Former Tennessee Players in NFL Week 7: Kamara Catches Seven, Young Records Sack
Week 7 of the NFL season gave former Tennessee players a mixed set of results on Sunday, with the most productive outing on offense coming through the passing game. Alvin Kamara carried six times for only five yards but caught seven passes for 57 yards for New Orleans, though the Saints fell 16-10 to Pittsburgh in Paris. Elsewhere, Jauan Jennings caught two passes for 34 yards on three targets as Minnesota beat Indianapolis 16-10 at home, and Jaylen Wright ran six times for eight yards while returning five kicks for 131 yards, with a long return of 39, as Miami won 28-25 on the road against the New York Jets.
Up front, Darnell Wright played every offensive snap, all 69 of them, at right tackle for Chicago in its 30-24 win over New England on Thursday night. Josh Dobbs remained in his backup role for Detroit and did not appear in the Lions' 20-17 home win over Green Bay. Several other former Vols were tied to the Sunday night matchup between Kansas City and Seattle, including Trey Smith and Bryson Eason for the Chiefs and Velus Jones Jr. for the Seahawks, so their Week 7 lines were not part of the Sunday afternoon update.
On defense, Byron Young led the group with six tackles and a sack for the Los Angeles Rams in a 35-21 road win over Las Vegas, a game in which fellow Ram Jaylen McCollough added five tackles and Jermod McCoy recorded one tackle for the Raiders. Theo Jackson also finished with five tackles for Minnesota while playing 36 of 61 defensive snaps against Indianapolis. Elijah Simmons made a tackle for loss in 18 defensive snaps as Tampa Bay routed Carolina 43-13 on the road, and Derek Barnett had one tackle in 21 snaps for Cleveland in its 27-24 win at Tennessee.
Other familiar names had quieter weeks for reasons that had little to do with performance. Alontae Taylor was active for Tennessee but did not play against Cleveland after being a healthy scratch the week before, Kamal Hadden recorded no statistics for Green Bay at Detroit, and Colton Hood was inactive for the New York Giants against New Orleans because of a concussion. For Tennessee followers, the weekly check-in remains a snapshot of how widely the program's recent talent is spread across the league, from established starters on the offensive line and in the secondary to younger players still carving out regular snaps and special-teams roles.