As the 2024 NFL season kicks off this week, there are — barring any last-second transactions — 18 former Kentucky players on active rosters in the National Football League.
The number of ex-Wildcats toiling in the NFL tells us something about the status of the Kentucky program in ways that are both encouraging and daunting.
For UK, 18 players on active NFL rosters is a high level based on Kentucky’s historical norms. At 18, UK stands ahead of some fairly notable football brands — TCU (17), Virginia Tech (14), Nebraska (11) — in terms of ex-players on active NFL rosters.
Yet among the 16 SEC football programs, Kentucky ranks only 12th in number of alumni on active NFL rosters. The Cats are ahead of only Mississippi State (16), Arkansas (15), Missouri (13) and Vanderbilt (nine).
The Jacksonville Jaguars’ Pro Bowl outside linebacker Josh Hines-Allen is one of 18 ex-Kentucky Wildcats on active NFL rosters as the 2024 season kicks off. Corey Perrine/USA TODAY NETWORK
If you wonder why Stoops has gone 0-15 in games against SEC kingpins Alabama (0-4) and Georgia (0-11), well, these numbers should help clear things up:
Adding Oklahoma and Texas to the SEC figures to make an already difficult league even more brutal. The Sooners (34) and Longhorns (32) combine with Alabama, Georgia, LSU (41) and Florida (32) to give the SEC six programs with more than 30 of their alumni on active NFL rosters for 2024.
Of the 18 ex-Cats now playing in the NFL, there were no five-star recruits. Only seven were rated as four-star prospects in the 247Sports composite rankings.
Among the 18 former UK standouts active in the NFL are 12 players that the Wildcats successfully recruited out of high school.
There are four players — running back Ray Davis, quarterback Will Levis, wide receiver Wan’Dale Robinson and defensive back Keidron Smith — who used the transfer portal to join Kentucky.
In his second season in the NFL, ex-Kentucky quarterback Will Levis (8) will begin his first full year as the Tennessee starter on Sunday when the Titans face the Chicago Bears. Andrew Nelles / The Tennessean/USA TODAY NETWORK
In cornerback Brandin Echols and defensive end Za’Darius Smith, there are two ex-Cats now in the NFL who started at junior colleges.
Geographically, there are five players from the state of Ohio among the 18 ex-Cats who have made NFL teams and there are three from the state of Georgia.
There are two from the commonwealth of Kentucky — Western Hills alumnus Robinson and former Lafayette star Landon Young — and two from New Jersey and one each from Alabama, Connecticut, Florida, Maryland, Mississippi and South Carolina.
By position, Kentucky has five defensive backs, four linebackers/edge rushers, three offensive linemen, two defensive linemen and a quarterback, a running back, a tight end and a wide receiver on active NFL rosters as the 2024 season opens.
In the context of the Governor’s Cup rivalry between Kentucky and Louisville, the shifting balance in the numbers of alumni each school has in the NFL tells a story.
When the 2016 season began, there were 24 ex-Louisville Cardinals in the NFL, compared to 13 ex-Kentucky Wildcats. That was a period during which U of L beat UK five straight times (2011 through 2015) and in six out of seven games.
If you wonder how it is that UK has now beaten U of L in five straight games and six out of seven, well, these numbers should help clear things up:
While there are 18 ex-Cats active in the NFL for 2024, there are only 12 ex-Cards.
Western Kentucky will have six former Hilltoppers active on National Football League teams when the 2024 season begins. That includes Denver Broncos safety Devon Key , the former Bryan Station High School standout and older brother of current UK wide receiver Dane Key.
In the big picture, the fact that the number of ex-Cats playing in the NFL has risen during the Stoops era is another metric that reflects the coach having elevated the Kentucky program above its mostly meager historical standing.
That UK has raised its number of alumni playing in the NFL yet is still 12th in that category among the 16 teams in the SEC is a reminder of the steepness of the climb that Kentucky faces in its aspirations to continue to move upward in Southeastern Conference football.
The former Kentucky Wildcats expected to be on active, 53-man NFL rosters for the opening week of the 2024 season :
Position, Player, Team
TE Brenden Bates, New York Jets
LB Jamin Davis, Washington
RB Ray Davis, Buffalo
Edge Bud Dupree, Los Angeles Chargers
CB Brandin Echols, New York Jets
S Mike Edwards, Buffalo
C Luke Fortner, Jacksonville
Edge Josh Hines-Allen, Jacksonville
OT Darian Kinnard, Philadelphia
QB Will Levis, Tennessee
DL Josh Paschal, Detroit
CB Andru Phillips, New York Giants
WR Wan’Dale Robinson, New York Giants
S Keidron Smith, Denver
DE Za’Darius Smith, Cleveland
CB Carrington Valentine, Green Bay
LB Trevin Wallace, Carolina
OT Landon Young, New Orleans
Number of players on active NFL rosters from each SEC football program ( source: ESPN.com ):
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