What having 18 ex-Cats on active NFL rosters tells us about the UK football program

In 2013, the first season in which Mark Stoops coached the Kentucky Wildcats football team, there were 10 ex-Cats on NFL rosters.

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).

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:

The Crimson Tide have a whopping 62 former players on NFL rosters (I am using data on the number of active NFL players per college compiled by ESPN.com), while the Bulldogs have a robust 48.

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.

Ten of the former Kentucky players now in the NFL were three-star recruits. The best player of them all, Jacksonville Jaguars Pro Bowl edge rusher Josh Hines-Allen, was, famously, a two-star.

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 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):

Alabama 62

Georgia 48

LSU 41

Oklahoma 34

Florida 32

Texas 32

Tennessee 25

Texas A&M 25

Mississippi 22

South Carolina 22

Auburn 21

Kentucky 18

Mississippi State 16

Arkansas 15

Missouri 13

Vanderbilt 9

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