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

Tennessee football’s offense was dominant in 2012 despite being horrendous enough on defense to still go 5-7. A big reason for that was having guys like Tiny Richardson, Dallas Thomas and Zach Fulton to stack up the offensive line.

But the star of that unit who made it elite was Ja’Wuan James. A four-year player, James was a staple for Derek Dooley and Jim Chaney his first three years on Rocky Top, and he was a huge reason the offense set records in 2012.

A big thing that improved his profile, though, was Butch Jones’s arrival. Okay, Jones didn’t do anything himself, but James thrived again in the spread to show his versatility, and given how much worse the line looked in 2014, a year after he left, it validated how good he was.

In 2014, the Miami Dolphins took a chance on James in the first round. He did not disappoint, starting for the Dolphins for five years. James was able to turn himself into maybe the best right tackle in the game.

Now, just this offseason, he signed a four-year $51 million deal with the Denver Broncos, validating his worth as a first-round NFL Draft pick and getting his payday as a result of his elite play. The future is only brighter.