Virginia Tech Professional Athletes

Virginia Tech alumni are scattered across NFL rosters in various states of security this week — and for several Hokies, the news heading into cutdown day is anything but comfortable.

Blackshear Lands on IR in Detroit

Running back Raheem Blackshear's bid to crack the Lions' backfield is over before the regular season begins. Detroit placed Blackshear on injured reserve Monday alongside wide receiver Cedrick Wilson, ending his preseason push. The Lions signed replacements to fill the roster spots. It's a tough break for Blackshear, who now faces the prospect of missing time at minimum under standard IR rules.

Smith Cut Loose in Denver

The Broncos parted ways with center Lecitus Smith, per DNVR's Zac Stevens. The roster move adds urgency to Smith's situation: a free-agent stint heading into final cutdowns is a precarious place to be, and Denver's depth decisions leave him searching for a new home at one of the most competitive windows of the NFL calendar. Smith will need to catch on elsewhere quickly if he hopes to be active for Week 1.

Taylor vs. McCord: Green Bay's Most Interesting Battle

The most compelling Virginia Tech subplot this week belongs to Tyrod Taylor, who is locked in a genuine competition for the Packers' backup quarterback job against rookie Kyle McCord. With Jordan Love firmly entrenched as the starter, the QB2 role is the last meaningful roster question Green Bay will answer before cutdowns.

The case for Taylor is experience — the veteran has started games for multiple NFL franchises and provides a known commodity in a crisis. The case against him is mobility and upside; Taylor is no longer the dual-threat weapon that once made him a starter in Buffalo and Cleveland. McCord, meanwhile, brings youth and a higher ceiling, but the rookie's inexperience in reading NFL defenses remains a legitimate concern.

Fan reaction and analyst takes on the Packers' internal debate suggest the decision could go either way, making this one of the more genuinely unresolved backup battles in the league heading into the final preseason weekend. Taylor's Hokie pedigree gives Virginia Tech fans a reason to watch Green Bay closely — and a rooting interest in how this shakes out.

Tuten Carving Out a Role in Jacksonville

On a more encouraging note, Jaguars head coach Liam Coen addressed how Jacksonville plans to deploy running backs Bhayshul Tuten and Chris Rodriguez Jr. this season, signaling that neither back will dominate the workload outright. Coen's comments suggest a split backfield approach, which keeps the door open for Tuten — another Virginia Tech product — to carve out meaningful snaps as a second-year player. For a Hokies fan base that watched Tuten flash last season, the promise of a real role is worth tracking.

Between Blackshear's IR stint, Smith's release, and Taylor's position battle, it's a week that underscores how thin the margin is between an NFL roster spot and the street — regardless of where you went to college.

Virginia Tech in the NFL | Aug. 16–22, 2026

Herbert's Wild Week in San Francisco

No Virginia Tech alum had a more eventful seven days than Khalil Herbert — and it wasn't exactly by design.

The running back was released by the 49ers earlier in the week, barely two weeks after San Francisco had signed him. For a moment, Herbert's stint with the team looked like a footnote — a brief audition that didn't pan out. Then the backfield math changed.

Patrick Taylor Jr. was placed on injured reserve, and the 49ers turned right back around and re-signed Herbert to fill the void. Just like that, a cut became a roster spot.

The move slots Herbert into a crowded but suddenly reshuffled San Francisco backfield. With Christian McCaffrey also unavailable for the team's upcoming preseason action, San Francisco's RB room will lean on Kaelon Black, Sincere McCormick, Zamir White — and now Herbert — to carry the load. That's a meaningful opportunity to make a case for the 53-man roster heading into the final stretch of the preseason.

Herbert knows how to navigate this kind of uncertainty. The Virginia Tech product has bounced between opportunities throughout his NFL career, consistently finding ways to stick when given a second look. Getting cut and re-signed within the same week is a jarring sequence, but emerging from it with a roster spot — and a backfield vacancy opened up ahead of him — is about as good an outcome as he could have hoped for.

Tuten's Role in Jacksonville Under the Microscope

Elsewhere, fellow Hokie Bhayshul Tuten is navigating his own backfield competition in Jacksonville. A report this week raised legitimate questions about whether Tuten or Chris Rodriguez Jr. will function as the Jaguars' RB1 as the preseason winds down — a sign that the pecking order isn't yet settled. The implication is that Tuten's grip on the top spot isn't guaranteed, even as he enters the year with the early-down pedigree to compete for it.

For Hokie fans tracking both backs, the parallel storylines are hard to miss: two Virginia Tech running backs, two uncertain backfield situations, both trying to carve out clearly defined roles before the regular season arrives.

The Bigger Picture

The Herbert saga is the kind of story that gets lost in the churn of late-summer roster moves but carries real stakes for the player involved. Being released and re-signed in the span of days isn't uncommon during the preseason — teams are juggling depth, injuries, and scheme fits in real time — but it's rarely comfortable from the player's perspective.

Herbert lands back on his feet, roster spot in hand, with a cleaner path to carries than he had before Taylor's injury. For a Hokie alum trying to earn a role on one of the NFC's most scrutinized rosters, that's a week worth writing home about.

Virginia Tech's NFL alumni are making early statements in the 2026 preseason, with safety Jessie Bates III and kicker Joey Slye each turning in performances that have their respective franchises feeling good about the season ahead.

Bates Anchors Atlanta's Bid for Defensive Dominance

In Atlanta, the Falcons aren't being shy about their ambitions for the secondary. The organization believes it has assembled the NFL's best safety tandem, pairing Bates III with rising star Xavier Watts — and the boldness of that claim isn't just coming from the front office. Falcons linebacker Divine Deablo, himself a Virginia Tech product, has been vocal about the duo's potential to reshape Atlanta's defense into one of the league's most dangerous playmaking units.

Bates, the veteran anchor of the pairing, is tasked with providing the steadying force while Watts continues his ascent. The Falcons are betting the tandem can drive a significant uptick in turnovers — a focal point of the team's defensive identity heading into 2026. The fact that a fellow Hokie in Deablo is already hyping the group from the inside adds a layer of Blacksburg flavor to Atlanta's secondary.

Slye Goes Perfect for Tennessee

In Nashville, Joey Slye delivered the kind of efficient, pressure-free preseason outing kickers dream about. The Virginia Tech alum went a perfect 4-for-4 on field goal attempts as the Titans knocked off the San Francisco 49ers 19-13, with Slye's boot accounting for 12 of Tennessee's 19 points. In a game where the Titans' offense was otherwise doing just enough to win, Slye was the model of reliability — and in a position group where competition and roster cuts are always looming, that kind of performance carries real weight.

Tony Pollard added a rushing touchdown to round out the Titans' scoring, but it was Slye's consistency that gave Tennessee the cushion it needed to hold off San Francisco.

The Bigger Hokie Picture

Beyond the headliners, Virginia Tech continues to place alumni across the league in meaningful roles. Divine Deablo figures into Atlanta's linebacker corps as the Falcons build their defensive identity. The Hokies' pipeline remains one of the more quietly productive in the sport — spread across rosters from the Raiders to the Vikings to the Commanders, with players at premium positions on both sides of the ball.

But this week belonged to Bates and Slye. One is being counted on to anchor a defense with championship aspirations; the other is quietly making sure his roster spot is never in question. Both are doing exactly what Virginia Tech alumni tend to do in August: show up, perform, and make the cut feel like a foregone conclusion.

Virginia Tech's NFL alumni list got a little longer this week — twice over.

Khalil Herbert signed with the San Francisco 49ers on Sunday, August 3rd, giving the Hokies a representative in the Bay Area backfield. Herbert, a bruising runner who spent his early NFL career with the Bears, joins a San Francisco offense that consistently ranks among the league's most run-heavy. The 49ers also made complementary moves the same day, signing defensive lineman Titus Leo and waiving cornerback Eli Apple.

On the other side of the NFC, Raheem Blackshear inked a deal with the Detroit Lions, joining a backfield that's currently operating without star running back Jahmyr Gibbs, who has yet to take the practice field. That depth need opened the door for Blackshear, a versatile back who has worked to carve out a roster role since entering the league. The Lions' need for warm bodies in the backfield gave him a timely opportunity.

Two Hokies, two roster signings, one week. It's a notable moment for Virginia Tech, whose NFL footprint remains impressively broad heading into the 2026 season.

The Herbert and Blackshear news comes against the backdrop of a Hokie alumni corps that spans nearly every NFL roster from coast to coast — from Christian Darrisaw anchoring the Vikings' offensive line to Tremaine Edmunds manning the middle of the Giants' defense to Kendall Fuller working the corner in Miami. Virginia Tech's pipeline to the professional level has been a quiet constant for over a decade, and this week served as another reminder of that depth.

For Herbert and Blackshear, though, the work is just beginning. Preseason roster spots are promises, not guarantees — both players will need to produce before final cuts to secure a place on their respective 53-man rosters. The 49ers and Lions each have competitive depth charts, and training camp competition will be fierce over the coming weeks.

Still, getting in the door matters. For Hokie fans watching the NFL landscape this August, there's plenty of reason to tune in to a 49ers or Lions preseason game and see what two of Blacksburg's own can do under the brightest lights in football.