A Trio of Pack Football Players in the Super Bowl
For the 13th year in a row, at least one former Wolfpack football player will participate in Sunday’s game.
For 13 consecutive years, NC State has had at least one player reach the pinnacle of NFL success: the Super Bowl.
This year, three former Wolfpack athletes will play in Sunday’s game at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, California, as the New England Patriots face the Seattle Seahawks in Super Bowl LX. Kickoff is at 6:30 p.m., and the game will be broadcast nationally on NBC.
The Patriots feature two NC State alumni in center Garrett Bradbury of Charlotte and defensive tackle Cory Durden of Newberry, Florida, while the Seahawks have linebacker Drake Thomas of Wake Forest. Bradbury played for the Wolfpack from 2015-18, Thomas played from 2019-22 and Durden in 2022.
“This is football at the highest level, the best two [football] teams in the world,” says NC State head football coach Dave Doeren. “I can’t even put into words how that makes me feel. I’m super excited and proud of those guys.
“What we do at this level is try to help guys reach their dreams, and the Super Bowl is the ultimate dream. I’m really looking forward to seeing those guys play against each other, and knowing I had a part in it means a lot.”
Since 1976, when running back Charley Young of Raleigh played for the Dallas Cowboys in Super Bowl X, 38 different former NC State players have appeared in the NFL’s biggest game.
Twelve years ago, there were a record total of four Wolfpack alums in the game, including three that helped the Seahawks win the franchise’s first championship: quarterback Russell Wilson, kicker Stephen Hauschka and offensive lineman J.R. Sweezy. Denver linebacker Nate Irving was the fourth.
Thomas is one of the unlikeliest participants from the school in the championship game. In 2023, he was an unselected free agent who signed with the Las Vegas Raiders after the draft. He suffered a major knee injury, was waived before the season and then was claimed by the Seahawks. In 2024, he played in all 17 games, mostly on special teams, and had a breakout season in 2025.
“I never expected to be in this position,” Thomas said Tuesday from Santa Clara. “It’s really hard to realize the magnitude of this game and what it means.”
He credits his time as a high-performing player at Wake Forest High School and at NC State for preparing him and his older brother Thayer Thomas, of the Denver Broncos, for reaching their professional football dreams.
“My experiences at NC State were second to none,” Drake Thomas says. “The family atmosphere that I had around there, the growth that I had as a person and a player, definitely catapulted me to this point where I’m at now.
“I’m so thankful and grateful that I chose NC State back when I was 17 years old, because without that I don’t know if I’m in this position.”
Much has already been made about the game’s tale of two Drakes, Thomas and New England quarterback Drake Maye, who played at UNC-Chapel Hill. They will likely face each other across the line of scrimmage on most of New England’s offensive plays.
“It’s gonna be a lot of fun,” says Thomas, who never lost to Maye and the Tar Heels in his four years with the Wolfpack. “He’s a great player. Obviously, we played against each other in college. I know the NC State fans are really … excited for it, and I’m excited for the challenge.”
Maye will receive each snap from Patriots’ veteran center Bradbury, who was a consensus All-America selection and Rimington Trophy winner while at NC State. Recruited as a tight end, then switched to defensive line and finally to offensive line, he turned his athleticism into a successful career. He was taken as a first-round pick in the 2019 NFL draft by the Minnesota Vikings, where he played for six years before signing with the Patriots last March.
“Garrett has been super durable for years,” Doeren says. “It’s fun watching him, and it will be fun watching him snap the ball to a Carolina player and then go block a State player [Thomas].”
Durden, now playing for his fourth NFL team, played at NC State for one season after transferring from Florida State. Like Thomas, he was unselected in the draft but signed as a free agent by the Detroit Lions in 2023.
“He was looking for a fresh start in football, and he found it here,” Doeren says. “He learned a lot about responsibility and how to prepare himself for the next level. I’m proud of what he’s done.”
Doeren plans to watch his former players on Sunday from the comfortable vantage point of his couch at his home in Raleigh, to bask in the achievements of the players he coached.
“That’s why I first got into coaching,” Doeren says. “I felt like I was impacting lives. To know I’ve had a piece of that journey with them is really rewarding.”
