Alabama Football: Latest NFL draft news for former Crimson Tiders
By Ronald Evans
Thursday night could mean dreams fulfilled for former Alabama football players. Check out the latest projections for all seven rounds of the NFL Draft.
As many as 15 former Alabama football players are hoping to be drafted in the seven rounds of the NFL Draft. The Crimson Tide record in one draft is 10, set last year. The Tide record for first-rounders is four. It could be five this Thursday night.
Even the many people whose primary occupational pursuit is the NFL Draft admit Mock-Drafts are rarely accurate. That is not from lack of effort. Team draft decisions are so fluid it is almost impossible to predict them in advance.
Following draft projections can be great fun. Searching for the most precision, we narrow down our sources to Peter King of si.com, Mike Mayock of nfl.com and whoever made the most correct picks in the last season. That, most correct picks person from 2017, was Charlie Campbell.
Peter King has been doing draft analysis so long he smartly does not give much attention to anything other than the first round. Mayock does exactly one mock draft and it comes out the day before the Draft. Charlie makes the bold attempt to predict all seven rounds.
Let’s first review Mayock’s final position rankings for the 2018 draft. We skip the position groups not having any former Alabama football player in Mike’s top five.
Mayock’s Position Rankings
Wide Receiver
- No. 1 – D.J. Moore – Maryland
- No. 2 – Calvin Ridley – Alabama
- No. 3 Courtland Sutton – SMU
- No. 4 Christian Kirk – TAMU
Interior Defensive Line
- No. 1 Vita Vea – Washington
- No. 2 Da’Ron Payne – Alabama
Linebacker
- No. 1 Roquan Smith – Georgia
- No. 2 Tremaine Edwards – Virginia Tech
- No. 3 Rashaan Evans – Alabama
Safety
- No. 1 Minkah Fitzpatrick – Alabama
- No. 2 Derwin James – FSU
- No. 3 Ronnie Harrison – Alabama
Looking at Charlie Campbell’s mock draft, let’s see which teams may draft the five former Alabama football players in Mayock’s breakdown.
Campbell has all five being drafted in the first round.
- Minkah Fitzpatrick at No. 9 to the San Francisco 49ers
- Da’Ron Payne at No. 13 to the Washington Redskins
- Calvin Ridley at No. 16 to the Baltimore Ravens
- Ronnie Harrison at No. 24 to the Carolina Panthers
- Rashaan Evans at No. 27 to the New Orleans Saints
Peter King has four former Tiders going in the first round. King’s first-round projection is:
- Minkah Fitzpatrick at No. 7 to Tampa Bay
- Da’Ron Payne at No. 20 to the Detroit Lions
- Rashaan Evans at No. 23 to New England
- Calvin Ridley at No. 24 to the Carolina Panthers
Charlie Campbell only projects four more former Alabama football players in rounds two through seven.
- Da’Shawn Hand in the 2nd round to the Colts
- Anthony Averett in the 3rd round to the Denver Broncos
- Tony Brown in the 4th round to Green Bay
- Levi Wallace in the 5th round to Chicago
Based on Campbell’s mock draft, Shaun Dion Hamilton, Brad Bozeman, Bo Scarbrough, Robert Foster, J.K. Scott and Josh Frazier would become undrafted free agents.
Next: Can the Tide set new NFL Draft records?
A lot will change in the next few days. Bama Hammer will provide coverage of the NFL Draft all week.