Tuesday was a big day for a lot of former Michigan State football players.
It was cut day in the NFL which meant that teams had to trim down their preseason rosters to 53, and that meant a lot of roster cuts took place. The former Spartans vying for spots on these teams got the news they were expecting, and some were happy about it (Nate Carter) while others were let down.
Guys like Ameer Speed, Matt Sokol, Kenny Willekes, and Mike Panasiuk were all cut within the past week, but I've also been keeping an eye on former Spartans who transferred out before their eligibility was up at Michigan State.
Guys like Derrick Harmon (a first-round pick) and Simeon Barrow Jr. were expected to help the roster in Jonathan Smith's first year, but they transferred out. Harmon went to Oregon where he became a first-round prospect and Barrow went to Miami and went undrafted.
Unfortunately for Barrow, that bad luck continued on Tuesday as he was cut by the Atlanta Falcons after a strong preseason showing.
The #Falcons are waiving DL Simeon Barrow Jr., per a source. Barrow is a UDFA who played pretty well (and extremely hard) this summer. Barrow was second in preseason games among interior DL rookies in win rate.
— Marc Raimondi (@marcraimondi) August 26, 2025
Barrow was reportedly playing well and proving himself worthy of a spot all preseason and you could see from some of the fans' comments, they weren't happy with this move.
Atlanta still has a couple of Spartans on the roster, though. Nate Carter just shocked everyone and made the 53-man roster on Tuesday after rushing for 85 yards and a touchdown this preseason and Kirk Cousins will be backing up Michael Penix Jr.
Michigan State is still represented well across the league.