Hawkeyes in the NFL: Will Kirksey, Hitchens both start?

Saturday was a very good night for former Iowa Hawkeyes on the Minnesota Vikings.

Tight end Allen Reisner caught two touchdown passes from rookie quarterback Teddy Bridgewater, giving Reisner three TDs in the last two games.

Veteran linebacker Chad Greenway had an interception.

And, cornerback Shaun Prater returned an INT 34 yards to set up one of the Bridgewater-to-Reisner scoring passes.

There was a third interception by former Hawkeyes Saturday. Cleveland Browns rookie linebacker Chris Kirksey returned a pick 23 yards in his team's 33-14 preseason loss to the St. Louis Rams.

'The play was a work of art,” wrote Kevin Jones on the Browns' website.

'Perfect, he's a great player,” Cleveland veteran linebacker Karlos Dansby said of Kirksey in this Cleveland.com story.

Kirksey also had a team-high seven tackles in the game.

Kirksey was a third-round draft pick of Cleveland last spring. Iowa's Anthony Hitchens, a fourth-round selection of the Dallas Cowboys in that same draft, played the first three series at middle linebacker for Dallas Saturday at Miami.

Hitchens had three tackles.

The third member of Iowa's 2013 starting linebackers, undrafted free agent James Morris, got some considerable playing time in Saturday during the Pats' 30-7 romp over Carolina Friday night.

Mike Reiss of ESPNBoston.com wrote this:

Morris' quickness showed up as he dropped running back Fozzy Whittaker for a 7-yard loss on a short pass late in the quarter. Morris received a lot of playing time in the game, and despite being closest in coverage on Carolina's lone touchdown, he showed some flashes as a developmental prospect who likely lands on the practice squad. The 6-foot-2, 240-pound Morris was playing fast in this game and also had the green dot on his helmet as a primary communicator.

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Meanwhile, no NFL team will rely on former Hawkeyes more than the Green Bay Packers.

Bryan Bulaga is a fixture at offensive tackle. On defense, there is defensive tackle Mike Daniels (No. 32) and safety Micah Hyde (No. 44) ranked by Mike Sando of ESPN.com on his 50 NFL players he thinks will have breakout seasons.

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Iowa has no former wide receiver in the NFL. Marvin McNutt, the Hawkeyes' all-time leader in career and single-season receiving yards and receiving touchdowns, was cut Sunday by the Carolina Panthers.

McNutt is a third-year pro. He never caught a pass in an NFL regular-season game.

Wrote David Newton in this Panthers blog post for ESPN.com: He had one catch for 5 yards in three preseason games and seemingly dropped as many passes as he caught in practice.

Also, the New York Jets cut former Hawkeye offensive lineman Markus Zusevics, the Washington Redskins cut offensive guard Adam Gettis, and the Baltimore Ravens cut rookie offensive tackle Brett Van Sloten.

On Tuesday, the Dallas Cowboys cut rookie long snapper Casey Kreiter and the Houston Texans waived rookie offensive lineman Conor Boffeli. Both were undrafted free agents, as was Van Sloten.

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Finally, defensive end Adrian Clayborn of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers is already in his fourth season out of Iowa.

You can see in the video atop this post what Clayborn thought of the Bucs' pass rush last year. Go to the :50 mark.