{"id":505331,"date":"2026-01-10T04:31:14","date_gmt":"2026-01-10T04:31:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/505331\/"},"modified":"2026-01-10T04:31:14","modified_gmt":"2026-01-10T04:31:14","slug":"every-former-dallas-area-high-school-football-player-in-the-2026-nfl-playoffs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/505331\/","title":{"rendered":"Every former Dallas-area high school football player in the 2026 NFL playoffs"},"content":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s time for the NFL playoffs<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Yet again, Dallas-area high school football<\/a>\u2019s fingerprints are all over this year\u2019s playoff rosters. Several dozen players with North Texas roots are spread across nearly every team in the playoffs this season.<\/p>\n

The Carolina Panthers lead the way with six Dallas-area players. Beyond Carolina, big name players include Matthew Stafford (Highland Park<\/a>), Jaxon Smith-Njigba (Rockwall<\/a>) and Christian Gonzalez (The Colony<\/a>, Carrollton Creekview<\/a>).<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s the full list of North Texas players who have played for postseason participants this year:<\/p>\n

High School Sports<\/p>\n

The latest news, analysis, predictions and more for each season.<\/p>\n

By signing up, you agree to our\u00a0Terms of Service<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Privacy Policy.<\/a><\/p>\n

Denver Broncos<\/p>\n

Lil\u2019Jordan Humphrey, WR – Southlake Carroll<\/p>\n

Marvin Mims, WR – Frisco Lone Star<\/p>\n

Drew Sanders, LB – Denton Ryan (injured)<\/p>\n

Jarrett Stidham, QB – Stephenville<\/p>\n

Bye week<\/b><\/p>\n

Seattle Seahawks<\/p>\n

Elijah Arroyo, TE – Frisco Independence (injured)<\/p>\n

Byron Murphy II, DT – DeSoto<\/p>\n

Jaxon Smith-Njigba, WR – Rockwall<\/p>\n

Riq Woolen, CB – Fort Worth Arlington Heights<\/p>\n

Bye week<\/b><\/p>\n

New England Patriots<\/p>\n

Christian Gonzalez, CB – The Colony, Carrollton Creekview<\/p>\n

Kobee Minor, DB – Lake Dallas<\/p>\n

Milton Williams, DT – Crowley<\/p>\n

Charles Woods, DB – Dallas Kimball<\/p>\n

Craig Woodson, S – South Grand Prairie<\/p>\n

Wild card: <\/b>vs. Los Angeles Chargers<\/p>\n

Chicago Bears<\/p>\n

Devin Duvernay, WR – Sachse<\/p>\n

Jaylon Jones, DB – Allen<\/p>\n

Dayo Odeyingbo, DE – Carrollton Ranchview (injured)<\/p>\n

Shemar Turner, DL – DeSoto (injured)<\/p>\n

Wild card: <\/b>vs. Green Bay Packers<\/p>\n

Jacksonville Jaguars<\/p>\n

Ross Matiscik, LS – McKinney Boyd<\/p>\n

Cam\u2019Ron Silmon-Craig, DB – Cedar Hill Trinity Christian (practice squad)<\/p>\n

Wild card: <\/b>vs. Buffalo Bills<\/p>\n

Philadelphia Eagles<\/p>\n

Cameron Williams, OT – Duncanville<\/p>\n

Wild card: <\/b>vs. San Francisco 49ers<\/p>\n

Pittsburgh Steelers<\/p>\n

DeShon Elliott, S – Rockwall-Heath (injured)<\/p>\n

Wild card: <\/b>vs. Houston Texans<\/p>\n

Carolina Panthers<\/p>\n

Bobby Brown III, DT – Arlington Lamar<\/p>\n

Akayleb Evans, DB – McKinney<\/p>\n

Trevis Gipson, DL – Cedar Hill<\/p>\n

Demani Richardson, S – Waxahachie (practice squad)<\/p>\n

A\u2019Shawn Robinson, DT – Fort Worth Arlington Heights<\/p>\n

Ja\u2019Tavion Sanders, TE – Denton Ryan (injured)<\/p>\n

Wild card: <\/b>vs. Los Angeles Rams<\/p>\n

Houston Texans<\/p>\n

Mario Edwards Jr., DE – Denton Ryan (injured)<\/p>\n

Dylan Horton, DE – Frisco<\/p>\n

Ed Ingram, OG – DeSoto<\/p>\n

Ja\u2019Marcus Ingram, CB – South Oak Cliff<\/p>\n

E.J. Speed, OLB – North Crowley<\/p>\n

Wild card: <\/b>at Pittsburgh Steelers<\/p>\n

Los Angeles Rams<\/p>\n

Steve Avila, G – South Grand Prairie<\/p>\n

Matthew Stafford, QB – Highland Park<\/p>\n

Wild card: <\/b>at Carolina Panthers<\/p>\n

Buffalo Bills<\/p>\n

Chase Lundt, OL – Arlington Martin (injured)<\/p>\n

Tyrell Shavers, WR – Lewisville<\/p>\n

Wild card: <\/b>at Jacksonville Jaguars<\/p>\n

San Francisco 49ers<\/p>\n

Jake Brendel, C – Plano East<\/p>\n

Brayden Willis, TE – Arlington Martin (practice squad)<\/p>\n

Wild card: <\/b>at Philadelphia Eagles<\/p>\n

Los Angeles Chargers<\/p>\n

R.J. Mickens, S – Southlake Carroll<\/p>\n

Wild card: <\/b>at New England Patriots<\/p>\n

Green Bay Packers<\/p>\n

None<\/p>\n

Wild card:<\/b> at Chicago Bears<\/p>\n

Find more high school sports coverage from <\/b>The Dallas Morning News<\/b> here<\/b><\/a>.<\/p>\n

Sign up for our FREE HS newsletter<\/b><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It\u2019s time for the NFL playoffs. Yet again, Dallas-area high school football\u2019s fingerprints are all over this year\u2019s…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":505332,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5135],"tags":[13358,13359,5229,13394,13395,13441,13552,13464,13420,13421,13344,1596,13431,13432,13422,13423,13424,13425,1318,7371,226378,13448,13466,13455,13449,13375,10858,13381,25533,13481,13468,13376,13377,6415,13363,13364,13365,1232,13348,10548,13379,13416,13417,13418,13406,13407,13398,13485,13484,13356,13355,62,226377,358,13434,13435,3187,67,586,132,5230,68,2969,13430],"class_list":{"0":"post-505331","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-dallas","8":"tag-allen","9":"tag-allen-school","10":"tag-america","11":"tag-arlington-lamar-school","12":"tag-arlington-martin-school","13":"tag-carrollton","14":"tag-carrollton-creekview-school","15":"tag-carrollton-ranchview-school","16":"tag-cedar-hill","17":"tag-cedar-hill-school","18":"tag-crowley-school","19":"tag-dallas","20":"tag-denton","21":"tag-denton-ryan-school","22":"tag-desoto","23":"tag-desoto-school","24":"tag-duncanville","25":"tag-duncanville-school","26":"tag-football","27":"tag-fort-worth","28":"tag-fort-worth-arlington-heights-school","29":"tag-frisco","30":"tag-frisco-independence-school","31":"tag-frisco-lone-star-school","32":"tag-frisco-school","33":"tag-hebron-school","34":"tag-high-schools","35":"tag-highland-park","36":"tag-highland-park-school","37":"tag-kimball-school","38":"tag-lake-dallas-school","39":"tag-lewisville","40":"tag-lewisville-school","41":"tag-listicle","42":"tag-mckinney","43":"tag-mckinney-boyd-school","44":"tag-mckinney-school","45":"tag-nfl","46":"tag-north-crowley-school","47":"tag-plano","48":"tag-plano-east-school","49":"tag-rockwall","50":"tag-rockwall-school","51":"tag-rockwall-heath-school","52":"tag-sachse","53":"tag-sachse-school","54":"tag-south-grand-prairie-school","55":"tag-south-oak-cliff","56":"tag-south-oak-cliff-school","57":"tag-southlake","58":"tag-southlake-carroll-school","59":"tag-sports","60":"tag-stephenville-school","61":"tag-texas","62":"tag-the-colony","63":"tag-the-colony-school","64":"tag-tx","65":"tag-united-states","66":"tag-united-states-of-america","67":"tag-unitedstates","68":"tag-unitedstatesofamerica","69":"tag-us","70":"tag-usa","71":"tag-waxahachie-school"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":"Validation failed: Text character limit of 500 exceeded"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/505331","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=505331"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/505331\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/505332"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=505331"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=505331"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=505331"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}