These 10 Tennessee football players lasted longest in the NFL | Mike Strange
August is a month for not doing much of anything. It’s too hot. For aspiring NFL players, however, it’s the time to launch a career.
Training camps are in full swing and high draft picks like Darnell Wright and Jalin Hyatt are busy making first impressions. Undrafted hopefuls like Princeton Fant and Jerome Carvin are just trying to make a roster.
We are told one of the most important factors in recruits choosing a college is how well that school can prepare them for an NFL career. And yet the average length of an NFL career is about 3½ years.
I got to wondering which University of Tennessee players had best found the formula to beat the odds and stick around.
Here are the top 10, based on NFL career games played.
1. Peyton Manning. Manning appeared in 293 games, starting 292 of them.
Thirteen of his 17 seasons were in Indianapolis, the final four in Denver. He won a Super Bowl with each team and was chosen for 14 Pro Bowls. Twenty-seven postseason games gave him the edge over …
2. Jason Witten. Witten’s 271 regular-season games would have taken top honors, but he added only eight postseason games to land at 279. A rookie in 2003, he retired after the 2020 season (he sat out 2019).
Sixteen of Witten’s 17 seasons were in Dallas, the short comeback with the Raiders. The tight end started 260 games, second only to Manning.
3. Reggie White. The Minister of Defense played 251 games, most in Philadelphia and Green Bay but also 16 his last year with Carolina.
White started all but five of those games in a Hall of Fame career from 1985 to 2000. And we’re not counting his 1984 USFL season with the Memphis Showboats.
4. Raleigh McKenzie. The Knoxville-born offensive lineman played in 243 games, starting 197. Not bad for an 11th-round draft pick in 1985.
McKenzie played 10 years in Washington, where he won two Super Bowl rings, then two each in Philadelphia, San Diego and Green Bay.
5. Jack Reynolds. “Hacksaw” played linebacker 1970-84, starting with the Rams and finishing with the 49ers. He accumulated 220 games and 184 starts.
In a nine-year stretch he started every game.
6. Tim Irwin. Another offensive lineman from Knoxville. Judge Irwin played in 213 games from 1981-94, 197 of them starts. He was a fixture in Minnesota for 13 seasons before finishing in Miami and Tampa Bay.
7. Doug Atkins. In an era when even NFL stars didn’t get rich, Atkins was a terror at defensive end for 15 seasons, from 1953-1969, most with Chicago.
Atkins, a Hall of Famer, appeared in only four postseason games or he would have ranked higher on the list. He finished at 209 games.
8. Stanley Morgan. Thirteen of the receiver’s 14 seasons were in New England. Morgan retired with 203 games from 1977-90, 187 of them starts.
9. Shaun Ellis. A member of UT’s ’98 national champion team, Ellis played defensive end for 12 years, 11 with the Jets, finishing with 199 games.
10. Deon Grant. Another ’98 champ, Grant logged 187 NFL games over 11 seasons and four teams.
Everyone listed above was a positional player. But three other VFLs hit the 200-game mark as specialists.
Dustin Colquitt punted in 267 games over a 17-year career, the first 15 in Kansas City. (Brother Britton Colquitt punted in 188 games.)
Bill Bates lasted 15 years (1983-97) in Dallas thanks to his special-teams bravado. He started only 48 games but played in 231.
Morgan Cox, the long snapper, is at 209 games and counting, still a Tennessee Titan.
Mike Strange is a former writer for the News Sentinel. He currently writes a weekly sports column for Shopper News.
This article originally appeared on Knoxville News Sentinel: These 10 Tennessee football players lasted longest in NFL
