Football
Handful of Former Illinois Football Players who made 2024 NFL Rosters

Today marked the day that NFL rosters made their final cuts toward a 53-man roster for the 2024 NFL Season. A handful of former Illinois football players are on different NFL teams. From recent draft picks such as Casey Washington and Kendrick Green to recent undrafted free agents such as Jake Hansen, and Del’Shawn Phillips, there seems to be a sprinkle of Illini flavor on many NFL rosters. With teams trimming down their roster, however, Illini fans’ ears were perked to see which players made an NFL Roster.
Excitingly, a handful of them did. The following former Illinois football players notably battled their way to a roster spot.
1) Jake Hansen, Houston Texans
#illini Kendrick Green, Jake Hansen and Del’Shawn Phillips all make Texans roster https://t.co/GnAXTwtwz3
— Jeremy Werner (@JWerner247) August 27, 2024
2) Isaiah Williams, Detroit Lions
3) Kendrick Green, Houston Texans
4)Doug Kramer Jr, Chicago Bears
5)Del’Shawn Phillips Houston Texans
6) Jihad Ward, Minnesota Vikings
7) Duwuane Smoot, Buffalo Bills
8) Alex Palczewski, Denver Broncos
9) Vederian Lowe, New England Patriots
Of the list above, Isaiah Williams is one recent former graduate who sticks out. Williams went undrafted, however, had many notable moments during the 2024 preseason. Detroit Lions Head Coach, Dan Campbell, praised Williams for his work ethic and reliability. Williams joins fellow former Illini, Kerby Joseph, on the Detroit Lions roster. Additionally, seeing recent grads such as Tommy Devito, Tony Adams and Casey Washington find NFL homes is certainly a great sight.
The entire 2018 #illini starting offensive line is now on an NFL 53-man roster in 2024:
LT Vederian Lowe (Patriots)
LG Kendrick Green (Texans)
C Doug Kramer Jr. (Bears)
RG Nick Allegretti (Commanders)
RT Alex Palczewski (Broncos) https://t.co/m0jMjhzXlT— Joey Wagner (@mrwagner25) August 27, 2024
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