Former Alabama football stars seeking NFL free agent deals

Being an Alabama football player opens many NFL opportunities. Most of the former Crimson Tide players who make rosters as rookies have solid NFL careers. In some cases, those careers far exceed the average number of seasons in an NFL career.

But NFL teams are businesses constrained in most cases, not by how much they could spend, but by the league’s salary caps. Supply and demand drives up new contracts for superstars, with teams having to adjust with other players on the roster.

The free agency period usually goes well for former Alabama football players. Not quite two weeks into the current free agency period, nine former Crimson Tide players are still seeking new deals.

Julio Jones gets the most notice. Now 33 years old, Julio is still highly valued even if only for another season or two. Julio will sign with a new team and take his NFL career into his 12th season. Based on estimated dollars provided by spotrac.com Julio’s NFL career earnings have been over $140M.

Another former Tide player is looking to play a 13th NFL season. Kareem Jackson will turn 34 in days and that is old for a defensive back. Jackson has had an outstanding professional career and will probably get a one-year deal. Jackson’s career earnings are estimated at $74.6M.

Landon Collins is looking for a new team after Washington twice asked him to take a pay cut. Collins has played seven NFL seasons and some NFL experts believe his best deal might come by moving to a full-time hybrid linebacker role. Landon’s estimated NFL career earnings are $48.9M.

Former Alabama football linebackers, Dont’a Hightower, Rashaan Evans and Reggie Ragland are also seeking new deals. Hightower might remain with New England but the other two will move to new teams. The Tide trio’s NFL career earnings are estimated at: Hightower – $52.8M; Evans – $11.5M and Ragland – $8.2M. At 32, Hightower is not the player he was, in what has been a tremendous NFL career, including three Super Bowl titles.

Other Former Alabama Football Player Free Agents

Also available as free agents are AJ McCarron, James Carpenter and Ronnie Harrison. While McCarron has never gained much NFL playtime time, his NFL time has rewarded him well, with estimated career earnings of $15.6M.

Note all the estimated NFL earnings in this post were provided by spotrac.com

While a couple of the guys may not extend their NFL careers for another season, most of these former Alabama football players will continue in the NFL.