Tennessee football’s 10 DTs with best NFL careers
Teams played for:
- Tampa Bay Buccaneers, 1981-1983
- Indianapolis Colts, 1984-1985
- Minnesota Vikings, 1987
An untold member of the early Johnny Majors with Tennessee football, Brad White is often forgotten about. He had 19 sacks, 24 tackles for a loss, 245 total tackles, four forced fumbles and two fumble recoveries in three years with the Vols. As a result, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers took a shot on him in the 12th round of the 1981 NFL Draft.
At 6’2″ 256 pounds, White appeared undersized, and he was never really a regular starter. However, he still find ways to be effective, and he appeared in every game during his three years in Tampa, even if the franchise itself was a disaster at the time.
White went to the Indianapolis Colts in 1984, and that’s where he had the best years of his career. He appeared in 15 games in 1984 and started two of them. When 1985 rolled around, he somehow managed to become the feature nose tackle for Indy despite being so undersized, and he managed to appear in 16 games and start 15 games in that role.
The Minnesota Vikings had White his last season, and he only started one game there before his career came to an end. However, this guy was an overachiever given his size, and he turned out solid production in the pros, finishing his seven year career with appearances in 73 games and 18 starts while coming away with three sacks. So he had a solid run despite mostly being a backup.