The 2025 NFL season is picking up steam for the stretch run with Week 12 taking place over the past few days, and several Tennessee players were in action and having productive performances for their teams. Jauan Jennings made headlines for his touchdown catch during Monday Night Football and his retaliatory action after his team’s win, and rookies Dylan Sampson and James Pearce Jr. made the highlight reels, too. A couple of veteran VFLs also stood out with Derek Barnett recording another sack and Jalen Reeves-Maybin returning to an NFL roster.
GoVols247 recaps how every former Tennessee player fared during Week 12 of the NFL season with the latest installment of our weekly feature.
Dylan Sampson (Photo: Brooke Sutton, Getty)
Jennings scores and scraps
It was an eventful time on Monday Night Football for Jauan Jennings. The 49ers wide receiver opened the scoring with a Jenningsesque 12-yard touchdown catch, his fourth of the season and third in four games. Jennings was targeted seven times and caught five passes for 41 yards in the win against the Panthers.
Late in the game, though, he took a fist to the nether region from Carolina safety Tre’Von Moehrig. Jennings and Moehrig mixed it up during a play later, and after the game ended, Jennings chased Moehrig down and delivered an open hand to the helmet before 49ers personnel pulled him away.
“I was just responding to some childish behavior,” Jennings said of his postgame actions.
San Francisco head coach Kyle Shanahan called Moehrig’s move a “cheap shot” and praised Jennings: “I was really proud of Jauan for not losing his mind out there and getting to the sideline.”
The NFL suspended Moehrig for one game on Tuesday.
Sampson house call
Browns rookie running back Dylan Sampson scored his second NFL touchdown in style, catching a swing pass and hitting the jets on a 66-yard touchdown in the fourth quarter – he hit 20.8 miles per hour per NFL Next Gen Stats. He also had a receiving touchdown in Week 2, but this one contributed to a win at the Raiders and was the first NFL touchdown pass for rookie quarterback Shedeur Sanders. The big catch-and-run wasn’t Sampson’s only big play – he had a 26-yard run earlier in the fourth quarter.
Sampson finished the game with seven carries for 23 yards, two catches on three targets for 59 yards and the touchdown and a 28-yard kickoff return.
Relentless rookie
Rookie defensive end James Pearce Jr. is ascending in Atlanta and helped the Falcons to an NFC South win at the Saints. The first-round pick had two tackles, 1.5 sacks, one tackle for loss and two quarterback hits to keep up his strong play. Pearce split a sack in the second quarter and got one of his own in the fourth and is up to four sacks on the season – and he has 3.5 over his past three games.
Barnett involved in Texans sack-fest
The Texans sacked Bills quarterback Josh Allen a remarkable *eight* times in a Thursday Night Football upset, and veteran defensive end Derek Barnett was involved in the party. The 2017 first-round pick, who played 26 defensive snaps in the Houston win, used a sick spin move on the Buffalo left tackle to wrap up Allen for his sack midway through the fourth quarter. It was Barnett’s second sack of the season and the 31st of his nine-year NFL career.
Welcome back, JRM
Jalen Reeves-Maybin has been the president of the NFL Players Association, but he hasn’t been with a team this season – until last week when the Chicago Bears signed the veteran linebacker to their practice squad. Reeves-Maybin, a 2017 fourth-round pick who has spent most of his NFL career with the Detroit Lions (2017-21, 2023-24), has played in 114 career regular-season games with four playoff appearances and totaled 160 tackles, 1.5 sacks, nine tackles for loss, eight passes defensed, three forced fumbles and one fumble recovery on defense. His primary role in the NFL has been on special teams – he has 61 tackles on special teams and was an All-Pro and Pro Bowl selection as a special-teamer in 2023.
Jauan Jennings (Photo: Jed Jacobsohn, Getty)
Rounding up the rest of the former Vols
For the Rams in the win against the Bucs on Sunday Night Football, outside linebacker Byron Young had two tackles and safety Jaylen McCollough had three tackles and a pass defensed on defense (33 snaps) plus a tackle on special teams (14 snaps).
Chiefs offensive lineman Trey Smith started at right guard, but suffered an ankle injury in the overtime win against the Colts and is looking at a spell on the sidelines, per NFL Media’ Ian Rapoport.
Rookie wide receiver Dont’e Thornton Jr. was targeted twice and caught one pass for 14 yards for the Raiders in the loss to the Browns.
Vikings safety Theo Jackson started and had six tackles and one tackle for loss on 44 snaps on defense and added one tackle on seven special teams snaps in the loss at the Packers.
Packers cornerback Kamal Hadden was called on to play 31 snaps on defense – the first defensive snaps in the seventh NFL appearance for the second-year pro – and responded with four tackles in the win against the Vikings.
Saints running back Alvin Kamara had three carries for 11 yards and caught two passes on two targets for 4 yards in the loss to the Falcons.
Bears offensive lineman Darnell Wright started at right tackle and played every snap on offense in the win against the Steelers.
Browns wide receiver Cedric Tillman was targeted three times and caught one pass for 5 yards in the win at the Raiders.
Saints cornerback Alontae Taylor started and had six tackles in the loss to the Falcons.
Bills wide receiver Joshua Palmer was targeted four times and caught two passes for 21 yards in the loss at the Texans on Thursday Night Football.
Texans fullback Jakob Johnson played 11 snaps of offense, but did not have any stats in the win against the Bills on Thursday Night Football.
Titans defensive tackle Shy Tuttle played just two snaps and was being evaluated for a concussion in the loss to the Seahawks.
Giants wide receiver Jalin Hyatt was active, but did not play any snaps in the overtime loss at the Lions.
Joshua Dobbs was the unused backup quarterback for the Patriots in their win at the Bengals.
Joe Milton III was the unused backup quarterback for the Cowboys in their comeback win against the Eagles.
Titans long snapper Morgan Cox was flawless on one field goal, three extra points and three punts in the loss to the Seahawks.
Not in action
Inactive: Panthers OL Cade Mays (ankle), Bucs DT Elijah Simmons.
Bye week: RB Jaylen Wright (Dolphins), DT Matthew Butler (Dolphins).
Injured reserve: Texans DE Darrell Taylor (ankle), Chiefs DT Omarr Norman-Lott (knee).
Practice squad: TE McCallan Castles (Packers), OL Jerome Carvin (Jaguars), TE Princeton Fant (Cowboys), RB Velus Jones Jr. (Seahawks).