by Andrew Hardison by Andrew Hardison

A look at the former Cats in the NFL, week 2

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by Andrew Hardison

As of right now, ESPN.com only has 7 former UK players listed as being on NFL rosters. There are several others that are in the league but may not be active for their respective teams. Let’s take a look at the former Cats and how they fared in Week 2 of the NFL.

Jacob Tamme (Colts): Monday football is the crème d’la crème of the football broadcasts. I personally like Sunday football better, but I won’t get into that. Tamme saw the field a couple of times Monday night, but with wide receivers Austin Collie and Pierre Garcon it’s likely that Tamme will see more of the sideline than the actual playing field. It still remains to be seen how the Colts and head coach Jim Caldwell intend to use Tamme, but with Dallas Clark playing a higher level at the moment Tamme may have to wait.

Keenan Burton (Rams): By his standards thus far, Burton had his best game of the season on Sunday. He was able to reel in two receptions for a total of 38 yards, with a chunk of the yards coming on a 25 yard reception from quarterback Marc Bulger. This seems to be where Burton will find himself throughout the season: on occasion and used sparingly. I don’t think his production will increase much more than this. Bulger looked for him plenty in the Rams first game, but in their second Burton was able to cash in a bit more. If he can progress each game, he could very well see more time behind the likes of Donnie Avery and Laurent Robinson

Stevie Johnson (Bills): The second year man out of UK isn’t getting the looks he likely wants to see on a regular basis. Johnson has struggled to crack the lineup of the Bills as he has yet to play this season. The lore of Johnson and his career at UK is unquestionable, but his NFL career doesn’t look to be as promising especially when the Bills have more established NFL wide receivers already on the team. If receivers like Owens and Evans stay healthy and backups Josh Reed and Roscoe Parrish continue their own steady production, Johnson will continue to roam the sidelines instead of the playing field.

Jeremy Jarmon (Redskins): Despite being active for a second straight week, Jarmon saw no time in the Redskin’s win over the Rams. Not really too much of a surprise as it looks as if Jarmon is a work in progress. He continues to be the third man on the totum pole at left-defensive end for the Redskins who play a 4-3 base defense. As I said about him in week 1, if he wants to see more playing time, it will probably need to come through another player being injured. If that isn’t the case, the former Cat will continue to work and learn from his teammates around him.

Andre Woodson (Redskins): Practice squad.

Garry Williams (Panthers): Williams, according to the Panthers website, has been moved up to the second spot on the left tackle depth chart for the team. A promising move, but the former Cats offensive lineman has yet to play a game for the Panthers. The move is promising because of the fact that he sits behind only one person now, instead of two (Jeff Otah and Geoff Schwartz). If current left tackle Jordan Gross goes down to injury, step in Williams. Based on his college days, in which the offensive line only gave up 13 sacks during the 2008 season, Williams would be a solid replacement. Once again, time will only tell.

Myron Pryor (Patriots): I was unable to get any coverage of this game, so didn’t see too much on our beloved big man Pryor. He was inactive for week 1 but that wasn’t the case for this week. Despite being active for the game, Pryor managed zero tackles on the day. As I said, I’m not entirely sure if he played or not, so can’t tell if those zero tackles have anything to do with playing time at all. With that being said, I’m not sure Pryor is in too many of Bill Belichick’s plans even with the praise Pryor has received from his head coach. Time will only tell, but hopefully Pryor can continue to work hard and get some more reps as the season moves on.

Wesley Woodyard (Broncos): Woodyard, the star from last week’s win over the Bengals, didn’t have as an accomplished game this time around. His first career interception came last week, but this week he was only able to rack up two solo tackles on the day. The play of linebackers Andra Davis and D.J. Williams, as well as Denver’s secondary didn’t allow Woodyard to get as many opportunities this week. However, it looks as if Denver will continue utilize Woodyard as much as they can for the second year player from Kentucky.

Ventrell Jenkins (free agent): Jenkins was waived by his former team the Buffalo Bills, but was quickly signed to a contract by the Cincinnati Bengals on August 25, 2009. Jenkins, by most standards is probably remembered most for his vicious stiff arm to East Carolina quarterback Pat Pinkey’s in last year’s Autozone Liberty Bowl. Despite a promising opportunity, the Bengals quickly turned around and waived the rookie free agent. Not much of an opportunity is it? Jenkins could wind up like several of his other teammates (Andre Woodson and Braxton Kelley) in being signed to a team’s practice squad. Not what many players want, but it is a way to get your foot in the door.

Braxton Kelley (Broncos): Practice Squad

Johnny Williams (free agent): Williams, much like Jenkins, was cut by his respective team before the start of the 2009 NFL season. He was signed on to play for the Jaguars, but they cut Williams on September 5, 2009, along with ten other first year players. Williams will probably have to make it in the league much like Jenkins by way of a team’s practice squad or picked up as a free agent because of an injury, or something along those lines. Either way, he’s got talent and hopefully can find his way onto a team in the near future.

Andrew Hardison is a recent UK alum and contributor to Wildcat Blue Blog

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