Former CU Buffs star earns NFC Player of the Week honor

There were plenty of elite defensive displays around the NFL in Week 1 as quite a few players took advantage of some offenses that didn’t have all their ducks in a row to start the season. The Denver Broncos had a handful of outstanding individual performances, but no player rocking the orange and blue earned Defensive Player of the Week honors. On the other side of the league, a former CU star dominated in his season opener, and received the NFC’s designation for DPOW.

Now that's how you make your LA debut.@_Nate_Landman is the NFC Defensive Player of the Week! 👏 pic.twitter.com/VutcQ2ZSAW

— Los Angeles Rams (@RamsNFL) September 10, 2025

Nate Landman, a former middle linebacker for the Buffs, earned the honors after his stellar performance for the Los Angeles Rams on Sunday. He helped the Rams defense hold the Houston Texans to just nine points on the afternoon as he recorded 10 tackles and forced a fumble down the stretch that essentially won them the game.

What a play by Nate Landman to force the fumble 😳

HOUvsLAR on CBS/Paramount+https://t.co/HkKw7uXVnt pic.twitter.com/xrmMof58ca

— NFL (@NFL) September 7, 2025

Since his final season at CU, 2021, Landman spent the first three seasons of his pro career with the Atlanta Falcons where he spent the 2022 season working his way up the depth chart before establishing himself as a bonafide playmaker. This offseason, he signed a one-year contract to head out to Los Angeles, and has instantly made an impact on that franchise in just a matter of months. He was voted as a team captain ahead of the season and proved that his teammates made the right choice with his performance in Week 1.

To anyone who watched CU football from 2017-2021, Landman’s NFL success isn’t a surprise. He led the Buffs in tackles in 2018, 2019 and 2020, and was just five tackles shy of leading the team in 2021 despite missing the final month of the season due to an injury. Landman was voted to the All-Pac-12 First Team in 2019 and 2020, and the Second Team in 2021.

Landman was the backbone of the Colorado defense for his final four years in Boulder, and his hard work is now paying dividends at the highest level of football.

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