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Tennessee football: Pittsburgh Steelers tie Kansas City Chiefs as top Vols in NFL team

By Caleb Calhoun

Jun 13, 2017; Pittsburgh, PA, USA; Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Joshua Dobbs (5) passes during drills in minicamp at the UPMC Rooney Sports Complex. Mandatory Credit: Charles LeClaire-USA TODAY Sports
Jun 13, 2017; Pittsburgh, PA, USA; Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Joshua Dobbs (5) passes during drills in minicamp at the UPMC Rooney Sports Complex. Mandatory Credit: Charles LeClaire-USA TODAY Sports /
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Tennessee football has numerous former Volunteers in the NFL. But now, Pittsburgh has reached Kansas City as the franchise that best represents UT players.

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Last year, the Kansas City Chiefs were the face of former Tennessee football players in the NFL. In sheer volume, they won.

Longtime punter Dustin Colquitt was still shining there, and Tyler Bray remained a backup. Zach Fulton was a regular on the offensive line and then there was Eric Berry, a superstar.

Two years ago, while Kansas City was still an elite team for former Vols, the Denver Broncos had the trophy. They had Peyton Manning at quarterback, Malik Jackson at defensive tackle, and Britton Colquitt at punter.

The value of those three players together exceeded the value of the four Chiefs.

By the way, in 2012 and 2013, the Broncos had all of those guys plus Robert Ayers, not to mention Manning at his MVP level.

Still, Kansas City sits alone as the franchise that has significantly utilized Vols players for the past three years. But that changes this year.

The Pittsburgh Steelers now join the Chiefs with that title. Thanks to the NFL Draft, they have four former Tennessee football guys on the roster just like the Chiefs.

And we are predicting that their values will soon begin to equal.

Right now, the Steelers have a leader on the offensive line in Ramon Foster and a contributor in Daniel McCullers. We project that Cameron Sutton will become a third contributor.

But the reason they will tie things up is because Joshua Dobbs, despite being a backup this year, will still be a more valuable contributor than Tyler Bray. Considering Ben Roethlisberger’s injury prone issues, he actually has a chance to start some game.s

So the Steelers will have four valuable players on their roster from Tennessee this year. Meanwhile, the Chiefs will have a backup, two contributors, and a superstar.

That evens out to about the same.

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The one wildcard in this is if Tyler Bray manages to move up Kansas City’s depth chart. He’s been there four years, so clearly they value him.

But until that happens, we put Dobbs’s value already ahead of Bray’s. And that’s why the Steelers are on Kansas City’s level.

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