Demarcus Ayers

Demarcus Ayers
Free agent
Position: Wide receiver
Personal information
Born: (1994-07-07) July 7, 1994
Dallas, Texas
Height: 5 ft 9 in (1.75 m)
Weight: 182 lb (83 kg)
Career information
High school: Lancaster (Lancaster, Texas)
College: Houston
NFL Draft: 2016 / Round: 7 / Pick: 229
Career history
 * Offseason and/or practice squad member only
Career highlights and awards
  • 2x First Team All-AAC (2013, 2015)
Career NFL statistics as of 2017
Receptions: 6
Receiving yards: 53
Receiving touchdowns: 1
Player stats at NFL.com

Demarcus Ayers (born July 7, 1994) is an American football wide receiver who is currently a free agent. He played college football at Houston, and was drafted by the Pittsburgh Steelers in the seventh round of the 2016 NFL Draft.[1]

College career

Ayers was Houston's starting kick returner in his freshman season and was named to the 2013 AAC First Team as a kick returner. He had 37 returns for 1,021 yards, breaking a Houston freshman record.

In 2014, in his sophomore season, he had 33 receptions for 335 yards and two touchdowns at receiver. He also made 34 returns for 592 yards at kick returner.

In 2015, in his junior season, Ayers led the American Athletic Conference in receptions with 98 and ranked sixth in the nation in receptions. He totaled 1,222 receiving yards, 18th in the nation. He was named to The American first team at both wide receiver and kick returner.[2]

Professional career

Coming out of college, Ayers was projected by many analysts to not be selected in the 2016 NFL Draft. He was ranked the 53rd best wide receiver out of the 414 available by NFLDraftScout.com. He was invited to the NFL Combine and did the majority of the workout and positional drills. He was unable to do the 20-yard shuttle, 3-cone drill, and the bench press because of an injury to his hand and finger. He participated at Houston's Pro Day and chose to try to improve on his combine numbers and did all of the drills and workouts besides the bench and improved on everything except the broad jump.

Pre-draft measurables
Ht Wt Arm length Hand size 40-yard dash 10-yd split 20-yd split 20-ss 3-cone Vert jump Broad
5 ft 9 in
(1.75 m)		 182 lb
(83 kg)		 31 1⁄4 in
(0.79 m)		 9 1⁄4 in
(0.23 m)		 4.58 s 1.63 s 2.73 s 4.35 s 7.30 s 35 in
(0.89 m)		 10 ft 3 in
(3.12 m)
All values from NFL Combine and Houston's Pro Day[3]

Pittsburgh Steelers

Ayers was drafted by the Pittsburgh Steelers in the seventh round, 229th overall, in the 2016 NFL Draft.[4] On May 5, 2016, Ayers signed a four-year contract with the Steelers.[5] On September 3, 2016, he was released by the Steelers as part of final roster cuts and was signed to the practice squad the next day.[6][7] On December 12, 2016, he was promoted to the active roster.[8] Ayers made his professional debut on December 25, 2016, and caught his first career reception on a nine-yard pass from Ben Roethlisberger, helping the Steelers defeat the Baltimore Ravens 31-27. The following week, he earned his first career start in a 27-24 overtime win over the Cleveland Browns and caught a season-high five passes for 44 receiving yards and caught his first career touchdown on an 11-yard pass from Landry Jones.[9]

On September 2, 2017, Ayers was waived by the Steelers after only one season.[10]

New England Patriots

On September 4, 2017, Ayers was signed to the New England Patriots' practice squad.[11] He was released on September 23, 2017.[12]

Chicago Bears

On November 23, 2017, Ayers was signed to the Chicago Bears' practice squad.[13] He signed a reserve/future contract with the Bears on January 1, 2018.[14] He was waived by the team on September 1, 2018.[15]

References

  1. ↑ Fowler, Jeremy (April 30, 2016). "Steelers have a punt returner in seventh-rounder Demarcus Ayers". ESPN. Retrieved May 1, 2016.
  2. ↑ "10 - Demarcus Ayers". UHCougars. Retrieved June 29, 2016.
  3. ↑ "NFL Draft Profile: Demarcus Ayera". Nfl.com. Retrieved December 14, 2016.
  4. ↑ "Steelers select Ayers in the seventh round". Steelers.com. April 30, 2016. Retrieved July 2, 2017.
  5. ↑ "DeMarcus Ayers". Rotoworld. Retrieved June 29, 2016.
  6. ↑ Labriola, Bob. "Steelers cut to 53, trade for CB". Steelers.com. Archived from the original on August 12, 2017.
  7. ↑ "Steelers add 10 to practice squad". Steelers.com. September 4, 2016. Archived from the original on October 11, 2017.
  8. ↑ "Steelers promote Ayers; release Bullock". Steelers.com. Retrieved December 12, 2016.
  9. ↑ "NFL Player Profile: Demarcus Ayers". NFL.com. Retrieved January 4, 2017.
  10. ↑ "Steelers trim roster to 53". Steelers.com. September 2, 2017. Archived from the original on January 17, 2018.
  11. ↑ "Patriots Re-Sign RB Brandon Bolden; Place LB Shea McClellin on Injured Reserve; Make Changes to the Practice Squad". Patriots.com. September 4, 2017.
  12. ↑ "Patriots sign QB Taylor Heinicke to the Practice Squad; Release WR DeMarcus Ayers from the Practice Squad". Patriots.com. September 23, 2017.
  13. ↑ "Bears place Leonard Floyd on Injured Reserve". USAToday.com. November 23, 2017.
  14. ↑ "Bears sign seven players to reserve/future contracts". 247Sports.com. January 2, 2018.
  15. ↑ Mayer, Larry (September 1, 2018). "Bears announce 53-man roster". ChicagoBears.com.
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