucs got flagged for it — and had the yardage stepped off against them.

The admission is an embarrassment for officiating, but it's a small measure of justice for Kancey, who has faced scrutiny this season. He enters Week 7 with zero sacks on a 1–5 Tampa Bay team that is already fielding trade-deadline questions about its former first-round pick. The botched call didn't help his stat line, but at least the record has been corrected.

Kancey's Bucs lost 26–19 to Pittsburgh — yes, the city that made him — in Week 7, adding a layer of irony to an already complicated week.

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Three Pitt alumni, three distinct NFL storylines: a legend's comeback, an underdog's breakthrough, and an officiating correction long overdue. The Panthers' pro pipeline remains as active as ever.

Three Pitt alumni made noise across the NFL this week — one for losing his cool on national television, one for stepping up off the field, and one poised to step up on it.

Aaron Donald, Retirement Hasn't Mellowed Him Out

Aaron Donald made his presence felt on Monday Night Football in all the wrong ways. The former Rams defensive tackle — now retired but still serving in a team capacity — was caught on video in a heated scuffle with Bills guard O'Cyrus Torrence during Buffalo's 37-34 win over Los Angeles. Footage showed Donald grabbing Torrence by the facemask, and the altercation quickly spread to involve multiple Bills players. It was a jarring image: one of the most dominant defensive players in NFL history, no longer suited up, still unable to resist the competitive fire that defined his career. The incident trended nationally by Monday night.

It wasn't Donald's only Week 6 headline — earlier in the week, the NFL fined Broncos lineman Quinn Meinerz for a social media post mocking a drug test notice, stemming from a Week 3 play in which Meinerz physically manhandled Donald on the field. The Pitt legend is clearly still a draw, for better or worse.

Damar Hamlin Steps Into a Bigger Role

While Donald was generating heat, Damar Hamlin was generating goodwill. The Bills safety — who became a symbol of resilience after his on-field cardiac arrest in January 2023 — announced ahead of Buffalo's game against the Raiders that he has been named to the NFL's 2026 Nation of Lifesavers Player Ambassador Class. The designation aligns with Hamlin's ongoing advocacy around CPR awareness and emergency preparedness, causes he has championed since his recovery. On the field, Hamlin suited up as Buffalo beat the Rams 37-34 on Monday Night Football, though he did not register individual stats in the box score.

Separately, reports indicate the Bills could be exploring changes to their secondary — a storyline that puts Hamlin's roster standing in a potentially uncertain light heading into the back half of the season.

Jason Pinnock Ready to Start for Giants

Across the league, Jason Pinnock is getting his shot. With Giants starting safety Tyler Nubin sidelined, the Pitt product is expected to step into a starting role for New York. The opportunity comes with some caveats — Pinnock himself was limited early in the week after being listed in the injury report with a concussion — but reports indicate he is trending in the right direction and should be available. Defensive coordinator Dennard Wilson's blitz-heavy scheme could give Pinnock plenty of opportunities to make an impact if he's cleared to go.

Around the Board

Pitt tight end Gavin Bartholomew had a productive Sunday for the Vikings, hauling in five catches for 33 yards in Minnesota's 23-13 win over the Saints. It was a quiet but reliable performance for a player still carving out his role in Kevin O'Connell's offense.

Jared Wayne, the 6-foot-3 receiver who played his college ball at Pitt, landed with the Dolphins this week after being claimed off waivers — beating out the Texans, who had also been targeting him. Wayne gives Miami a big-bodied option as the team looks to stabilize a struggling receiver room.

James Conner's future in Arizona, meanwhile, is cloudy. The Cardinals are mired in a four-game losing streak and have lost Marvin Harrison Jr. to a trade, raising broader questions about the team's direction — and where Conner fits into it.

Aaron Donald's Return Dominates the Pitt Alumni Week

There are comebacks, and then there are Aaron Donald comebacks. The three-time NFL Defensive Player of the Year — and the most decorated defender to come out of Pittsburgh — is set to return from a back injury for the Rams' Monday Night Football showdown against the Bills, and the buzz around Los Angeles is hard to miss.

Donald missed the Rams' Week 4 win over the Eagles on October 4, but head coach Sean McVay offered encouraging updates as early as the following day. By Thursday of the following week, Donald was back on the practice field, and by Friday he had removed all doubt himself. "No setbacks," Donald said, per Pro Football Talk. "I plan on playing Monday." The Rams' final Week 5 injury report confirmed it — he's active and ready to go.

The stakes make this more than a routine injury-report news cycle. This is a primetime matchup, Donald is returning from what was described as a back issue, and his statistical profile since coming back to the league has been quiet — four combined tackles, zero sacks through two appearances, according to Heavy Sports. But sack totals have never been the only way to measure Donald's impact, and Josh Allen is well aware. Allen delivered what Heavy Sports described as a "clear message" to the returning Pitt product ahead of kickoff, underscoring just how seriously opposing offenses treat Donald's presence on the field even when the box score doesn't reflect it.

Donald himself didn't come to MNF without something to say. He told reporters which NFL legend Allen reminds him of — a notable bit of pre-game theater that signals he's locked in and talking trash at full health. The matchup between the two-year retirement returnee and arguably the best quarterback in football right now is the marquee subplot of Week 5.

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Around the Rest of the Alumni Network

The week wasn't exclusively a Donald story. Pitt linebacker SirVocea Dennis was ruled out of the Buccaneers' Thursday Night Football matchup against the Cowboys, joining a significant Bucs injury list that also included Baker Mayfield and Antoine Winfield Jr. Tampa Bay fell 24-16 to Dallas, meaning Dennis missed a loss he couldn't help prevent.

Over in East Rutherford, safety Jason Pinnock of the Giants left Sunday's win over the Cardinals with an injury, per Yahoo Sports, adding his name to a lengthening Giants injury report that also saw him trending downward in practice later in the week, per Sports Illustrated.

On a lighter note, Colts guard Matt Goncalves made national headlines — just not for anything on the field. The NFL reversed recent fines handed to Goncalves and a handful of other players for celebrating touchdowns by pretending to drink a beverage. The league and players union agreed the gesture is, in fact, fine. Rounds on Aaron Donald, presumably.

The main event is Monday night, though. A Pittsburgh legend, a healthy back, and Josh Allen under center. Pitt fans have seen enough of Donald's career to know: this is exactly the stage he was built for.