In a way too early 2020 Mock Draft, nine Alabama football players are slated as first-round selections. The NFL first-round record is six.
Why are we discussing Alabama football players and the 2020 NFL Draft? Normally a Mock Draft so far out would not get much attention. If current projections hold true for the 2019 Draft, the Crimson Tide will have four to six, first-round picks. Dial back the 2019 and 2020 projections a bit to four in 2019 and seven in 2020 and there would still be half of the 2019 Alabama football starters (not counting special teams) projected to be first-round picks in the next two Drafts.
That is a massive amount of talent on one football team.
Before we Alabama football fans get too giddy, the nine number for 2020 comes from one Mock Draft. It is, however, from a credible source, Walter Football’s Charlie Campbell. Campbell will probably update this 2020 Mock thirty times before the actual Draft. It will change a lot. Players will drop down due to injuries and disappointing performance. Other players with surprising stellar performances will leapfrog some of the currently projected first-rounders.
Campbell has SEC players being selected for 19 of the 32 first-round slots. That means the rest of the SEC is projected to exceed the Crimson Tide by exactly one first-round selection. In this case, the rest of the SEC is Georgia, Florida, Auburn, LSU, Missouri, Tennessee and Texas A&M. The Dawgs, Gators and War Eagles are projected to have two first-rounders and the other schools listed, one each.
The Nine Projected Alabama Football 2020 First-Round Picks
- No. 1 Overall Pick – Tua Tagovailoa
- No. 3 – Jerry Jeudy
- No. 12 – Trevon Diggs
- No. 17 – Terrell Lewis
- No. 18 – Raekwon Davis
- No. 21 – Henry Ruggs III
- No. 22 – Xavier McKinney
- No. 25 – Anfernee Jennings
- No. 28 – Shyheim Carter
Other SEC Players Projected First-Round
- No. 2 – Andrew Thomas – Offensive Tackle – Georgia
- No. 5 – Grant Delpit – Safety – LSU
- No. 10 – Derrick Brown – Defensive Tackle – Auburn
- No. 14 – Albert Okwegbunam – Tight End – Missouri
- No. 15 – Kendrick Rogers – Wide Receiver – Texas A&M
- No. 16 – Nick Coe – Defensive End – Auburn
- No. 20 – Jabari Zuniga – Defensive End – Florida
- No. 23 – C.J. Henderson – Cornerback – Florida
- No. 29 – Tre Smith – Offensive Tackle – Tennessee
- No. 32 – Jake Fromm – Quarterback – Georgia
Even if Campbell is wrong about three of the Crimson Tide guys, six first-rounders in 2020 would tie the record set by Miami in the 2004 Draft.
Getting back to the 2019 Draft, can the Tide match last year with a dozen total players drafted? If all the players invited to the Combine are selected, it will only take one more from the Tide’s Pro Day or later NFL team workouts.