Fall may be the best stretch of the sports calendar, and for NC State fans, it’s also a reminder that the Wolfpack keeps showing up on Sundays.
By this point in the season, college football has moved through Week Four and the NFL is into Week Three, and NC State’s pipeline is still producing. Since Dave Doeren arrived in 2013, the Wolfpack has sent 30 players to the league, with at least one draft pick in each of the last nine years. Eighteen of those 30 drafted players are currently on NFL rosters.
Last season added two more names to that list: tight end Justin Joly, taken in the fifth round, and defensive end Brandon Cleveland, a seventh-round pick. Neither rookie has had much of a chance to leave a real imprint yet, but several other former Pack standouts are already making noise.
Jacoby Brissett is one of the biggest names in that group. Drafted in 2015 as Doeren’s first quarterback to reach the NFL, Brissett spent years as more of a steady presence than a headline-grabber. That’s changed over the last two seasons, and now he’s finally getting a chance to run with it in Arizona.
The Cardinals entered the year with uncertainty at quarterback after former star Kyler Murray was released and signed with the Vikings last season. That left Brissett and rookie Carson Beck, who led Miami to the national championship game, battling for the job. Beck brought upside, but Brissett brought experience, and he has remained the trusted starter.
He threw 23 touchdowns in 14 games last season and has picked up right where he left off. Through three games this season, Brissett already has five passing touchdowns, 652 yards, and a 70.1% completion rate.
Against the 49ers in his latest outing, he went for 280 yards, two passing touchdowns and one rushing touchdown. Arizona still lost, but the Cardinals put 30 points on the board and showed they have a quarterback who can move the offense.
Jakobi Meyers is carving out his own lane in Jacksonville. The wide receiver entered the league as an undrafted free agent with the Patriots in 2019, then played from 2020 to 2023 in New England before becoming the top option in Las Vegas. A trade sent him to the Jaguars during the 2025 season, and that move appears to have given him a better fit with Trevor Lawrence.
Jacksonville’s wide receiver hierarchy is still up for debate, with Parker Washington and Brian Thomas Jr. listed as the top names on the depth chart. But Meyers has been a reliable target early. Through three games, he has been targeted 10 times, dropped only one pass, averaged nine yards per catch and scored two touchdowns.
Bradley Chubb has been one of the standard-bearers for NC State in the NFL. The former Wolfpack star was selected fifth overall by the Broncos in 2018 and has stayed disruptive ever since. He was already a force when he entered the league, and that hasn’t changed.
Last season, Chubb posted 8.5 sacks for the Dolphins, tying for 20th in the league. Now with the Bills, he has 1.5 sacks through three games and is helping power a defense that already looks brutal to deal with.
At 6-foot-4 and 268 pounds, he’s still built to overwhelm blockers and get into the quarterback’s face. Buffalo also named him a defensive team captain ahead of the 2026 season, a nod to what he brings on and off the field.
Drake Thomas took a less direct path, but he’s made it work in Seattle. Like Meyers, he went undrafted in 2023, signed with the Raiders, and was then claimed off waivers by the Seahawks in the same season. The move stuck, and Thomas has turned himself into a dependable piece on one of the league’s better defenses.
He finished last season with 96 total tackles, and he’s already up to 25 tackles and a sack this year, including 14 solo stops. His first sack of the season came against the Patriots, when he worked through the line and dropped Drake Maye in the backfield late to help seal the win. So far this season, he’s been everywhere Seattle needs him to be, flying sideline to sideline and adding to the Seahawks’ pass rush.
Payton Wilson rounds out the group, and he’s fitting right in with the Steelers. After winning the Butkus Award as college football’s best linebacker in 2023, Wilson went in the third round to Pittsburgh. The fit has been obvious from the start.
Wilson plays with force and edge, using his 6-foot-4, 242-pound frame to track down ball carriers and hit with bad intentions. He’s already totaled 27 tackles in his first three games this season, putting him on pace for more than 150.
That kind of number is hard to project this early, but the motor is clearly there. Last season he piled up 126 tackles, 74 of them solo.
In Pittsburgh, Wilson operates like a quarterback on defense, reading the play before the snap and taking charge in the middle. His presence has mattered in stopping the run, and it showed against Cincinnati, when the Bengals managed only 83 rushing yards.
In Other News...
NC State Gets A Wake Forest Setup Fans Are Tired Of Seeing
NC States Week 6 trip to Wake Forest now has a familiar early start, with the ACC setting the game for noon on The CW. Its the kind of kickoff Wolfpack fans have seen far too often in conference play, the sort that turns a league matchup into a morning routine and leaves little room for any buildup once Saturday arrives.
The timing adds another layer to a game that already carries some recent history. NC State has won four of the last six meetings with Wake Forest, but the most recent home game in the series went the other way, and the Demon Deacons come in 3-1 under new coach Jake Dickert. For the Wolfpack, it is another chance to handle a rival that has given them problems in this spot before, even if the television slot is one they would probably rather avoid. [Read more 🡒]
NC States Louisville Game Plan Just Got Much More Complicated
Louisvilles preparation for NC State has taken an immediate turn, with head coach Jeff Brohm saying quarterback Lincoln Kienholz is a game-time decision after suffering an injury in the Cardinals recent loss. Kienholz has been an important part of Louisvilles offense, so his status adds a layer of uncertainty to a matchup the Wolfpack already had reason to study closely.
For NC State, the challenge now is less about one opponent and more about two possible versions of the same offense. If Kienholz cannot go, Louisville could turn to backup Davin Wydner or Briggs Cherry, forcing the Wolfpack to account for a different rhythm, different tendencies and a different kind of preparation right up until kickoff. [Read more 🡒]
NC State Had Several Players Step Up When This Game Got Tight
NC State got the kind of win that can settle a team down for a week, even if it took a little more work than it appeared it might early on. The Wolfpack beat App State 41-31 and moved back to .500, with several players making sure the night did not turn into one of those frustrating losses where a lead slips away and nobody can quite stop the momentum.
Keenan Jackson, Popo Aguirre, Jackson Vick, CJ Bailey and Duke Scott all had a hand in keeping the game pointed NC States way when App State pushed back late. It was the sort of effort the Pack will want to bottle going forward, because the margin tightened, the pressure rose and the game still ended with NC State finding enough answers on both sides to finish the job. [Read more 🡒]