DEKALB, Ill. – With the National Football League kicking off its 2020 season tonight, Northern Illinois University football fans won't have to wait long to see some of their favorite former Huskies in action.
 
Max Scharping, a member of NIU's 2014 and 2018 MAC championship teams, takes the field tonight when his Houston Texans face defending Super Bowl champion Kansas City Chiefs (7:20 p.m. CT/NBC). Sharping leads a contingent of six Huskies on NFL rosters this season.
 
Jimmie Ward, who met Kansas City in last year's NFL title game, enters his seventh season in the league when he and the San Francisco 49ers take on Arizona Sunday. Wide receivers from the 2014 MAC Championship unit, Christian Blake and Chad Beebe begin their second and third seasons, respectively.
 
Blake, who spent the 2018 season on the Atlanta Falcons' practice squad, was elevated to the active roster in October of 2019, while Beebe spent the first eight weeks of 2018 on the Minnesota Vikings' practice squad before being elevated on Nov. 4 of that year to the active roster. The two will be reunited Week 6 when the Vikings host the Falcons.
 
Two other former Huskie teammates will meet this season when Sharping and the Texans travel to Detroit to face Kenny Golladay and the Lions on Nov. 26 for a Week 12 tilt. Golladay, who enters his fourth season in the NFL Sunday when the Lions take on the Chicago Bears Sunday, and Scharping were teammates at NIU from 2014-16. Golladay will also see his former teammates Blake and Beebe this season as well.
 
Rashaan Melvin, who signed with the Jacksonville Jaguars in the offseason, spent the previous seven seasons in the league with five different teams during that time span. Melvin starts the season on the Jaguars Reserve/Opt-Out list.
 
-NIU-