Super Bowl 51 in Houston won’t have as much Tennessee flavor as Super Bowl 50’s matchup between the Peyton Manning-led Broncos and the Carolina Panthers that featured four former Vols.
With wins by the Patriots and Falcons in the conference championship games, the Vols were guaranteed at least one player on the roster for Super Bowl 51, but that player is inactive.
Cornerback Justin Coleman, who has appeared in 10 games for the Patriots during the 2016 season, has been a healthy inactive for both of New England playoff games, and the Pats decided to not include him on the active roster for Sunday. Inactives were announced approximately an hour and a half before the scheduled 6:30 pm ET kickoff.
The Falcons have former Tennessee quarterback Matt Simms on their practice squad, but Simms won’t be on the official roster for the game either. Both, however, would likely be in line to receive a ring should their respective team win the game.
With the exception of 2009, Tennessee’s had at least one player representative in every Super Bowl since 1991.
