Kentucky Wildcats in the NFL

Football fans rejoice! We are finally upon Week 1. With the NFL season about to start, let’s look at all the former Wildcats about to start their seasons.

Randall Cobb - WR, Green Bay Packers

In the second year of his four-year, $40 million contract, Cobb is hoping to bounce back after a down year in 2015. He had a drop in receptions, yards, yards per-catch and touchdowns, compared to 2014. The Packers are healthy again and will be in better shape to compete, and Cobb should be an essential part of the Packers’ success.

Avery Williamson - LB, Tennessee Titans

The Titans linebacker had a successful rookie year, recording 102 tackles after being drafted in the fifth round. This season, he’ll look to be apart of the young core in Tennessee that continues to get closer to the postseason.

Wesley Woodyard - LB, Tennessee Titans

Entering his third season with the Titans, Woodyard will be looking to build on his first two seasons. Woodyard’s number of tackles dropped slightly last season, as he had 87 tackles last year following 94 tackles in 2014. Woodyard did have an uptick in sacks last season, as he recorded 5, the second-highest number he’s posted in his career (5.5 in 2012). Hopefully he’ll continue to build on that, and maybe get near 100 tackles this season.

Ronnie Shields - TE, Seattle Seahawks

Shields is currently injured, but signed a contract with Seattle in May. He has no NFL experience yet.

Bud Dupree - LB, Pittsburgh Steelers

Sadly, Bud Dupree has been placed on injured reserve after having surgery to fix a core muscle tear. The Steelers hope that he can return, and he will be eligible to return to game action via NFL IR rules after eight weeks. Dupree was going to be relied on rather heavily in a Steelers defense that isn’t exactly the best in the league, and now they’ll be in even more trouble until Dupree returns.

Josh Forrest - LB, Los Angeles Rams

Josh Forrest is set to start his NFL career with the Rams in their first year back in Los Angeles. After falling just 7 tackles short of back-to-back 100-tackle seasons in his junior and senior years, Forrest was drafted by the Rams in the 6th round of the 2016 NFL Draft, and signed a four-year contract with the team.

Winston Guy - S, Indianapolis Colts

Guy has had limited playing time in his four year NFL career, but saw more time on the field last year, playing 12 games. Guy had just 6 combined tackles in 2015 and no forced turnovers, so he’ll be looking to build on the playing time he got in 2015 and put up some numbers this season.

Stevie Johnson - WR, San Diego Chargers

Johnson is entering his ninth year in the NFL, but the veteran receiver will unfortunately not play the season due to knee surgery that landed him on injured reserve for the entire 2016 campaign.

Corey Peters - DT, Arizona Cardinals

Peters is entering his seventh season in the NFL, although he didn’t play last year due to a torn Achilles. Thanks to that injury, he will be getting his first game action in a Cardinals uniform this year.

Za’Darius Smith - OLB, Baltimore Ravens

Smith will be entering his second season in the NFL after playing 15 games as a rookie. He’ll be hoping to get just as much playing time and improve on his numbers, as he recorded 30 tackles and 5.5 sacks last year.

Jacob Tamme - TE, Atlanta Falcons

Tamme is now entering his ninth season in the league, and his second with the Falcons. He had his best year for yardage in his career last season, as he racked up 657 receiving yards. He’ll hope to build on that and post some better numbers in touchdown receptions (just 1 last year).

Danny Trevathan - LB, Chicago Bears

Now a Super Bowl Champion, Danny Trevathan will start a new era in his career this year as he plays his first season with the Chicago Bears. Trevathan recorded 109 combined tackles last season, and put up a big performance in Super Bowl 50 as he recorded 8 tackles and a fumble recovery en route to the victory. While the Bears may not be contending for a Super Bowl, you can still expect Trevathan to follow up a good 2015 with a good 2016.

Larry Warford - OG, Detroit Lions

Warford may not be as highly-regarded as he was in 2013 as a rookie, when he started immediately for the Lions and didn’t give up a single sack, but he’s still an impressive offensive lineman. Pro Football Focus has him ranked as the 37th-best offensive guard in the league this season.