The NFL playoffs have narrowed down to four teams vying for a spot in Super Bowl 60 in Santa Clara. The Denver Broncos, New England Patriots, Seattle Seahawks and Los Angeles Rams are all in the running and each of these teams have several FCS standouts making impacts as well as a few former Grizzly and Bobcat players.

Former Montana State Bobcat Ty Okada, now a safety for the Seattle Seahawks, shared his excitement after their recent divisional round win over the 49ers which took place the same day as Montana State football’s championship parade in Bozeman.

“Yeah, absolutely. Just feeling all the love from Bozeman. So fired up for that group and that community as a whole,” he said.

Okada has been crucial for Seattle this season with 67 tackles, one interception and six passes defended over 18 games.

Alex Singleton, another former Bobcat, has been a standout for the Broncos with nearly 150 tackles this season. He recorded 14 tackles and a forced fumble in their playoff victory against Buffalo.

Patrick O’Connell, a former Grizzly and Kalispell native, contributes significantly to Seattle’s special teams and defense. This season, he has achieved 21 tackles and a sack.

The players’ college careers in Montana were impressive. Singleton played 35 games for Montana State, accumulating 260 tackles, 35.5 for a loss, and five interceptions. Okada appeared in 46 games, recording 179 tackles and 18 pass breakups. O’Connell played in 40 games for the Grizzlies, totaling 242 tackles and 28.5 sacks.

The four NFL teams have a total of 19 players from FCS schools on their active rosters, with nine from the Big Sky Conference. Seattle boasts the most with eight players from the Football Subdivision.

Seattle’s roster, aside from Okada and O’Connell, also includes Cooper Kupp from Eastern Washington and Rashid Shaheed from Weber State. Shaheed made the biggest play of the night in Seattle’s playoff victory victory last week, returning the opening kickoff for a touchdown to put the Seahawks on top early.

“FCS guy, Weber State, shout out to Shaheed,” said Okada. “Just the energy that he brings to this team and just the person that he is, couldn’t be happier. And just everybody on that unit on the kickoff return unit doing their job to make that happen. It’s just a whole group effort. So very fired up.”

The Patriots have four FCS products and all of them are former Big Sky players, including Efton Chism III from Eastern Washington and former Idaho Vandal Christian Ellis.

The Rams have four FCS products but none out of the Big Sky Conference.

Both conference championships will occur on Sunday, January 25. The AFC title game pits the Patriots against the Broncos at 1:00 p.m., while the NFC championship features the Seahawks versus the Rams at 4:30 p.m.