Former NC State Tight End Ready to Continue Career in Canada

RALEIGH — A win in the Gasparilla Bowl marked the end of the 2025 season for NC State football, but it also marked the final time several members of the team wore the Wolfpack jersey before beginning their professional careers. 10 players from the program made it to the NFL, with two being drafted and another eight signing as undrafted free agents. Another member of the Pack found another path.

Former NC State tight end Dante Daniels decided to return home to Canada after pursuing a waiver for another season with the program. However, his next chapter won't be with the Wolfpack, as he was selected with the 10th overall pick by the Winnipeg Blue Bombers of the Canadian Football League, keeping Daniels in his homeland as a pro.

What Daniels meant for the Wolfpack

Daniels, a native of Ontario, joined NC State as a redshirt junior for the 2024 season after starting his collegiate career at the junior college level. He quietly worked his way up the ranks as one of the team's best blockers and saw more playing time as the year went on in Raleigh. By all accounts, Daniels was one of the key tone-setters in practices and in games for the Pack's offense.

He took things to another level in the 2025 season, helping Justin Joly and Cody Hardy build the Wolfpack tight end room into one of the most productive groups in the country. He finished the year with seven receptions for 74 yards and one touchdown, which came in the team's home loss to Virginia Tech. His work as a blocker meant the Pack could play three tight ends at a time in some critical moments, especially near the goal line and in the red zone.

With the 10th overall pick in the 2026 CFL Canadian Draft, we have selected Dante Daniels out of @PackFootball. #ForTheW pic.twitter.com/PcTC0T6NPu
— Winnipeg Blue Bombers (@Wpg_BlueBombers) April 29, 2026

Tight end coach Gavin Locklear raved about Daniels in their one year working together, preaching all of the same things that Daniels' teammates and even head coach Dave Doeren had to say throughout the tight end's two seasons with the Pack. Based on the draft room reaction from Winnipeg, which the team posted to X (formerly Twitter), the Blue Bombers couldn't be more excited to have Daniels in the building.

Although it won't be in the NFL like many of his teammates, including Joly, who was one of two Pack players to be drafted, Daniels is getting a shot to join the fraternity of Pack Pros. Playing in Canada might make it even more special for a young player who grew up in the shadows of some of the teams he'll take on with the Blue Bombers in 2026.

Add us as a preferred source on Google