Today will be rare for Alabama football fans
While Alabama football has put plenty of players into the NFL, there has still been a few positions that have struggled to see the field. Alabama has seen a few quarterbacks start for NFL teams over the years, but they are rarely in the same era. That makes nights like tonight unique.
Mac Jones and Jalen Hurts will both see the field in the NFL’s second week of the preseason when the Patriots and Eagles face off. While it’s unlikely that either will see the field for long, it will be the first time in most fans’ lifetimes that there will be a game with two quarterbacks from Tuscaloosa in it.
Over the Saban era, few quarterbacks have seen the field in the NFL. Before 2020, A.J. McCarron and Greg McElroy were the only Alabama football quarterbacks to throw the ball.
In this new era for the Crimson Tide, three quarterbacks have been drafted in the first two rounds over the past two NFL Drafts. This makes it more likely to see two Alabama football quarterbacks in the same game.
Jones and Hurts were teammates in Tuscaloosa for two seasons. While the real quarterback battle was between Hurts and Tua Tagovailoa, Mac Jones was working in the background. All three quarterbacks won at least one title with the Tide, and they all hope to carry their new teams to the Super Bowl.
With Jones and Tagovailoa being in the same division, it’s safe to assume that they will eventually face off as the starting quarterbacks for their respective squads. Mac Jones still needs to win the starting job, and Tagovailoa needs to retain his spot with a good sophomore season.
Regardless, Thursday will be the first time in a long time that two Alabama football quarterbacks played in the same game. It was rare enough to have multiple quarterbacks on NFL rosters last season.