Pro Football Focus assessed how Tennessee football’s player performed in each game throughout the 2024 season by watching the film and handing out grades to the Vols.

PFF consists of a staff of 300-plus experts that review the game film of every single team and player in the country. The grades assigned to players should be taken with a grain of salt, however, as PFF does not know the assignment of Tennessee players on any given play. PFF’s grades are likely different than the coaches’ grades as well.

Still, it’s a good resource for fans who don’t have an in-depth knowledge of the game or have the time to go back and watch it in-depth themselves.

“Taking every play into consideration allows for a larger sample size of data to tell the proper story rather than just a highlight reel of plays that we tend to remember, for better or worse,” Pro Football Focus defines about its grading process. “We also work to eliminate bias by not caring about the level of player who is being graded, so whether it’s the best tackle in the league missing a block or one of the worst, the same grade is given. Preconceived level of ability has no impact on the grading system. This style has worked well in unlocking undervalued gems through the years, while also not being swayed by player hype if it is undeserved.”

Players are graded on a scale from 1-100. A grade of 90-100 is viewed as an elite grade, while 85-89 is viewed an all-conference player, 70-84 is starter quality, 60-69 is backup quality and everything under 60 is replaceable.

Here’s how Tennessee’s defensive players performed during the 2024 season, according to Pro Football Focus, as well as how many snaps they played.