These are the Mid-Columbia’s greatest contributors to pro football in 20 years

In our continuing list of top Mid-Columbia sports stories of the past 21 years, today we look at those players and coaches from our region in professional football.

The Mid-Columbia has always had some outstanding football players who eventually make their mark in the college and professional ranks.

The last few decades were no different.

And they’re not just players. Our region does a great job of developing coaches.

Here are some of the most notable names these last 21 years with Mid-Columbia connections:

▪ Drew Bledsoe is a veteran quarterback who graduated from Walla Walla High School spent 14 seasons in the NFL.

That included his first nine with the New England Patriots, and he won his only Super Bowl ring with the Pats in 2001.

Tom Brady won take over as starter, and Bledsoe was traded to Buffalo in 2002, where he spent three seasons. He played for Dallas in 2005 and 2006 before retiring.

Bledsoe has passed for over 44,000 yards in his NFL career.

▪ Tyler Brayton is the grandson of the late Bobo Brayton, the legendary college baseball coach from WSU.

But Tyler Brayton made his mark in football. After graduating from Pasco High, Brayton played at the University of Colorado.

In 2003, the defensive end was a first-round draft pick (32nd overall) by the Oakland Raiders.

Brayton played for the Raiders until 2007, then spent the next two seasons with the Carolina Panthers, and finished his career in 2011 with Indianapolis.

He had a career 17.5 quarterback sacks.

▪ Adam Carriker, a Kennewick High grad who played at Nebraska and was drafted in the first round (13th overall) by the St. Louis Rams in the 2007 NFL Draft.

Carriker, a defensive end who played at 6-6, 320 pounds, spent seven seasons with the Rams and Washington Redskins. He finished with 9 career quarterback sacks.

▪ Anthony Davis, a Pasco High graduate, spent most of his 8-year NFL career in the 1990s – including five seasons with the Kansas City Chiefs.

Over that career, Davis had 12.5 sacks as a linebacker, and five interceptions.

His final NFL season was in 2000, where he went out on a high note as a member of the Super Bowl-champion Baltimore Ravens.

▪ Kellen Moore, the Prosser High grad had a stellar college career as Boise State’s quarterback, where over four years he led the Broncos to a 50-3 record — still the NCAA record for most victories in a college career.

Moore went on to be a backup QB for six seasons in the NFL for both the Lions and the Cowboys.

In 2018, he was hired as the Cowboys quarterbacks coach, and has been the team’s offensive coordinator for the past two seasons.

▪ Pat O’Hara was the Tri-Cities Fever’s head coach in 2009, back when they were in af2, which was the second tier of the Arena Football League.

But O’Hara moved up the ranks, coaching in the AFL with the Orlando Predators and the New Orleans VooDoo.

In 2015, though, he made the big step, getting hired by the NFL’s Houston Texans as an offensive assistant. O’Hara spent three seasons there before coming over to the Tennessee Titans in 2018 as their quarterbacks coach, which he still is today.

▪ Greg Olson is a Richland High grad who never played professional football. But he has been a well sought-after assistant coach in the NFL ranks for two decades.

Currently the offensive coordinator for the Las Vegas Raiders, Olson has been an NFL assistant for 20 seasons — 14 of them as an offensive coordinator.

Olson got his start as a grad assistant at WSU in the late 1980s, and spent the 1990s as a NCAA assistant.

In 2001, he was hired as an assistant for the San Francisco 49ers.

Olson has coached for the following NFL teams in his career: 49ers, Bears, Lions, Rams (two different stints), Buccaneers, Jaguars (two different stints) and Raiders (also two different stints).

▪ Mike Reilly is a quarterback who grew up in Kennewick, and was the starter at Kamiakin as a junior.

But an offensive system change brought in a new starter and he played his senior season in Montana.

He finished his college career at Central Washington University, and since 2010 Reilly has been in the Canadian Football League with either the B.C. Lions or Edmonton Eskimos.

In 2015, Reilly led the Eskimos to the Grey Cup championship and was named the game’s MVP. He signed a contract extension with Edmonton that keeps him there through the 2022 season.

▪ Peter Sirmon, a Walla Walla High School graduate played linebacker for the Tennessee Titans from 2000-06.

He collected 5 career sacks and had four interceptions.

He currently is the defensive coordinator for the University of California.

▪ Brian Urlacher grew up in Pasco until he about 12, when his parents divorced and his mother moved him and his brother to New Mexico. But Urlacher still has plenty of family here.

Meanwhile, he played for the Chicago Bears from 2000-12 and is a member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

A linebacker, Urlacher has 41.5 career sacks and 22 interceptions.

▪ Kimo von Oelhoffen never grew up around here, and he played at Boise State. But the nose tackle married local Tondi Redden (Kamiakin graduate) and they raised three daughters in the Tri-Cities.

Von Oelhoffen spent 14 seasons in the NFL, starting in 1994, with the Bengals, Steelers, Jets and Eagles.

In 2005, he won a Super Bowl ring with the Pittsburgh Steelers.

This story was originally published December 24, 2020 at 9:43 AM.