Alvin Kamara joins Eric Berry and Dustin Colquitt as former Tennessee football players playing for the No. 1 overall seed in their conference in this year’s NFL Playoffs. Of course, Berry and Colquitt are with the Kansas City Chiefs. Alex Ellis and Kahlil McKenzie are as well, but they are barely playing.
Betsided
Kamara, meanwhile, is playing for the New Orleans Saints in the NFC. He’s probably the largest contributor among all former Vols in the NFL period, and he’s especially that in the NFL Playoffs. The guy has been an absolute stud his first two years.
As the all-purpose back that Drew Brees has always needed to make sure his offense remains at a high level, Kamara has been a major stat machine. This year, he averaged over four and a half yards a carry with 883 rushing yards and 14 touchdowns. Bigger than that, though, was his receiving yardage, as he had 81 receptions for 709 yards and four touchdowns.
He also had 82 punt return yards and 126 kickoff return yards. So the guy was all over the field for the second straight year. And this time, with the Saints playing all their games at home, he could have a one-way ticket to the Super Bowl.
In front of that home crowd in the Super Dome, Kamara has a great chance to be a stud for Brees and co. With a bye for everybody to get fully healthy as well, he could be the best player on the field pretty easily. He was often that in college even as Butch Jones refused to use him enough.
Tennessee football’s elite 2017 NFL Draft class saw Derek Barnett win the Super Bowl with the Philadelphia Eagles last year. He was the top defensive player for the Vols in 2016. It almost seems perfectly fitting that their top offensive player from that year outside of maybe Joshua Dobbs does the same thing in the NFL this year.