Middle Georgians ready for start of season

When the NFL season kicks off this week, there will be several Middle Georgia products on teams’ rosters.

That includes two rookies: former Dodge County standout Leonard Floyd with the Chicago Bears and former Peach County star Demarcus Robinson with the Kansas City Chiefs.

Kansas City is one of two teams with two Middle Georgians on its roster as Steven Nelson (Northside) is also with the Chiefs. The Houston Texans’ roster includes Kareem Jackson (Westside) and Keith Mumphery (Dooly County).

The other Middle Georgians on rosters are Abry Jones (Northside) with Jacksonville, Casey Hayward (Perry) with San Diego, Marquette King (Rutland) with Oakland, Darqueze Dennard (Twiggs County) with Cincinnati, Bud Dupree (Wilkinson County) with Pittsburgh, Charles Johnson (Hawkinsville) with Carolina, Demaryius Thomas (West Laurens) with Denver and Erik Walden (Dublin) with Indianapolis.

A few Middle Georgians didn’t make the cut for the active rosters: DeAndre Smelter (Tattnall Square) with San Francisco, Chris Swain (Mount de Sales) with San Diego, Brandon Watts (Washington County) with Minnesota, Cedric O’Neal (Dublin) with Philadelphia and Owen Williams (Westside) with Atlanta.

Smelter cleared waivers and reverted to the 49ers' injured reserve list. He has been battling a hamstring injury during the preseason after suffering an ACL tear during his final college game for Georgia Tech in 2014.

This story was originally published September 4, 2016 at 2:09 PM with the headline "Middle Georgians ready for start of season."