Since Nick Saban’s arrival to Tuscaloosa in 2007, Alabama has not only become a team that has created a dynasty winning national championships, but it also has become a program that sends players to the NFL every year.
With the 2020 NFL Draft happening in less than a month, it’s the perfect time to start a new series in which we will go over all of the Tide’s 29 first-round draft picks. The first player we went over was Andre Smith, who finished his career at Alabama with 15 awards and honors and was drafted by the Cincinnati Bengals as the No. 6 pick in the 2009 NFL Draft. The second player we went over was former Alabama star linebacker Rolando McClain who would not only win many incredible awards while at Alabama, but was drafted by Oakland Raiders as the No. 8 pick in the 2010 NFL Draft. The 3rd Alabama player drafted in the first round for the Tide was Kareem Jackson who would go on to be drafted by the Houston Texans as the No. 20 overall pick in the first round of the 2010 NFL Draft.
This time, we will be focusing on another former Alabama football star, Marcel Dareus.
.@marcelldareus is the fourth of Nick Saban’s 29 First Round draft picks at Alabama.#29andCounting #BamaFactor pic.twitter.com/LzCDArMRfK
— Alabama Football (@AlabamaFTBL) March 28, 2020
As a true freshman in 2008, Dareus played in eight games while recording tackles and 3 QB hurries.
As a sophomore in 2009, he became a big part of Alabama’s success. He played in 14 games ( 4 of those as a starter) and became the Tide’s top pass rusher. He recorded 33 total tackles, 9.0 tackles for loss, 7 quarterback hurries, 1 interception, and 2 pass breakups. He was named the defensive MVP of the 2010 BCS National Championship Game after an impressive performance where he had a 28 yard pick 6.
As a junior in 2010, he recorded 34 total tackles, 11.0 tackles for loss, 4.5 quarterback sacks, 10 quarterback hurries, 4 four pass breakups.
Dareus was selected with the third overall pick in the 2011 NFL Draft by the Buffalo Bills, where he played from 2011-2017. There, he had 300 combined tackles and 35 sacks.
In 2017, he was traded by the Bills to the Jacksonville Jaguars where he played from 2017-2019. There he recorded 65 combined tackles and 2.5 sacks.
He is currently a free agent.
