Memphis Professional Athletes

Tony Pollard put together the best game of his NFL career last Sunday — and it may have been one of his last in a Titans uniform.

The Memphis alumnus carried Tennessee's offense against Cleveland in a brutal 27-24 home loss, racking up 129 rushing yards and three touchdowns to go along with three receptions for 26 receiving yards. He controlled the game early, including a second touchdown that gave the Titans a 14-0 lead after a Deshaun Watson interception set up a short field. But the offense stalled late, and the Browns clawed back for the win — leaving Pollard's career outing as little more than a footnote in a frustrating defeat.

The performance, however, did plenty of work in a different arena: the trade market.

The Trade Buzz Is Real

The Titans are deep into a rebuild, and Pollard's expiring value and contract situation have made him one of the most discussed names at the NFL trade deadline. According to NFL insider Tom Pelissero, Tennessee is actually more likely to deal wide receiver Calvin Ridley than Pollard — but multiple reports confirm that Pollard's market is heating up fast. Sports Illustrated reported that the noise surrounding a potential deal has grown louder by the day, with Pollard topping a short list of most likely Titans to be moved following Tennessee's blockbuster trade of defensive tackle Jeffery Simmons to the Bears.

Bleacher Report named Pollard the most prominent running back likely to be moved ahead of the November 10 deadline — ahead of bigger-name backs like Jonathan Taylor and Saquon Barkley.

Elsewhere in the Memphis NFL Alumni Network

Pollard wasn't the only Tiger making news this week.

Kenny Gainwell (Buccaneers, RB) had a quietly productive outing in Tampa Bay's dominant 43-13 win over Carolina, posting 88 rushing yards as the Bucs rolled. Gainwell was listed on the injury report mid-week with a hip issue, but his Week 8 workload suggests he's managing through it. A win of that margin doesn't demand much explanation — it was a floor-raising day for a Bucs offense that needed one.

Dylan Parham (Jets, G) got good news ahead of New York's Week 8 game against the Raiders, returning to availability after his status had been in question. The Memphis offensive lineman has quietly carved out a starting role in the league, and his presence gives the Jets' offensive line a boost at a critical stretch of the season.

The Big Picture

Memphis alumni are scattered across 20-plus NFL rosters, but this week belonged to Pollard. His 129-yard, three-touchdown game against Cleveland is the kind of tape that makes trade suitors pay a premium — and if the Titans do move him before the deadline, he'll almost certainly land with a contender chasing a postseason run. For Memphis fans, that's the best possible outcome: one of the program's marquee NFL exports going to a place where the stakes actually match his talent.

The deadline is November 10. Watch this space.

Memphis alumni made noise on both sides of the roster bubble this week, with Justin Tucker keeping his NFL comeback alive and Adonai Mitchell finally ready to rejoin the Jets after a month on the shelf.

Tucker Auditions in Miami — but Leaves Without a Deal

The most closely watched Memphis storyline this week unfolded in South Florida. Justin Tucker was among five kickers the Miami Dolphins brought in for a workout on Tuesday after cutting Riley Patterson, who had missed two field goals earlier in the season and an extra point in Week 5. The Dolphins ultimately chose to re-sign veteran Zane Gonzalez rather than Tucker, but the tryout itself matters: it's the clearest signal yet that NFL teams view the former Ravens star as a legitimate option, not just a name from the past. Tucker has been unsigned since his release by Baltimore, and his comeback bid remains very much alive with rosters in flux throughout the league.

Patterson's exit, meanwhile, closes a chapter for another Tiger in the NFL. The Memphis alum never fully steadied his hold on the job in Miami, and the kicker carousel the Dolphins ran this week underscored just how thin the margin is at his position.

Mitchell Set to End Six-Week Absence for Jets

Across the AFC East, the Jets got the injury news they needed: Adonai Mitchell returned to practice Wednesday on a limited basis and is set to play Sunday when New York faces the Dolphins. Mitchell hasn't been on the field since Week 2, when he suffered a finger injury ahead of the Jets' game against Detroit. His return gives the offense a starting wide receiver it has been missing for the better part of six weeks — a significant boost as the Jets push into the back half of the season.

Fellow Memphis Tiger Dylan Parham, the Jets' left guard, also returned to limited practice this week after missing time with his own injury, per reports. Two Tigers getting healthy at the same time is a notable development for New York's lineup.

Around the League

Tony Pollard gave the Tennessee Titans a workmanlike performance Sunday, rushing for 76 yards in a 26-20 win over the Colts — a timely outing as Tennessee tries to stay relevant in the AFC South race. Kenny Gainwell logged 17 rushing yards and a reception for 7 yards in the Buccaneers' 19-26 loss to Pittsburgh, a quiet day in a quiet loss. And Jake Elliott's Eagles fell 25-14 to Carolina, a result that will raise eyebrows in Philadelphia regardless of Elliott's individual performance.

Out in Los Angeles, rookie offensive lineman Travis Burke continued to draw attention for the Chargers, with one report calling him the team's most impressive rookie lineman after a standout showing against Denver. Burke is quietly building a case to be one of the more impactful Tigers in the league this season.

Memphis football has never lacked for NFL representation — the depth on this week's board is proof of that. Whether Tucker can turn a workout into a contract before the season slips away remains the headline worth watching.

On a brutal week for Memphis alumni in the NFL, the Tigers' most visible representatives shared a painful common thread: both played a direct role in their team's losses, and both had to answer for it afterward.

Elliott's Heroics, Undone in Eight Seconds

Jake Elliott did everything right — until the coaching staff didn't.

With the Philadelphia Eagles trailing the Jacksonville Jaguars 17-17 in their Week 5 London game, Elliott drilled what should have been the game-winning field goal with eight seconds left, putting Philadelphia up 19-17. What followed was one of the more bewildering sequences of the NFL season.

Rather than attempt a squib kick or otherwise limit Jacksonville's return opportunity, Eagles head coach Nick Sirianni instructed Elliott to kick it deep — a decision that handed the Jaguars a returnable ball with a sliver of time remaining. Jacksonville needed only those eight seconds. Cam Little's field goal as time expired gave the Jaguars a 19-17 win, turning Elliott's clutch kick into a footnote.

Elliott was candid after the game, offering a blunt admission about the kickoff situation. He had executed his job; the catastrophic sequence that followed was not on him. Still, for a kicker whose name was briefly attached to a walk-off moment, the final box score read as a loss.

The Jaguars' win was improbable from multiple angles — Jacksonville had earlier missed a critical extra point of their own, the attempt complicated by an injury to their long snapper and a high snap. That miscue had opened the door for Philadelphia's go-ahead drive in the first place. The Eagles simply failed to close it.

Patterson's Miss Seals Miami's Fate

Across the league, Riley Patterson was writing a similarly grim chapter in South Beach.

The Dolphins rallied to score a late touchdown against the Cincinnati Bengals, cutting what had been a comfortable Cincinnati lead to a single score. Patterson then stepped up for the extra point — and hit the upright. The miss left Miami at 24 points instead of 25, and Cincinnati held on for a 31-24 win.

The margin was exactly one point. Patterson's missed PAT was the difference between a seven-point deficit and a six-point deficit, a distinction that eliminated any viable two-possession comeback scenario and sealed Miami's fate.

The miss also sent shockwaves through the sports betting world, as the Bengals were favored by 6.5 points — a spread that Patterson's upright essentially gifted to Cincinnati bettors in the final seconds.

Elsewhere in the Memphis Diaspora

Not every Tigers alum had a week defined by heartbreak. Tony Pollard carried the ball for 52 yards for the Tennessee Titans in a 26-3 loss to Houston, providing a modest individual bright spot in an otherwise lopsided afternoon. Dylan Parham of the New York Jets was sidelined and listed as out for Week 6, part of a wider injury wave hitting New York's offensive line heading into their matchup with New England.

For Memphis fans tracking the NFL, the week offered a stark reminder of how quickly a kicker's legacy can shift — and how two Tigers alumni, playing 1,200 miles apart, managed to share the same miserable headline.

Tony Pollard: Too Good to Stay, Too Useful to Keep

Tony Pollard is playing his way into someone else's uniform.

The Memphis product and Tennessee Titans running back finds himself at the center of the NFL's pre-deadline trade conversation, and the cruel irony is that his continued solid play is precisely what's making the calls come in. After posting 48 rushing yards and a touchdown in Tennessee's 24-18 loss to Baltimore on October 4th — the Titans' fourth straight loss to open the season — the argument for dealing him has never been cleaner: a 0-4 team has no business running a Pro Bowl-caliber back into the ground for nothing.

ESPN's Adam Schefter publicly floated Pollard as a potential trade chip, and the suitors emerged quickly. The Seattle Seahawks have been linked as a team that could use backfield reinforcement, while the Carolina Panthers — who could use nearly everything — were also connected to a potential deal. It's a wide-open market, and Pollard's production history (5,955 career yards) gives contenders legitimate reason to pick up the phone.

The deeper tension is this: Titans head coach Brian Daboll has been feeding Pollard a workhorse workload on a team that isn't built to compete right now, which raises questions about both player health and organizational logic. For a franchise staring at another rebuild, stockpiling draft capital by moving a veteran running back makes far more sense than accumulating empty stats in lopsided losses.

Pollard has said nothing publicly to ignite the rumors — he doesn't need to. The Titans' 0-4 record speaks loudly enough.

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Around the League

Kenny Gainwell (Buccaneers) had himself a productive stretch, hauling in a receiving touchdown in Tampa Bay's 14-17 loss to Green Bay on October 4th, then adding 18 rushing yards and three catches in the Bucs' bounce-back 24-16 win over Dallas on October 8th. The Memphis RB is carving out a genuine role in Tampa's backfield, and his versatility as a receiver keeps him relevant on passing downs.

Jake Elliott (Eagles) was on the field as Philadelphia fell 20-24 to the Rams on October 4th — a tough team loss for a squad that will need its reliable kicker to stay sharp in a tight NFC East race. Elliott has been one of the more consistent kickers in the league, and that won't change because of one rough Sunday.

Riley Patterson (Dolphins) suited up in Miami's 10-15 loss to Minnesota on the same day, a low-scoring affair that kept the Dolphins searching for offensive answers.

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The Pollard situation will define Memphis's NFL footprint over the next several weeks. Whether he's dealt before the deadline or finishes the season in Tennessee, the former Tiger has established himself as a legitimate trade piece — the kind of player a contender can plug in and trust immediately. That's a Memphis success story, even if the destination is still TBD.