Tennessee football: Ranking NFL careers of 10 Vols previously drafted by 49ers

SAN FRANCISCO, CA - OCTOBER 09: Parys Haralson #98 of the San Francisco 49ers runs onto the field during player introduction before an NFL football game against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers at Candlestick Park on October 9, 2011 in San Francisco, California. The 49ers won the game 48-3. (Photo by Thearon W. Henderson/Getty Images)
SAN FRANCISCO, CA - OCTOBER 09: Parys Haralson #98 of the San Francisco 49ers runs onto the field during player introduction before an NFL football game against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers at Candlestick Park on October 9, 2011 in San Francisco, California. The 49ers won the game 48-3. (Photo by Thearon W. Henderson/Getty Images) /
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Photo by Jed Jacobsohn/Getty Images
Photo by Jed Jacobsohn/Getty Images /

Jauan Jennings is the 11th NFL Draft pick by the San Francisco 49ers in Tennessee football history. Here are the pro careers of the other Volunteers ranked.

He fell to the seventh round of the NFL Draft, but Jauan Jennings joins a longstanding tradition of Tennessee football players being selected by the San Francisco 49ers. Jennings is the 11th player in history from Rocky Top taken by that franchise.

That history dates back to the early 1950s and carried into the mid-2000s before Jennings. Vols have won championships with this storied franchise and have also managed to enjoy very productive pro careers, some of whom made Pro Bowls.

Simply put, Jennings isn’t just going to a good situation, which he is giving the team having an immediate need for a big wide receiver and having just made the Super Bowl. He’s also going to a team that bodes well for his future given other Tennessee football players drafted by the 49ers.

In this post, we’re going to rank all 10 of the previous Vols selected by that franchise based on the success of their pro careers. As we did with the Seattle Seahawks, who just drafted Darrell Taylor, we are keeping our criteria here simple. The player just had to have been taken by the 49ers in the NFL Draft, and they have to have come from the Vols.

Just playing for San Francisco, even as an undrafted free agent like Emmanuel Moseley, or signing with them later, won’t count. However, they can be on this list without playing a game for San Francisco at the same time if they were drafted by that team. This simply ranks how successful the overall pro careers were for Vols specifically drafted by the 49ers.

As you’ll see with these rankings, some of the most recent picks worked out the best. So let’s go ahead and break them down. This is our ranking of the 10 Tennessee football players before Jauan Jennings historically taken by the San Francisco 49ers in the NFL Draft based on the success they had in the NFL.