Alabama's Draft Evaluations Weren't As Good as Expected
TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — Nick Saban knows a few people in the National Football League.
He likes to make that point about this time ever year when the subject of the draft starts being mentioned, and which players on the Alabama football team might be thinking about leaving early.
This year the subject is coming up even earlier than usual because for the first time the Crimson Tide isn't part of the College Football Playoff, and yet Alabama is expected to have another really strong draft.
However, that'll partly depend on which players declare themselves eligible.
With the Crimson Tide facing Michigan in the Citrus Bowl in Orlando, it wouldn't have been surprising if numerous players weren't on the field when Alabama opened bowl practices on Monday.
Instead, there were only two absences of those not opting to play, redshirt junior linebacker Terrell Lewis and senior cornerback Trevon Diggs.
“I try to get guys to make business decisions about what they’re going to do," Nick Saban said during his first bowl press conference Monday afternoon. "I kind of get it if you’re a high first-round draft pick. The money versus how you can protect yourself and insure yourself may make a business decision that says the risk is not worth the reward of playing in the game.
"But if you’re not in that position, then you have an opportunity to showcase your talents and try to impress people with how you play in the game. That’s pretty much what I told those guys, and it’s their choice. Everybody has to live with sort of the consequences of their decisions, whether they’re good decisions or bad decisions.”
Saban's general rule is if someone isn't considered a first-round talent he should return to school and work to improve his status. The one position he sort of makes an exception for is running back, due to the players having a shorter shelf life in the league.
Alabama has had at least 10 players selected in each of the last three drafts, including a combined 11 first-rounders.
Many expect that trend to continue this year as more than a dozen Alabama players have been hailed by various media outlets as being first-round worthy. For example, ESPN's Todd McShay had seven Crimson Tide players listed as first-round selections in his latest mock draft.
Yet Saban said he talked to 20 NFL teams, and they don't quite see it the same way — a notion that's being backed up by none of the Alabama players landing any major postseason awards, and being bypassed for All-American honors. The Crimson Tide had five second- and third-team selections by the Associated Press on Monday, but none on the one that matters, the first-team.
"Do you guys actually pick guys in the draft?" Saban rhetorically asked reporters. "Does the media pick guys? Do the guys that put the mock drafts up, do you guys have actually have a draft choice? Do you pick? The people that pick, I’m not sure we do have anybody in that position, aight.
"I know it’s out there. It’s out there every year. We’ve had guys that they put were going to get drafted in the first round and got drafted in the fifth round. So, I don’t think all that information is exactly accurate. I actually think that the NFL teams try to stir the media away from who they’re going to pick and who they like, aight. So, there’s a lot of misinformation out there as to who the guys are."
Linebacker Mack Wilson was widely being hailed as a possible first-round pick last year and fell to the fifth round. Safety Deionte Thompson also went in the fifth round after leaving Alabama early.
Last week, BamaCentral reported that running back Najee Harris, wide receiver Jerry Jeudy and right tackle Jedrick Wills Jr. are all expected to enter the 2020 NFL Draft along with Lewis, who has had numerous injury issues during his career.
Yet all but Lewis will play against Michigan.
Also practicing were wide receivers Henry Ruggs III and DeVonta Smith, offensive linemen Landon Dickerson and Alex Leatherwood, and safety Xavier McKinney.
Obviously those juniors may all be heavily influenced by what quarterback Tua Tagovailoa does coming off his hip injury. But it's an incredibly deep draft for wide receivers. Leatherwood could probably use another year of development, and safeties don't go in the first round very often.
Consequently, the real story Monday may not have been the players who opted to sit, but the numerous ones who didn't.
“I’m excited about the guys who are playing in the game, the guys that have decided to play in the game, and I think all the guys that are playing in the game have made really good choices to play in the game," Saban said. "I think they can enhance their value by playing in the game very, very well.
"Every guy’s got to make that decision, and we support them, whatever that decision is.”
