25 best NFL players of all time from the SEC
By John Buhler
Jason Witten
Tight End, Tennessee Volunteers
The last of the active NFL players with SEC roots comes in at No. 5 in the form of Dallas Cowboys tight end Jason Witten. While he was first-team All-SEC his senior season in 2002 with the Tennessee Volunteers, Witten is a future Pro Football Hall of Fame for his highly productive NFL career with the Cowboys.
Witten was the 69th pick of the third round in the 2003 NFL Draft. In 15 NFL seasons with Dallas, Witten has made 10 trips to the Pro Bowl, earned two All-Pro nods and was the 2012 Walter Payton Man of the Year.
He is one of the few pass catchers in NFL history with over 1,000 receptions. To date, Witten has caught 1,089 passes for 11,388 yards and 63 touchdowns with the Cowboys. He’s basically done everything but win a Super Bowl in his long career with Dallas.
His sure-handedness and even-keeled manner has helped make this mid-tier draft prospect into a certain Hall of Famer. Witten perfected the slant route up the middle of the field to the point where NFL defenses know that it’s coming and they can’t do anything about it.