Alabama Football: Post-Combine Mocks trending in favor of Tide players

Former Alabama football players who participated in the NFL Combine enhanced their NFL Draft chances as reflected in several recent Mock Drafts.

NFL Draft chances are looking up for former Alabama football players. The recent NFL Combine improved the probable Draft selections of most of the Combine’s 10 former Alabama Crimson Tide players.

As expected, most of the buzz was about Tua Tagovailoa. His recent great medical news has reassured NFL executives he can compete in the 2020 season. He has some medical review milestones left, but it is looking like Miami can no longer sit at No. 5 and count on landing Tua.

The odds are highest that Miami will trade up, making sure to land Tua. However, the Washington Redskins cannot be ruled out with the No. 2 selection. New head coach, Ron Rivera has not enthusiastically endorsed Dewayne Haskins. Rivera met with Tua at the Combine and it is believed he will bring Tua in for a pre-Draft, team visit.

While there have been a couple of suggestions Tua might even go No. 1 to the Bengals, somewhere between No. 2 and No. 6 is Tua’s range on credible Mock Drafts.

Not far below Tua in the mocks is former Alabama football offensive lineman, Jedrick Wills. The current projections for Wills range from a high of No. 4 to a low of No. 10.

Former Tide wideouts, Jerry Jeudy and Henry Ruggs III are not far behind Wills. Jeudy is projected from No. 12 to No. 15. Ruggs has a projected range of No. 15 to No. 21.

Xavier McKinney solidified his reputation as a top safety prospect and will likely be the first safety drafted. His projected range is No. 17 to No. 31. Most mocks have Trevon Diggs moving up after the Combine to a late, first-round selection. Diggs is projected from No. 20 to No. 32 or possibly into the second round.

The consensus is Terrell Lewis is a second-round pick but a couple of mocks have him going late in the first round. Another projected second-round selection is projected for Raekwon Davis. Anfernee Jennings is frequently projected as a third-round pick.

Most mocks have six former Alabama football players going in the first round. A few have just five, former Tiders. One mock that will delight Tide fans has seven former Alabama football players drafted in the first round.

Seven first-round selections would break the old record of six, set by the Miami Hurricanes in 2004. LSU is also a threat to at least tie the Miami record of six selections.

The NFL Draft first round will be  April 23 in the Las Vegas superb of Paradise, NV. That’s a pretty fitting location, considering drafting football players is frequently a gamble.