Rebels in the Pros: A.J. Brown’s highlight catches lead the way this week

After Jordan Ta’amu was picked as the franchise QB for the St. Louis BattleHawks, six more former Rebels were chosen in the first XFL draft. They include DeMarquis Gates and Trae Elston for the Houston Roughnecks, Daronte Bouldin and Christian Morris for the Tampa Bay Vipers, Jeremy Liggins for the Seattle Dragons, and finally Channing Ward will join Ta’amu in The Lou.

Of course, they weren’t the only former Rebs to get their names in the media last week. Here are some of the top performers.

Josh Allen continued using Dawson Knox more than Phil Longo ever dreamed about. The rookie had two catches for 22 yards and now has multiple catches in his last four games. He’s also getting tons of separation. No way Ole Miss could’ve utilized that any better than they did. No, sir.

Evan Engram returned for the Giants, but he caught just one pass for six yards in his first game back from injury.

Jordan Wilkins helped the Colts to a 30-23 win over the Texans, with two carries for nine yards and one reception for six yards.

AJ Moore added another tackle on special teams for the Texans, and of course Laremy Tunsil was dominant. PFF rated him as the NFL’s top offensive tackle from weeks 4-6. Unfortunately, he’s really struggled with penalties so far this year which sort of negates the impact he’s having protecting Deshaun Watson.

The Titans replaced Marcus Mariota with Ryan Tannehill and the offense couldn’t look more different. Tannehill was 23-39 for 312 yards, with six receptions and 64 yards coming from AJ Brown. The Mayor of Starkville led the Titans with eight total targets in a 23-20 win over the Chargers. Brown also had a tackle when a Tannehill pass was deflected and intercepted midway through the third quarter.

He even played a little defensive back.

Bobby Massie and the Bears have struggled mightily early this season. The Bears were among the favorites in the preseason on the NFC side, but have started just 3-3. Massie ranks in the bottom 12 tackles in terms of pass block win rate so far this season, and their entire Bear offensive line’s inability to keep pass rushers from Mitch Trubisky is a serious concern in Chicago.

The Seahawks lost to the Ravens 30-16, in large part due to Lamar Jackson’s running ability, but that didn’t phase DK Metcalf as he had four catches for 53 yards. He did have a fumble returned for a touchdown to make the score 30-13, but DK keep showing when the cones are actually defenders, he’s pretty good at working around them.

Brandon Bolden had a single carry for two yards, but caught four passes for 39 yards out of the backfield. Patriors beat the Jets 33-0 to move to 7-0 and their defense has started as well through seven games as any team in the modern era.

Bolden? True Glue Guy. Remember that when he gets another ring in February.