Former Sun Devils Wren on 53-man roster; Wilkins, Bailey practice squads

With the preseason coming to a close, Week 1 of the 2019 NFL season is finally upon us.

And with that comes roster cuts in order to get every team down to a 53-man roster in addition to a 10-man practice squad.

For former Arizona State Sun Devils and NFL rookies Renell Wren, Manny Wilkins and Quinn Bailey, those cuts allowed them to remain with their training camp teams altogether.

Wren was the only one to make a 53-man roster, but that shouldn’t come as a surprise, as the fourth-round pick was also the lone draftee of the trio (No. 125 overall by the Cincinnati Bengals), while Wilkins and Bailey were signed to the Green Bay Packers’ and Denver Broncos’ practice squads, respectively.

Wren had four total tackles and one pass defended in three preseason games for the Bengals.

The defensive tackle started 13 games in his final season as a Sun Devil, producing 43 tackles, 4.5 for loss, one sack and two pass defended. He earned All-Pac-12 honorable mention honors.

In addition to playing in this year’s Hall of Fame game, Bailey played in all four of the Broncos’ preseason games (one start), the last of which was in the 20-7 Denver win over the Arizona Cardinals.

Bailey appeared in 43 games (34 starts) in five seasons for Arizona State. The offensive lineman also earned Pac-12 honorable mention honors in his final season with the Sun Devils after allowing only one sack in 13 games played.

Wilkins went 2-for-6 with 35 yards in three games for the Packers this preseason. The dual-threat quarterback also rushed for 24 yards on seven attempts (3.4 yards per carry), including hurdling cornerback Mark Fields in a 27-20 win over the Kansas City Chiefs.

🚨 HURDLE ALERT 🚨

Oh my, @MannyWilkins5!#KCvsGB #GoPackGo pic.twitter.com/FF087okfy9

— Green Bay Packers (@packers) August 30, 2019

Albeit an extremely small sample size, Wilkins had a preseason passer rating of 77.1, including an 111.8 rating against the Chiefs.

The former Arizona State quarterback was the starter for the past three seasons. In the history of Sun Devil football, Wilkins finished with the second-best completion percentage (63.2%), the second-most rushing touchdowns for a quarterback (20), the fifth-most passing yards (8,642) and total career touchdowns (72) and the sixth-most touchdown passes (52).

Wide receiver N’Keal Harry was drafted in the first round by the New England Patriots, but the team placed him on injured reserve to start the season. Harry had been battling an ankle injury during the summer.

He is expected to return but is unable to do so until after the eighth week of the season.

And locally, the Arizona Cardinals signed former ASU offensive lineman Sam Jones to the practice squad.

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