Tar Heels in the pros: Former UNC football players to keep an eye on in 2019

The deadline for NFL teams to make roster cuts and finalize their 53-man squads was 4 p.m. ET on Saturday, August 31, and several former Tar Heels earned spots on teams across the league. 

Nearly 20 former North Carolina players were able to secure spots on almost half of the league's teams.

We took a look at some of the big names to keep an eye out for during the upcoming season before it kicks off Thursday night.

Mitch Trubisky

Trubisky certainly is one of the more exciting UNC standouts in the NFL this season.

Trubisky is coming off of a year in which he spent his sophomore season in the league improving in virtually every stat category, earning himself a Pro Bowl selection.

In his second season with the Chicago Bears, the former quarterback for North Carolina completed over 66 percent of his passes for 24 touchdowns and 3,223 yards in 14 regular season starts. 

The Bears entered last year’s playoffs with a 12-4 record, poised to make a significant postseason run for the first time in nearly a decade. But their season ended earlier than expected with a 16-15 loss to the Philadelphia Eagles in the NFC Wild Card round.

In his final game of the year, Trubisky threw for 303 yards, one touchdown and posted an 89.6 quarterback rating against the Eagles.

Eric Ebron

After playing the first four years of his career with the Detroit Lions, Ebron was released by the organization and proceeded to sign a deal with the Indianapolis Colts before last season.

The tight end had a productive year with his new team, posting career-highs in targets, receptions, yards and touchdowns despite only starting in eight regular season games.

Ebron managed just 11 touchdowns in his time with the Lions, but brought his career total to 24 after one season with primarily Andrew Luck throwing to him.

The combination of Ebron’s position battle with fellow tight end Jack Doyle and the emergence of a young quarterback in Jacoby Brissett as a result of Luck’s early retirement means Ebron’s season is full of questions marks and worthy of anyone’s attention.

Giovani Bernard

Bernard is one of the league’s top backup running backs, and he consistently manages to split time with fellow Bengals running back Joe Mixon. After recently signing a two-year extension with Cincinnati, Bernard is certain to get an opportunity to see plenty of touches on the field.

Before a down year last season, Bernard accumulated at least 458 rushing yards in each season that he played at least 13 games in. He’s also never averaged less than 3.7 yards per carry in a season in his career.

Similar to Ebron’s situation, Bernard is dealing with some competition at his position.

In this year’s NFL draft, the Bengals selected two more running backs to go along with Mixon and Bernard. One of them, Rodney Anderson, recently tore his ACL, but the depth chart still remains to be solidified.

The former Tar Heel is looking to successfully emerge from the position battle and help lead the Bengals to their first playoff win since 1990.

@McMastersJ

@DTHSports | sports@dailytarheel.com