Ole Miss in the NFL: Five Rebels still chasing Super Bowl title

Five Ole Miss football Rebels remain in the divisional round of the NFL Playoffs.

Offensive linemen Laremy Tunsil and Nick Broeker are up first. Their 4-seed Houston Texans are at the defending Super Bowl champion Kansas City Chiefs on Saturday at 3:30 p.m. CT on ESPN. The Chiefs are the top-seeded team in the AFC.

Tunsil last week had the second-highest Pro Football Focus grade (72.2) of all Texans on offense in a first-round win over the Los Angeles Chargers. The Chargers roster former Rebel cornerback Deane Leonard. Leonard had his team’s fifth-highest individual defensive grade (78.5), as well as the second-highest coverage grade (89.1).

Leonard recorded an interception. He started 13 of 19 games for Ole Miss, including all 11 as a senior, from 2020-21. Tunsil is a five-time Pro Bowler, including this season as a starter. He’s started every game he’s appeared in the NFL. The Miami Dolphins drafted Tunsil at No. 13 overall back in 2016.

Divisional Round Rebs 🔥#NFLPlayoffs | #HottyToddy pic.twitter.com/WzplYksjcp

— Ole Miss Football (@OleMissFB) January 18, 2025

Tunsil will be starting his seventh playoff game for the Texans against the Chiefs.

Tunsil has given up just 21 sacks over his nine NFL seasons and 4,991 pass-block snaps. His career pass-block efficiency grade is 97.7.

The 6-seed Washington Commanders and Detroit Lions, the NFC’s top seed, face off at 7 p.m. CT on FOX but feature no Rebels. The Los Angles Rams and Philadelphia Eagles are first up on Sunday. Kickoff in Philadelphia, the 2-seed, is 2 p.m. CT. 

All-time Ole Miss great AJ Brown made headlines less for his stat line (one catch, 10 yards) in a Wild Card win over the Green Bay Packers than cameras catching him reading a self-help book, Inner Excellence, on the sideline.

Brown has since met author Jim Murphy and turned Inner Excellence into the top-selling book on Amazon. Murphy is a former outfielder for the Chicago Cubs.

“It gives me a sense of peace,” Brown told NFL Network. “That’s a book I bring every single game. My teammates call it The Recipe. That’s the first time I heard that y’all got me on camera. It got a lot of points in there, a lot of mental parts about it.

“For me, this game is mental. I can do anything and everything, now I got to make sure I’m mentally good. It’s something how I refresh every drive, regardless if I score a touchdown or drop a pass. I always go back to that book every drive and just refocus.”

Brown this season caught 67 passes for 1,079 yards and seven touchdowns.

He landed All-Pro honors for the third consecutive year.

Brown went over 1,000 receiving yards for the fifth time in six NFL seasons. He was a Biletnikoff Award semifinalist at Ole Miss, where he had the most-ever 100-yard receiving games by a Rebel (12). Brown finished third in career receptions (189) and fifth in receiving touchdowns (19).

He’s the only Ole Miss receiver on record with 60 or more receptions in back-to-back seasons.

“(Ole Miss) is home,” Brown exclusively told the Ole Miss Spirit while in town for the ‘Grove Bowl Games’ to launch his foundation. “This will forever be home, and I’m proud to say this is my home.”

Tight end Dawson Knox and the 2-seed Buffalo Bills host EDGE Tavius Robinson and the 3-seed Baltimore Ravens on Sunday at 5:30 p.m. CT on CBS. The marquee matchup of the weekend features a showdown of NFL MVP favorites, Josh Allen and Lamar Jackson.

Knox finished with two receptions for 38 yards in a dominant, 31-7 win over former Ole Miss defensive tackle DJ Jones and the Denver Broncos. 

Knox’s pass-block grade (77.1) was third-highest on the team. He had 22 receptions, 311 yards and a touchdown on 33 regular-season targets. Knox had 39 career receptions and 605 yards but didn’t score a touchdown in his Ole Miss career.

Knox had a single-season-best 24 receptions for 321 yards in 2017. He was considered for the Burlsworth Trophy — an award given out annually to the nation’s top-performing former walk-on.

“A couple of years ago, my only mindset was getting to where I earned a scholarship — and on being a starter for Ole Miss,” Knox told the Tennesseean. “And after my first season as a starter, I kind of started realizing I could compete with anyone on the field.”