Alabama Football: Winners and losers of the 2021 NFL Draft

Winner: Damien Harris

Harris and Mac Jones were best friends when they were Alabama football teammates. It has been a couple of years since Harris was in Tuscaloosa, but he will now play with Mac Jones in New England. 

The Patriots had Jones fall into their laps with the 15th overall pick, and he will likely start by the end of his rookie year. This will also place Jones at the top of the depth chart ahead of two Auburn quarterbacks.

Winner: Alex Leatherwood

A small percentage of people thought that Alex Leatherwood would be drafted in the first round, but no one thought he would go in the teens. With such a deep offensive line class, many saw him slipping.

Instead, the Raiders drafted Leatherwood 17th overall. The team fit isn’t ideal, but Leatherwood made a ton of money by going this early in the first round.

Winner: Alabama teammates

We saw plenty of Alabama football players go to teams with other Tide players on the roster. Waddle will be catching passes from Tua, and Smitty will catch passes from Hurts. Mac was paired with Damien Harris on offense in New England. Patrick Surtain will also go against Jerry Jeudy at practice in Denver.

Loser: Saints fans

Plenty of Saints fans root for Alabama football. The Saints have no Tide players on the roster, and fans were hoping that would change with Mac Jones going to New Orleans. When the 49ers took Trey Lance, Saints fans had a little bit of hope for a trade up the board. Seeing Jones available in the teens made this more likely, but it never happened.

The Saints still landed a defensive end out of Houston, but they got their hopes up in the first round.

We’ll have to wait a few years before we see who truly won the 2021 NFL Draft, but this is where things stand as of now.