Former Baylor players are settling into their NFL roles as the season starts to take shape, and Josh Cameron gave Bears fans a reason to smile on Sunday. A few of Baylor’s biggest names from the 2021 Big 12 championship team are still showing up week after week, while Cameron keeps carving out a bigger piece of the Jaguars’ plans.
Cameron found the end zone again for Jacksonville, giving him three NFL catches so far and two touchdowns among them. The Jaguars have already leaned on him in multiple spots, and head coach Liam Coen has praised the way Cameron can help on special teams and in the red zone. There’s even been buzz from Jaguars fans about him moving into a WR2 role behind Parker Washington.
Terrel Bernard also kept rolling for Buffalo. After a slow start, the Bills knocked off the Chargers, and Bernard briefly left the game with what looked like a possible injury before returning and finishing it. He ended with five tackles and continues to anchor a strong Buffalo defense.
Jalen Pitre and the Texans, meanwhile, are still trying to find their footing. Houston dropped to 0-3 after losing to the Colts, and Pitre finished with two tackles in what was a fairly quiet day by his standards. He wasn’t creating the usual havoc for opposing offenses, and while the Texans’ offense has been the bigger issue, the defense hasn’t matched the level it showed last season.
Tyquan Thornton had a quieter afternoon for Kansas City against Miami. He caught two passes on two targets for 22 yards, and he’s still working his way back into the offense. With Patrick Mahomes easing back into the season after injury, Thornton remains a name to watch for the deep ball.
James Lynch turned in a solid, if understated, outing for the Bears on Monday Night Football. He made one tackle in a win while playing more than 50% of the snaps, and he did his part against a tough Philadelphia Eagles offensive line.
At long snapper, Ross Mastick and Jon Weeks were once again steady. Neither made a mistake, and both were part of wins for their teams. They continue to set the standard at the position in the NFL.
In Other News...
Baylor Is Turning McLane Stadium Into A Fan Experience Unlike Usual
McLane Stadium is set to take on a different kind of buzz later this month, with Topgolf bringing its Topgolf Live Stadium Series to Baylor University from Oct. 29 through Nov. 1. The setup will turn the football venue into a golf and fan entertainment space, complete with hitting bays, a watch party for the Baylor-UCF game, VIP football experiences and hospitality options that lean into the stadium atmosphere in a new way.
For Baylor, the event is part of a broader push by Topgolf to take its entertainment platform into college stadiums while supporting collegiate athletics and NIL programs. It gives the Bears another way to showcase McLane beyond game day, blending sport and social experience in a setting that is usually reserved for football first and everything else second. [Read more 🡒]
Dave Aranda Just Framed Baylors Biggest Competitive Problem
College footballs money race keeps getting harder to ignore, and Dave Aranda put Baylors place in it into plain terms this week. The Bears are investing heavily in their roster, but Aranda acknowledged there is still a gap between Baylor and the biggest spenders in the sport, a reality that shapes the margins on Saturdays and the kind of talent-rich opponents the program has to chase.
Arandas point was not just about dollars, though. He framed toughness as the trait Baylor has to lean on to keep competing when the financial terrain tilts the other way, a reminder that resource disparities are now part of the competitive math in college football. For Baylor, the challenge is not simply keeping up, but finding ways to win anyway. [Read more 🡒]
Dave Aranda Just Bought Himself Real Time At Baylor
Dave Aranda went into the season with plenty of questions hanging over him, but four games in, Baylor has given him something he badly needed: breathing room. The Bears are 3-1, a start that has outpaced expectations and put Aranda in a better spot than he was entering his seventh season in Waco. The broader picture still shows a coach with a slightly above-.500 record at Baylor, but the early returns matter, especially with the defense looking sharper under new coordinator Joe Klanderman.
Arandas situation also stands out because he is not alone in changing the conversation around his job. Wisconsins Luke Fickell, another coach who had been viewed as vulnerable, has also opened 3-1 and just picked up an upset win over Penn State that earned him Coach of the Week honors for week four. For Baylor, the immediate issue is less about long-term judgment and more about whether this early momentum can hold once the season settles into its tougher stretches. [Read more 🡒]