Several Former WVU Football Players Fall Victim To NFL Roster Cuts

With the deadline for NFL teams to reduce their roster to the standard 53-man setup set for Tuesday, August 26th at 4 PM EST, organizations are in the process of releasing and waiving a large number of talent.

Unfortunately for fans of WVU football who like to follow their program's alumni at the highest level of the sport, a number of former West Virginia Mountaineers have been a victim of roster cuts over recent days. Let's take a look at some of the former WVU players who will be looking for a new home this week.

Tony Fields II

A top all-time transfer addition in WVU football history and a 2021 NFL Draft pick, Fields is the player on this list who has put the longest time into the NFL. Entering his fifth NFL season, the veteran linebacker most recently suited up for the Lon Angeles Rams -- but on Sunday, the organization terminated his contract as they parted ways with 11 players to clear roster space.

Fields was initially drafted by the Cleveland Browns, and was a member of the roster in Cleveland until he was released last October after suffering an injury early in the season. Fields has played in 45 games with 10 starts in his NFL career, totaling 88 tackles, one forced fumble, one interception and one pass defensed. He also scored a defensive touchdown in 2022. He played for WVU in 2020 after a three-season stint as a starter for the Arizona Wildcats, earning All-Big 12 and All-American honors in his sole season with WVU.

Garnett Hollis Jr.

Hollis Jr. is one of two players on this list entering their rookie season in the NFL. He played one season with WVU in 2024 as a defensive back after beginning his career at Northwestern. Hollis went undrafted during the 2025 NFL Draft but was picked up -- and subsequently waived -- by the Tennessee Titans and Green Bay Packers at different points throughout the offseason.

Hollis managed to ink a deal with the Buffalo Bills this past Saturday, but his stint with the organization last all of 24 hours before he appeared on the first round of roster cuts for the Bills ahead of the 2025 regular season.

Fatorma Mulbah

Mulbah is the second player on this list entering his rookie season, and also went undrafted this past spring before being picked up by the New York Jets as an undrafted free agent. He saw action for the Jets in the preseason, racking up three tackles, but was among six players who were waived by the organization on Saturday.

Mulbah spent two seasons at WVU from 2023-2024 playing defensive tackle, and recorded 75 tackles for the Mountaineers over 26 appearances, including a standout effort against Cincinnati last season where he tallied 13 tackles.

Doug Nester

Nester enters his second season in the NFL -- he went undrafted in 2024, but was picked up by the Minnesota Vikings (where he saw preseason action) before later reuniting with former teammates Zach Frazier and Beanie Bishop on the roster for the Pittsburgh Steelers. After the 2024 season, he was re-signed by the team.

However, the Kenova, W.Va native did not do enough to solidify another spot on the roster ahead of the 2025 season and the Steelers parted ways with Nester last Friday. Nester was a five-year collegiate starter, beginning his career with WVU's bitter rival Virginia Tech before transferring to Morgantown after the 2020 season. He would then spend three seasons with the Mountaineers from 2021-2023 and played a critical role along the offensive line for West Virginia.

What's Next?

For Fields, he has been in the NFL long enough that he was released and his contract has fully been terminated, and he will now be a free agent. For the other three former Mountaineers, their contracts were waived due to spending under four seasons in the NFL, and they will be available for other teams to pick up via the waiver wire.

NFL teams do maintain a 69-man roster when practice squads are included, meaning there are 16 additional spots on each roster as a practice squad only athlete. These Mountaineers will likely wait to see if their former teams want to re-add them as practice team members -- or for the three younger stars, if another organizations adds them via the waiver wire, before beginning to seek new homes.

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