One Oklahoma rookie was at the center of a frightening scene in Week 6, but the early word out of Atlanta was encouraging.
Kendal Daniels, who spent the 2025 season at Oklahoma, suffered a neck injury during the Falcons’ game against the Chicago Bears. The linebacker went low on tight end Colston Loveland, then stayed down for several minutes before being helped off. He was eventually placed on a cart and taken to a local hospital in Atlanta.
The Falcons later posted on X (formerly Twitter) that Daniels was “alert” and had movement in all his extremities.
Kendal Daniels is alert and has movement in all his extremities. He was taken to Grady Memorial Hospital for further evaluation
After the 31-23 loss, Falcons coach Kevin Stefanski said the team had received “all positive news” about the rookie linebacker.
Daniels had already made his presence felt before the injury. He finished with seven tackles, including six solo stops, and added a tackle for loss. Through his rookie season, the fourth-round pick in the 2026 NFL Draft has 29 total tackles and 22 solo tackles.
Daniels’ path to the league runs through more than one Oklahoma stop. In his lone season in Norman, he posted 53 tackles and nine tackles for loss in 13 starts. He began his college career at Oklahoma State.
Elsewhere, another former Sooner delivered a key moment in a winning effort. R Mason Thomas didn’t fill up the box score in the Kansas City Chiefs’ victory over the Los Angeles Chargers, but he helped swing a critical sequence. Thomas got to Justin Herbert in the red zone and forced an incompletion, and the hit nearly produced a fumble before Herbert was able to get the ball out and avoid the turnover.
Thomas was on the field for 33 snaps and earned a 63.9 Pro Football Focus defensive grade. The former Oklahoma edge rusher has played 178 snaps in his rookie season after the Chiefs made him the No. 40 overall pick in the second round of the 2026 NFL Draft.
At Oklahoma, Thomas built a standout résumé over four seasons in Norman. He finished with 65 tackles, 25.5 tackles for loss, 17 sacks, four forced fumbles, three fumble recoveries and a scoop-and-score touchdown.
Deion Burks also had a notable day, turning in his best performance yet as a pro with the Indianapolis Colts. Against the Tennessee Titans, the former Sooners wideout caught two passes for 41 yards, including a 36-yard reception, and added one carry for seven yards in a 26-20 loss.
The Colts selected Burks in the seventh round of the 2026 NFL Draft. After transferring from Purdue, he spent his final two college seasons in Norman.
In the quarterback group, injuries and a bye week thinned the list. Baker Mayfield and Jalen Hurts were both sidelined, while Kyler Murray and the Minnesota Vikings had the week off. That left Caleb Williams as the only former Oklahoma quarterback in action Sunday.
Williams made the most of it, leading the Bears past Atlanta. He completed 30 of 36 passes for 305 yards and a touchdown in Chicago’s eight-point win. It was his first game back after missing the previous three with a leg injury, and he had already guided the Bears to the playoffs in 2025.
Williams’ college career in Norman lasted just one season, but it still left a mark. He became Oklahoma’s starting quarterback midway through the 2021 season before following coach Lincoln Riley to USC after that year.
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Oklahomas Texas Breakthrough Suddenly Looks A Lot More Fragile
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Kentucky did what gritty road winners often do: it stayed alive, kept pressure on, and made Oklahoma pay for turnovers at every turn. The Wildcats did not need to dominate the stat sheet to leave Norman with the result they wanted, and for the Sooners the frustrating part is how much the game felt there for the taking before the giveaways took over. [Read more 🡒]