Alabama Football: Crimson Tide All-Decade Team

Safety (Strong-Landon Collins, Free-Eddie Jackson, “Money”-Xavier McKinney)

I can feel y’all’s resentment right now and, honestly, I get it. No Barron? No HaHa?? I get it and you’d have your valid arguments. For me, I’m trying to put the three best safeties on the field who can be the most effective defending today’s fast-paced, pass-happy offenses. I believe the above three can do that.

Landon Collins is the best tackling defensive back of the last twenty years and it’s not even close. The guy rarely if ever missed. While not the best coverage safety, he’s still the best option on the back end to play a little closer to the line of scrimmage. You have Eddie for the coverage stuff, but Landon can come across the middle and lay the wood if need be.

With Eddie Jackson you have a guy who’s super instinctive and can read the quarterback. He’ll make you pay for throwing the ball across the middle. He’s not the biggest guy or even the best tackler, but as a last line of defense, there’s none better.

Xavier McKinney is one of my favorite players of the Saban era. In 2019, he was the Tide defense’s duct tape, continuously plugging up sometimes-glaring holes. As Joe Burrow was eviscerating every level of Alabama’s defense in November, McKinney was one of the few guys on the team unaware of the score, playing his ass off at every turn. It’s easier to be a great safety on a great defense. What McKinney did in 2019, I’ll never forget.