UCLA football is well-represented on the rosters of the 12 NFL playoff teams, with 12 former players on active rosters and another three on the injured reserve lists for their squads.
Eleven of those 12 active players will be in action during Wild Card Weekend, which begins on Saturday. Here’s who to watch in each of the four games.
Kansas City Chiefs at Houston Texans, Saturday, 1:35 p.m. PT
Although the Chiefs have no former Bruins on their roster, the Texans have two in left guard Xavier Su’a-Filo and safety Rahim Moore.
Su’a-Filo looked decent after taking over the starting role in Week 10, but finished the season with a three-game slump, according to Pro Football Focus’s grading metrics. After providing solid run blocking through his first five weeks as a starter, Su’a-Filo’s PFF grade slipped to what the site classifies as “below replacement level.” The 2014 second-round pick will have to deal with a tremendous Kansas City defensive line that includes three All-Pros in Tamba Hali, Justin Houston and Dontari Poe.
Moore, who received a three-year, $12 million contract from the Texans in the offseason, was benched in Week 8 and has been inactive since. Unfortunately for Moore, the benching coincided with an uptick in defensive performance for the team. He will likely be inactive again as Houston begins the postseason.
Pittsburgh Steelers at Cincinnati Bengals, Saturday, 5:15 p.m. PT
No former UCLA players will play in this game. Linebacker Jordan Zumwalt, a 2014 sixth-round pick, is on the Steelers’ injured reserve list and has not played all year.
Seattle Seahawks at Minnesota Vikings, Sunday, 10:05 a.m. PT
The first NFC game features seven former Bruins: five Vikings and two Seahawks.
For Minnesota, all five UCLA alumni are starters. Anthony Barr, a first-round pick in 2013, has grown into one of the league’s best defensive players, with an all-around game that earned him the second-highest PFF grade of any linebacker this year. Barr is joined in the Minnesota linebacking corps by rookie Eric Kendricks, a 2015 second-rounder who has excelled in run defense throughout the year but has struggled in coverage. The pair of Bruins will likely be tasked with stopping star Seattle running back Marshawn Lynch, who appears ready to play for the first time since undergoing surgery on a sports hernia in November.
Two ex-Bruins – punter Jeff Locke and long snapper Kevin McDermott – start on the Vikings’ special teams, a unit that ranks fourth in the league according to Football Outsiders. Locke posted the lowest average punt distance in the league in the regular season, and the third-lowest net average, but also allowed the fifth-lowest return yards average. In Sunday’s matchup, he will face dynamic rookie Tyler Lockett and a Seattle punt return unit ranked first in the league Football Outsiders.
On offense, right guard Mike Harris improved his run blocking in the final three weeks of the season, elevating his PFF classification to the level of an “above-average starter.” He’ll have a tall task Sunday though, against a Seahawks defense that often stacks the left side of the defensive line with the elite duo of Michael Bennett and Cliff Avril.
For Seattle, ex-Bruin Derrick Coleman has seen limited action this year, averaging around five snaps a game at fullback throughout the latter part of the season, and Cassius Marsh has played around 15 snaps a week as a backup defensive end.
Green Bay Packers at Washington Redskins, Sunday, 1:40 p.m. PT
For the Packers, 2013 first-rounder Datone Jones has played at defensive end on about half of the team’s snaps – primarily in passing situations – recording three sacks and grading as an average starter by PFF standards. But Jones left Green Bay’s Week 17 game with a neck injury in the second quarter, so his status for Sunday’s game is still unclear. Rookie quarterback Brett Hundley has yet to play this season.
The Redskins have no former UCLA players on the active roster, as tight end Logan Paulsen is out for the season.