What Mountain West Players Are In The NFL Playoffs?
A few former MW players are in action this weekend.
Contact/Follow @JeremyMauss & @MWCwire
Who to root for in the NFL playoffs?
We normally do not talk about the NFL here on our little college football corner of the web, but with the playoffs beginning on Saturday we thought’d we give everyone a reason to tune into a game.
Saturday games
Tennessee Titans at Kansas City Chiefs, 4:25 p.m. ET, TV: ABC/ESPN
Technically Chiefs quarterback Alex Smith was part of the Mountain West as he was in the league when Utah was around and led them to a Fiesta Bowl victory over Pitt as the first ever BCS buster. We will stick with current NFL players whose college team is part of the Mountain West.
The only other Chiefs player is former San Diego State offensive lineman in Bryan Witzman and he is the starting left guard for the Kansas City line and has been a reason that Kareem Hunt and the running game has been so good this year.
Former Nevada wide receiver Rishard Matthews is the only Titan player to come from the Mountain West, and Matthews could be a key player to help Tennessee get an upset win.
Atlanta Falcons at L.A. Rams, 6:15 p.m. ET, TV: NBC
The Falcons have five former Mountain West players on its roster. The team has a trio of offensive lineman in Wes Schweitzer from San Jose State, Air Force’s Ben Garland, former Colorado State Ram Ty Sambrailo. Schweitzer starts as a guard while Sambrailo and Garland are backups.
The two defenders on the Falcons with Mountain West ties are both from San Diego State in cornerbacks in Leon McFadden and Damontae Kazee, both are backups.
On the Rams side there are zero former Mountain West players.
[lawrence-auto-related count=2 category=1365]
Sunday games
Buffalo Bills at Jacksonville Jaguars, 1:05 p.m. ET, TV: CBS
The Bills have a pair of former great Mountain West defenders in Eddie Yarbrough of Wyoming and Boise State alum Tanner Vallejo. Yarbrough starts along the defensive line while Vallejo is a third-string linebacker.
The two former Mountain West defenders on the Jaguars side are a pair of defensive backs in Peyton Thompson from San Jose State and former Wyoming DB Tashaun Gipson. Gipson starts for his position and is one of the key players in the Jags secondary with four picks and seven pass break ups; Thompson backs up Gipson at cornerback.
Carolina Panthers at New Orleans Saints, 4:20 p.m. ET, TV: Fox
The Saints have former Air Force tight end on the team in Garrett Griffin and he has been with the team only for a short time and has one catch for four in yards in three games. The other is former Fresno State defender in starting defensive tackle Tyeler Davison.
Former Fresno State linebacker Ben Jacobs is the only former Mountain West player on the Panthers. He is a backup and has played sparingly this year.