Reactivate your account for $1<\/a> <<<<\/p>\nHere\u2019s a further look into some of those standout performances from this weekend.<\/p>\n
Tez Walker Supplies Productive First Half<\/p>\n
It\u2019s set to be an important season for Walker, who\u2019s entering his second year with the Baltimore Ravens. Walker was selected in the fourth round of last year\u2019s NFL Draft, but played sparingly a season ago as a rookie. He caught just one pass last season and appeared in nine games. Last month, longtime NFL analyst Peter Schrager listed Walker as one of his five breakout candidates entering this year, along with quarterbacks Drake Maye and Michael Penix Jr., and receivers Jalin Hyatt and Calvin Austin III.<\/p>\n
Walker led the Ravens in receiving in its blowout win over the Dallas Cowboys on Saturday. He finished with six catches for 61 yards \u2014 solid production that all came in the first half. Walker logged 42 snaps against the Cowboys, the most among Baltimore\u2019s receivers.<\/p>\n
Cedric Gray Leads Titans in Tackling<\/p>\n
Gray is in his second year with the Tennessee Titans, an organization that still is amid the rebuilding process. Tennessee is led by quarterback Cam Ward, the first overall pick in this year\u2019s NFL Draft. Gray was selected in the fourth round of last year\u2019s NFL Draft, after finishing an impressive college career at UNC, where he twice was named first-team All-ACC.<\/p>\n
Gray got the starting nod at middle linebacker for the Titans in their preseason contest against the Falcons. And Gray racked up a team-high seven tackles on Friday, including one tackle for loss yardage and \u00bd sack. That sack came on a play where Gray blew up running back Jashaun Corbin in the backfield, before finishing the play by taking down quarterback Easton Stick. Gray also corralled an interception, but the play was negated due to offsetting penalties.<\/p>\n
Gray\u2019s competing for the starting linebacker spot with James Williams Sr. It\u2019s a competition that\u2019s still ongoing, and a role for which Gray is making a strong case here in the preseason, according to Titans\u2019 reporter Jim Wyatt. Both Gray and Williams worked with the Titans\u2019 first-team defense during practices last week, per Wyatt.<\/p>\n
Drake Maye Connects With Former Tar Heel<\/p>\n
There\u2019s a lot of anticipation for Drake Maye\u2019s second season in the NFL, after the former No. 3 overall pick flashed promising signs as a rookie. Maye finished last season with 2,276 passing yards, 15 touchdowns and 10 interceptions, and was a replacement addition to the Pro Bowl. During the offseason, the Patriots brought in new weapons for Maye, including fellow Tar Heel Mack Hollins. A former college walk-on, Hollins is entering his ninth season in the NFL and is on his sixth different team.<\/p>\n
The UNC connection was on display in New England\u2019s win over the Minnesota Vikings on Saturday. Maye played in just two series for the Patriots, but in that time connected with Hollins three times for 38 yards. Maye found Hollins for a pickup of 20 yards to convert a third-and-3 during the Patriots\u2019 second drive of the game. Six plays later, that drive was capped by an eight-yard touchdown run by rookie running back TreVeyon Henderson.<\/p>\n
British Brooks Finds the End Zone<\/p>\n
Running back British Brooks found the endzone from one yard out for the Houston Texans on Saturday. Brooks, a former walk-on at UNC who was signed by the Texans as an undrafted free agent, earned an unlikely spot on Houston\u2019s 53-man roster last season. He primarily played on special teams as a rookie, with 79 of his 88 total snaps played coming on kickoff or punt duty.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The NFL preseason churned along with its second full slate of games. Multiple former UNC players had an…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":76489,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[559],"tags":[64,63,593,85],"class_list":["post-76488","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nfl","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-nfl","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/76488","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=76488"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/76488\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/76489"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=76488"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=76488"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=76488"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}