Tennessee football: Ranking Vols 5 first round NFL Draft picks this decade

One of the few guys to play for Lane Kiffin, Dan Williams was among the first Tennessee football players drafted in this decade, even though he never played for the Vols this decade himself. However, as we said, we have to rank them somehow.

Anyway, Williams had a pretty solid pro career, one that followed a great college career. Remember, in college Williams had 160 career tackles, 25 tackles for a loss and 7 sacks. He thrived in Monte Kiffin’s system with 70 tackles, 9 tackles for a loss and 2.5 sacks.

Heading into the NFL, he enjoyed a solid career, even if it didn’t live up to being a first-round draft pick. The Arizona Cardinals had him play nose tackle at 6’2″ 330 pounds, and after 38 combined tackles as a backup in 2010, he became the starter next year.

Still, playing nose tackle limited the stats Williams could rack up, but he started for the Cardinals for four years and then played two years with the Oakland Raiders to enjoy a seven-year NFL career. So, as we said, he was a solid NFL Draft choice. After seven years, he had 228 career tackles and 12 career tackles for a loss, and he even had a pick-six in 2013.