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Demarcus Ayers

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Demarcus Ayers
North Texas Mean Green
Position:Offensive quality control coach
Personal information
Born: (1994-07-07) July 7, 1994 (age 30)
Dallas, Texas, U.S.
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
As a player:
 * Offseason and/or practice squad member only
As a coach:
Career highlights and awards
Career NFL statistics
Receptions:6
Receiving yards:53
Receiving touchdowns:1
Stats at Pro Football Reference

Demarcus Ayers (born July 7, 1994) is an American college football coach. He is the offensive quality control coach at North Texas. He is a former professional gridiron football player who was a wide receiver in the National Football League (NFL), Canadian Football League (CFL), Alliance of American Football (AAF), and XFL. 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

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Ayers was Houston's starting kick returner in his freshman season and was named to the 2013 American Athletic Conference (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 AAC in receptions with 97 and ranked sixth in the nation in receptions. He totaled 1,221 receiving yards, 18th in the nation. He was named to the AAC first-team at both wide receiver and kick returner.[2]

Statistics

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Houston Cougars
Year Receiving
GP Rec Yds Avg TD
2013 13 11 130 11.8 1
2014 13 33 335 10.2 2
2015 14 97 1,221 12.6 6
Career[3] 40 141 1,686 12.0 9

Professional career

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Pre-draft

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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.[4] 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
Height Weight Arm length Hand span 40-yard dash 10-yard split 20-yard split 20-yard shuttle Three-cone drill Vertical jump Broad jump
5 ft 9+3⁄8 in
(1.76 m) 		182 lb
(83 kg) 		31+1⁄4 in
(0.79 m) 		9+1⁄4 in
(0.23 m)		 4.66 s 1.60 s 2.65 s 4.33 s 7.00 s 35 in
(0.89 m)		 10 ft 3 in
(3.12 m)
All values from NFL Combine and Houston's Pro Day[5][4]

Pittsburgh Steelers

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Ayers was drafted by the Pittsburgh Steelers in the seventh round, 229th overall, in the 2016 NFL draft.[6] The seventh round pick used to select Ayers was traded from the New York Giants to the Steelers in exchange for punter Brad Wing.[7] On May 5, 2016, Ayers signed a four-year contract with the Steelers.[8] 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.[9][10] On December 12, 2016, he was promoted to the active roster.[11] 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.[12]

On September 2, 2017, Ayers was waived by the Steelers after only one season.[13]

New England Patriots

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On September 4, 2017, Ayers was signed to the New England Patriots' practice squad.[14] He was released on September 23, 2017.[15]

Chicago Bears

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On November 23, 2017, Ayers was signed to the Chicago Bears' practice squad.[16] He signed a reserve/future contract with the Bears on January 1, 2018.[17] He was waived by the team on September 1, 2018.[18]

San Antonio Commanders

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On November 9, 2018, Ayers signed with the San Antonio Commanders of the Alliance of American Football (AAF) for the 2019 season.[19] The league ceased operations in April 2019.[20]

New York Guardians

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Ayers was drafted by the New York Guardians of the XFL in the 5th round of the 2020 XFL Draft.[21] He was waived before the start of the regular season on January 28, 2020.[22]

Saskatchewan Roughriders

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Ayers signed with the Saskatchewan Roughriders of the Canadian Football League (CFL) on February 19, 2020.[23] After the CFL canceled the 2020 season due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Ayers chose to opt-out of his contract with the Roughriders on August 25, 2020.[24] He opted back in to his contract on January 20, 2021.[25] He was released on July 3, 2021.[26]

References

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  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. Archived from the original on May 14, 2016. Retrieved June 29, 2016.
  3. ^ "Demarcus Ayers College Stats". College Football at Sports-Reference.com. Retrieved May 8, 2021.
  4. ^ a b "2016 NFL Draft Scout Demarcus Ayers College Football Profile". DraftScout.com. Retrieved October 13, 2023.
  5. ^ "NFL Draft Profile: Demarcus Ayera". Nfl.com. Archived from the original on January 14, 2020. Retrieved December 14, 2016.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
  6. ^ "Steelers select Ayers in the seventh round". Steelers.com. April 30, 2016. Retrieved July 2, 2017.
  7. ^ "2016 NFL Draft Listing". Pro-Football-Reference.com. Retrieved May 15, 2023.
  8. ^ "DeMarcus Ayers". Rotoworld. Retrieved June 29, 2016.
  9. ^ Labriola, Bob. "Steelers cut to 53, trade for CB". Steelers.com. Archived from the original on August 12, 2017.
  10. ^ "Steelers add 10 to practice squad". Steelers.com. September 4, 2016. Archived from the original on October 11, 2017.
  11. ^ "Steelers promote Ayers; release Bullock". Steelers.com. Retrieved December 12, 2016.
  12. ^ "NFL Player Profile: Demarcus Ayers". NFL.com. Retrieved January 4, 2017.
  13. ^ "Steelers trim roster to 53". Steelers.com. September 2, 2017. Archived from the original on January 17, 2018.
  14. ^ "Patriots Re-Sign RB Brandon Bolden; Place LB Shea McClellin on Injured Reserve; Make Changes to the Practice Squad". Patriots.com. September 4, 2017.
  15. ^ "Patriots sign QB Taylor Heinicke to the Practice Squad; Release WR DeMarcus Ayers from the Practice Squad". Patriots.com. September 23, 2017.
  16. ^ "Bears place Leonard Floyd on Injured Reserve". USAToday.com. November 23, 2017.
  17. ^ "Bears sign seven players to reserve/future contracts". 247Sports.com. January 2, 2018.
  18. ^ Mayer, Larry (September 1, 2018). "Bears announce 53-man roster". ChicagoBears.com.
  19. ^ "32 Players Sign New Contracts with the Alliance". AAF.com. November 9, 2018. Archived from the original on November 10, 2018. Retrieved November 9, 2018.
  20. ^ Rothstein, Michael; Wickersham, Seth (June 13, 2019). "Inside the short, unhappy life of the Alliance of American Football". ESPN.com. Retrieved January 9, 2024.
  21. ^ Bender, Bill (October 21, 2019). "XFL Draft picks 2019: Complete results, rosters, players for new football league". Sporting News. Retrieved October 23, 2019.
  22. ^ "XFL Transactions". XFL.com. Retrieved January 30, 2020.
  23. ^ "Riders Add Two to Roster". Riderville.com. February 19, 2020. Retrieved March 3, 2020.
  24. ^ "Jon Ryan, Brett Lauther headline Rider cuts". CFL.ca. August 26, 2020. Retrieved August 26, 2020.
  25. ^ "Riders Transactions – January 20". Riderville.com. January 20, 2021. Retrieved February 22, 2021.
  26. ^ "Coors Light Training Camp Opening Roster Set". Riderville.com. July 3, 2021. Retrieved July 7, 2021.
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