NEW ORLEANS – Slippery Rock University consensus All-American wide receiver Kyle Sheets accepted a priority free agent deal with the New Orleans Saints within an hour of the 2024 NFL Draft concluding Saturday evening.
 
Sheets, a native of Springboro, Pennsylvania and a four-year member of The Rock football program, will report to the Saints rookie minicamp in the coming weeks.
 
"I'm so excited and looking forward to this opportunity," said Sheets shortly after getting the call from New Orleans. "I want to thank the Saints for giving me a chance and I want to thank everyone here at Slippery Rock for such an incredible experience. From our coaches to our faculty and staff and especially my teammates, I couldn't have made a better choice than coming to The Rock."
 
Sheets becomes the second Slippery Rock wide receiver to sign an NFL free agent deal in the last two years, joining Henry Litwin, who signed with the Chicago Bears following the 2022 NFL Draft. He is the ninth Slippery Rock player to sign with an NFL team since 2015 and becomes the fourth Rock receiver since 2022 to sign a professional deal, joining Litwin, Cinque Sweeting (XFL, Vipers) and Jermaine Wynn Jr. (CFL, Alouettes).
 
The 2023 season marked a career year for Sheets, who was named to each of the five All-America teams at the Division II level, including a first team All-America nod by both the American Football Coaches Association (AFCA) and the Associated Press (AP). He was also named to first team All-Region honors in Super Region One and first team All-Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference honors.
 
Sheets caught a team-high 76 passes for 1,186 yards with 17 touchdowns and finished the year ranked third in Division II in touchdown catches and sixth in receiving yards. He also completed a 48-yard pass and pulled down an interception on the one defensive snap he played, which came in The Rock's victory over No. 1 seed Tiffin in the second round of the NCAA Playoffs.
 
His 17 touchdowns rank second all-time in single-season history at Slippery Rock, trailing only the 21 that were caught by Litwin during the 2019 season. Perhaps more impressive when looking at Sheets' numbers from the fall was that he shared the ball with Cohen Russell, who caught 73 passes for 1,114 yards in 2023. They were the only two teammates in the country to top 1,100 yards and both rank in the top eight in Division II in receiving yards.
 
Sheets finished his SRU career with 2,440 receiving yards to rank No. 4 all-time in program history. He also grabbed 29 career touchdown passes to rank No. 3 all-time at SRU.
 
"I couldn't be prouder of Kyle or more excited for his future," said SRU head coach Shawn Lutz. "He is the perfect example of what hard work and dedication can lead to. He came into our program and worked tremendously hard to develop into one of the best players we have ever had and one of the best players in Division II. He also graduated with a high GPA and earned his degree, which is what we preach in our program. We're really excited to see what comes next for him."
 
Sheets graduated from Slippery Rock in December with a 3.21 GPA and a degree in safety management.

Slippery Rock closed the 2023 season with a 12-2 record after picking up a fifth straight PSAC West title and qualifying for a fifth straight NCAA Playoff appearance. The Rock finished the year ranked No. 10 in the final Division II national poll and were one of just 12 programs to be ranked in every poll in 2023.
 
 

 
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