PRO FOOTBALL: Four former Cabarrus County players make NFL 53-man rosters; two cut (2024)

C. JEMAL HORTON

Tuesday was the day when NFL rosters were trimmed to the mandatory 53 players, and four former Cabarrus County stars made the cut.

Those making rosters were Northwest Cabarrus’s Bradley Pinion (Atlanta Falcons), Concord’s Nick Leverett (New England Patriots), and Hickory Ridge’s Garrett Williams (Arizona Cardinals) and Jalen Brooks (Dallas Cowboys).

Conversely, two Cabarrus County products were waived by NFL teams: A.L. Brown’s Brandon Parker (San Francisco 49ers) and Mount Pleasant’s Landon Honeycutt (Cleveland Browns).

Some of those CabCo players making teams were not so surprising.

For instance, the Falcons kept the veteran Pinion as their punter and kickoff specialist. This will be Pinion's third season with the Falcons and his 10th overall in the NFL. Among Cabarrus County players currently in the NFL, he has been in the league the longest.

Pinion, a 2012 Northwest Cabarrus graduate, was a fifth-round draft pick by the San Francisco 49ers in 2015 – the only punter to be chosen in the draft that year. Pinion spent four seasons with the 49ers before moving on to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, where he won a Super Bowl during the 2020 season. The Bucs released Pinion in 2022, and he signed with the Falcons. Last season, he averaged a career-best 47.0 yards per punt for the Falcons and was named All-Pro by Pro Football Focus.

Leverett, a 27-year-old guard and center, signed with Patriots as a free agent in March after spending three seasons with the Tampa Bay Bucs. Leverett, a 2015 Concord grad, signed with the Bucs in 2021 as a rookie free agent. He was on the Tampa Bay practice squad when the team won Super Bowl LV and eventually became a starter.

Williams graduated from Hickory Ridge in 2019 and went on to become a three-time All-ACC cornerback at Syracuse. Williams was drafted in the third round by the Cardinals in 2023 and started six games last season, winding up with 23 tackles and an interception.

Williams was the first-ever Hickory Ridge player to be drafted but not too far behind was Brooks, 24, who was chosen in the seventh round that same year by the Cowboys. Brooks, a wide receiver, and Williams were teammates at Hickory Ridge.

After being the 244th pick, against many odds, Brooks performed well in his first training camp and earned a spot on the team last season. He was active for seven games and proved he belonged by catching six passes for 64 yards, an average of 10.7 yards per reception. This summer, Brooks withstood another strong battle during camp and made the Cowboys’ 53-man roster at a position that features highly paid star CeeDee Lamb and Brandin Cooks.

Parker, a 2013 A.L. Brown graduate, spent his first five seasons with the Las Vegas Raiders, who chose the offensive lineman in the third round of the 2018 NFL Draft. With the Raiders, Parker appeared in 59 games and had 33 starts, primarily as a right tackle. In March, Parker, 28, signed a one-year deal with San Francisco, thus his being released by the 49ers Tuesday was a bit of a surprise.

After graduating from Mount Pleasant in 2019, Honeycutt went on to become an All-American linebacker at Division II Mars Hill and earned a minicamp invitation with the Browns as an undrafted rookie free agent.

Honeycutt had been somewhat of a longshot to make the Browns’ 53-man roster. Honeycutt had been waived during minicamp earlier this spring but, because his strong showing in minicamp impressed coaches, was invited back to the Browns again earlier this month after a tryout. In three preseason games, Honeycutt registered seven tackles.

NFL teams will begin to put players on their practice squads on Wednesday, assuming they clear the waiver wire, and both Parker and Honeycutt are candidates to be either scooped up off the waiver wire by another NFL squad or resigned by the teams that cut them.