During Nick Saban’s 17-year tenure as head coach of the Alabama Crimson Tide, he basically re-wrote the NFL draft record books with a staggering 133 total picks and 47 first-rounders. In fact, Saban was so good he had every single NFL franchise draft an Alabama player and even had a player from every single position drafted including punter, kicker, fullback and long-snapper.
Unfortunately, Saban retired from the Crimson Tide back in January, but that doesn’t mean the NFL factory is going to come to a halt. New head coach Kalen DeBoer has proven to be one of the best young coaches in the sport after guiding the Washington Huskies to a national title appearance a season ago. Three players from that Huskies team went on to be first-round picks as well as 10 total players so DeBoer certainly knows talent.
As one might have expected, Saban’s retirement led for several players to enter the transfer portal. DeBoer has done an outstanding job of bringing a few guys over from Washington as well as recruiting out of the portal, but it’s just really hard to replace players the caliber of Isaiah Bond and Caleb Downs. So, the 2024 Alabama team might not be the deepest we’ve ever seen, but the Tide do have the No. 1 recruiting class in the 2025 cycle.
With the coaching change and roster turnover, it will be a true test of DeBoer’s coaching abilities. DraftWire of USA TODAY Sports projects IOL Tyler Booker to be Alabama’s lone first-round draft pick in 2025 with the Houston Texans selecting him at No. 20 overall.
It is pretty odd to see an NFL mock draft featuring just one Alabama player, but it is entirely circumstantial. The last time the Tide had just one player selected in the first-round was in 2016 when the Indianapolis Colts selected Ryan Kelly No. 18 overall.
Once DeBoer gets a full off-season in Tuscaloosa and some of his own recruiting classes in, the Crimson Tide will continue to dominate the NFL draft. And for what it’s worth, I would imagine we will see another player or two play themselves into first-round draft status.
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