Tennessee football: Ranking Vols by landing spots after 2021 NFL Draft

Half of a player’s success in the pros depends on whether or not he is drafted into the right situation. That’s actually way more important than the round the are drafted in. Tennessee football has had plenty of players sign with the right team as undrafted free agents who were much more successful than players drafted in the first round by the wrong team.

With only four players this year from UT who were looking to land with pro teams, it was expected that the NFL Draft would be thin. That ended up being the case, as only two players were taken in the draft. Only two were taken last year as well, but numerous other signed with teams as undrafted free agents.

One other Tennessee football player did sign this year as an undrafted free agent. However, who went to the best situation to further their careers? Beyond the draft, which player is best set up to be a long-term NFL player simply because of the team that is taking a chance on him?

In this post, we’re going to rank the former Vols by landing spots on the heels of the draft. We took some time before coming out with this because we had to wait to see who all would get signed, but with the draft about two weeks in the rearview mirror now, that’s pretty clear.

Our criteria for these rankings will simply look at the needs and history of the team along with the situation regarding the player himself. Lots of factors are going into this, and being a high draft pick could be one. The only reason it’s not here is no team moved heaven and earth to get a UT player the way the Seattle Seahawks did for Darrell Taylor in the second round last year.

Other variables could come into play for these Tennessee football players, though. How do they affect their situations? Let’s break that down here. This is our ranking of the four former Vols by their landing spots after the NFL Draft.