The Big Blue Blueprint for the 14 former Kentucky Wildcats on NFL rosters

A couple of months I ran down the Big Blue Blueprint of the NBA Wildcats right before the NBA Draft.  That is due to be updated, but it’s football season now. When camp started, there were almost as many former Wildcats on rosters as their NBA counterpart, but camp has been cruel.  As of now there are 14 former Wildcats on NFL rosters/practice squads/ and PUP lists.

First, the bad news.  The last few days have been tough to former Wildcats as Alfonso Smith was  cut by the Arizona Cardinals, Anthony Mosley was cut by the 49ers, and Micah Johnson cut by the Bengals.   And for the second straight year, Trevard Lindley made the final cut for the Eagles but was cut before the season started.  Expect a few of these to land with new teams soon.

RICKY LUMPKIN
ARIZONA CARDINALS

Ricky Lumpkin has found his way back onto the Cardinals roster and was signed to their practice squad.

ATLANTA FALCONS
COREY PETERS – DT

Tough break for Peters as he has a stress fracture in his foot and will miss at least the first six games for the Falcons.  Peters should still be firmly entrenched as a starter when he is able to return but whether or not it is this season remains to be seen.

BUFFALO BILLS
STEVIE JOHNSON – WR

Expect to see Stevie getting loose in Buffalo for a few more years. Johnson caught 76 passes for 1004 yards and 7 TD last year which was his second straight 1000 yard season. Johnson is far and away the best target for ryan Fitzpatrick this year. Stevie is getting paid as well as he is under contract through the 2016 season and is currently in a 5 year/#36,250,000 contract. Stevie is one of the few Wildcats that is a must for your fantasy football team. As of now, he is nursing a sore groin, and reportedly took a “hard fall” at practice the other day.  As of now, he is at 90% and should play on Sunday.

CAROLINA PANTHERS
GARRY WILLIAMS – OT

After working his way into the starting lineup for the Panthers in 2010, Williams missed all of last season with a broken ankle suffered in the last preseason game. Williams is currently listed behind Jordan Gross on the dept chart for LT, but it has been mentioned recently that Williams may challenge  Byron Bell for a starting spot at RT.  Regardless, Williams will get his chance to protect Cam Newton this year.

CINCINNATI BENGALS
DEQUIN EVANS – DE

Evans  appeared to have a fighting shot at the 53 man roster for the Bengals but ended up getting cut ands was signed to the Bengals practice squad.   The Bengals had been experimenting with Evans at a LB position but have seen enough potential to put him on the practice squad.

DENVER BRONCOS
JACOB TAMME – TE
WESLEY WOODYARD – LB
DANNY TREVATHAN – LB

Now that Tim Tebow is no longer a Bronco, it is OK to root for the Broncos now. Jacob Tamme is reunited with Peyton Manning in Denver and the two showed nice chemistry in 2010 when Tamme finally got some playing time and caught 67 passes for 631 yards and 4 TD’s. As of now, it appears that Tamme has lost the starting job to Joel Dreessen.  Regardless, with Peyton Manning as QB, Denver will employ plenty of two TE sets and Tammee will get a chance to win the starters job back.

Due to the suspension of DJ Williams, Woodyard should get the starting nod for at least the first six games of they year. Woodyard was very productive last year when Williams was injured and had 97 tackles and had four double digit tackle games. The fans love Woodyard who has become a team leader with 233 tackles in his four seasons there. Wesley has two years left on a contract that will pay him $1,500,000 this year.

The Broncos signed Danny Trevathan to a 4 year, $2,204,072 deal and hope he can follow in Woodyards contract. Expect some playing time for Danny early in the season at least due to the suspension of DJ Williams. Travathan could actually back up Woodyard at weakside LB., but as of now, he is listed as third on the depth chart behind Woodyard and soon to be 37 year old Keith Brooking.  Brooking looked absolutely horrible last year in Dallas and Trevathan should get a chancae to compete for the backup spot.