With the sustained success of Wisconsin’s football program over the last decade-plus, plenty of former Badgers athletes are getting the chance to compete at the professional level. By our unofficial count, 34 former Badgers are on either an active roster, injured reserve or practice squad of an NFL team.

Here are some of their highlights from week 17 of the NFL season.

Jonathan Taylor, RB, Indianapolis Colts

In a game the Colts needed to win to have a chance to make the playoffs, the rookie running back from Wisconsin delivered. Taylor carried the ball 30 times for a whopping 253 yards and two touchdowns, averaging 8.4 yards per carry, to help the Colts to a 28-14 win over Jacksonville.

Rushing for 72 yards on the Colts’ opening drive, Taylor had 106 yards in the first quarter (the first 100-yard rushing first quarter in the NFL this season) and just kept churning, delivering the game-clinching 46-yard touchdown with 3:35 remaining.

The accolades are enormous. The mark set a franchise record, it was the most yards run by a rookie running back since 2012, tied for the second-most all-time for a rookie and ninth most in a game by any player in the history of the league.

In the final seven weeks of the season, Taylor rushed for 741 yards and seven touchdowns. He finished the season with 1,169 rushing yards and 11 touchdowns (third most yards in the league) and 36 catches for 299 yards and a score.

With the 14 teams in the NFL’s playoffs now set, the games will feature 10 former Badgers competing for Super Bowl LV.

In the NFC, Rick Wagner (Green Bay Packers), Zack Baun and Ryan Ramzcyk (New Orleans Saints), Russell Wilson (Seattle Seahawks), Jack Cichy (Tampa Bay Buccaneers) and David Edwards and Rob Havenstein (Los Angeles Rams) advanced. In the AFC, Derek Watt and T.J. Watt (Pittsburgh Steelers) and Jonathan Taylor (Indianapolis Colts) will play in the postseason.

Zack Baun, LB, New Orleans Saints

Baun had two tackles and a tackle for loss in the 33-7 win over Carolina, as the Saints finished with the No.2 seed in the NFC. Baun finished his rookie season with 10 tackles.

Quintez Cephus, WR, Detroit Lions

Finishing with two catches for 51 yards and a 20-yard touchdown in the Lions’ loss at Minnesota. Cephus finished his rookie season with 20 catches for 349 yards (17.5 ypc) and two scores. Cephus is the first rookie in franchise history (selected in the 5th-round or later) to catch multiple TDs in a season since Ty Hallock (7th round pick) in 1993.

Jack Cichy, LB, Tampa Bay Buccaneers

Cichy finished with one special team tackle in 15 plays in the Buccaneers’ 44-27 win over Atlanta. It ends a whirlwind month for Cichy. Waived by the Buccaneers in early December, Cichy was signed to New England’s practice squad and spent three weeks with the franchise, only to be resigned by Tampa Bay on New Year’s Day.

Corey Clement, RB, Philadelphia Eagles

Clement had one rush for one yard and one catch for seven yards in the Eagles’ 20-14 loss to Washington on Sunday night. He finished his season with 75 yards on 21 carries and a touchdown and five catches for 25 yards.

Ryan Connelly, LB, Minnesota Vikings

Finishing with one special team tackle in the win over Detroit, Connelly finished with season with five tackles (all solos).

T.J. Edwards, LB, Philadelphia Eagles

Starting at linebacker and playing 57 of 63 snaps, Edwards finished with seven tackles and an interception in the Eagles’ 20-14 loss to Washington on Sunday night. Despite playing four fewer games than his 2019 rookie year, Edwards set new career bests in tackles (68), sacks (2), forced fumbles (2) and interceptions (1).

Alex Erickson, WR, Cincinnati Bengals

Finishing with one catch for eight yards and one rush for two yards in a 34-3 loss to Baltimore, Erickson finished his season with 12 catches for 139 yards. He finished with two punt returns for 26 yards, giving him an average of 10.1 yards per return this season.

Troy Fumagalli, TE, Denver Broncos

Finishing with two catches for 15 yards and a one-yard touchdown in Denver’s 32-31 loss at Las Vegas, Fumagalli had eight catches for 80 yards and a touchdown after being added to the active roster in November.

Melvin Gordon, RB, Denver Broncos

Taking 81 percent of the carries, Gordon had 93 yards and a 10-yard touchdown to end his season with 986 yards on 215 carries (4.6 ypc) and nine touchdowns.

Alec Ingold, FB, Las Vegas Raiders

Played on offense and specials teams in the Raiders’ victory over Denver to finish the season 8-8.

Dare Ogunbowale, RB, Jacksonville Jaguars

Earning his second straight start, Ogunbowale ran for 50 yards on 14 carries and caught four passes for 22 yards in the Jaguars’ loss to the Colts.

Joe Schobert, LB, Jacksonville Jaguars

Finishing with nine tackles to tie for the team elad, Schobert finished his first year in Jacksonville with 147 stops.

Andrew Van Ginkel, LB, Miami Dolphins

Starting his 11th game of the season, Van Ginkel finished with five tackles, three of them for loss and a sack in the Dolphins’ 56-26 loss at Buffalo, eliminating them from the playoffs. Van Ginkel enjoyed the best season of his young career, finishing with 48 tackles and seven tackles for loss.

Derek Watt, FB, Pittsburgh Steelers

Contributed on special teams in the Steelers’ loss at Cleveland. The two teams will meet in Pittsburgh next week in the AFC Divisional Round.

J.J. Watt, DE, Houston Texans

Watt finished with three tackles, two tackles for loss and two quarterback hits as the Texans lost on a field goal as time expired to Tennessee. Watt finished the year with 52 tackles, 13 TFLs, 16 QB hits and an interception

James White, RB, New England Patriots

White had four catches for 31 yards and opened the scoring with a 7-yard touchdown pass. It was White’s 25th career receiving touchdown, as he finished the season with 121 rushing yards, 375 receiving yards and three touchdowns.

Russell Wilson, QB, Seattle Seahawks

Leading the Seahawks to a 12-4 record and the No.3 seed in the NFC playoffs, Wilson threw for 181 yards (20-for-36) and two touchdowns while running five times for 31 yards in a 26-22 win at San Francisco. Wilson finished his season with 4,212 passing yards, a 68.8 completion percentage, 40 passing touchdowns and 13 interceptions.

Men in the Trenches

Beau Benzschawel, OG, Houston Texans (made his season debut with the Texans after being elevated from the practice squad)

Tyler Biadasz, C, Dallas Cowboys (played the season finale against the Giants)

Michael Deiter, OL, Miami Dolphins (played on special teams against the Bills)

David Edwards, OG, Los Angeles Rams (started at left guard, starting the last 14 games of the season and missing only one offensive snap. The Rams play at Seattle to open the playoffs)

Rob Havenstein, OT, Los Angeles Rams (started at right tackle and only missed three offensive snaps on all season)

Ryan Ramczyk, OT, New Orleans Saints (started at right tackle every game for the Saints in 2020-21)

Rick Wagner, OT, Green Bay Packers (started at right tackle to help the Packers wrap up the No.1 seed in the NFC playoffs)

Kevin Zeitler, OG, New York Giants (started at right guard, playing 100 percent of the offensive snaps in every game but one in 2020)

Inactive

Natrell Jamerson, S, Carolina Panthers

T.J. Watt, LB, Pittsburgh Steelers

Injured Reserve

Beau Allen, DT, New England Patriots (lower body)

Vince Biegel, LB, Miami Dolphins (foot)

Ryan Groy, OL, Los Angeles Chargers (triceps)

Leon Jacobs, LB, Jacksonville Jaguars (ACL)

Practice Squad

Chris Orr, LB, Carolina Panthers

Sojourn Shelton, CB, Chicago Bears