Former Vanderbilt "Big Three" Could Face Off In NFL This Season

It's possible that the three most recent Vanderbilt Commodore standouts could face each other as rookies in the NFL this season.

Ke'Shawn Vaughn, Jared Pinkney, and Kalija Lipscomb are all members of NFL rosters, Vaughn in Tampa Bay, Pinkney with the Falcons, and Lipscomb with the defending Super Bowl champion Chiefs. 

Only Vaughn is guaranteed a roster spot as a third-round selection of the Bucs, while his two former teammates, both undrafted rookie free-agents, have their work cut out for them to make their respective roster. 

Should the latter two earn their place with their current teams, the threesome would face off against one another in their rookie seasons in the league. 

Vaughn's Tampa squad and Pinkney's Falcons are in the same division, the NFC South, and will face each other twice, both home and away on Dec.20 in Atlanta and again thirteen days later, on Jan.3 in Tampa. 

Lipscomb and his Chiefs of the AFC West will face both the Buccaneers and Falcons in a single game as Kansas City faces the entire NFC South division this season. 

Lipscomb would face Vaughn and Tampa Bay in week 12, on Nov. 29 in Tampa in what right now would be one of the premier matchups of the season between two teams who could meet in Super Bowl  LV.

Should these two teams find their ways to the championship game, it would be played in Tampa's Raymond James Stadium, meaning the week 12 meeting could be an exact preview of the final game. 

The Chiefs and Lipscomb will face Pinkney and his Falcons four weeks later, in week 16, as they travel to Atlanta to face the Falcons on Dec.27 inside Mercedes-Benz Stadium.

Again, these scenarios depend in large part on both Lipscomb and Pinkney earning a place on their current rosters. Both players could be cut and then potentially picked up by other teams, and there is the chance they could be placed on their current teams practice squads, which would mean they would not play in any games during the season.    

There remains a lot of possibilities before these matchups could become realities. Still, right now, in a world without real games, it's fun to think about and gives Commodores fans something to look forward to for their former stars in their (hopefully) new roles in the NFL.     

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