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10 greatest Alabama football undrafted free agents of all time

By Oliver Vandervoort

Wallace Gilberry (95) against the Chicago Bears in a preseason NFL football game at Paul Brown Stadium.(Aaron Doster-USA TODAY Sports)
Wallace Gilberry (95) against the Chicago Bears in a preseason NFL football game at Paul Brown Stadium.(Aaron Doster-USA TODAY Sports) /
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(Gary Cosby Jr.-USA TODAY Sports) /

Greatest Alabama football undrafted player No. 10: Jim Bowdoin

Offensive Guard
Green Bay Packers: 1928-1931
Brooklyn Dodgers: 1932
New York Giants: 1932
Portsmouth Spartans: 1933
Brooklyn Dodgers: 1934

Alabama football fans have to get into the way-back machine to learn about Jim Bowdoin. Of course, tried and true Crimson Tide fans have probably heard of this offensive lineman since he was a member of a football program that won two National Championships while playing in Tuscaloosa.

After his college days, Bowdoin signed as a free agent with the Green Bay Packers and played his first four seasons in the NFL with one of the most decorated teams in the history of the league. Bowdoin played in 11 games in his rookie season and started seven.

Over the rest of hIs Green Bay career, he wasn’t always a starter or someone who appeared in their games, but he was a starter more often than not. His career is also an interesting guide through the early days of the NFL. The former Alabama football star eventually moved to the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1932. He also spent time on the New York Giants that season. In 1933 he played for the now-long-defunct Portsmouth Spartans. Bowdoin finished his post-Crimson Tide career with the also-now-defunct Dodgers but before that end, he’d managed to rack up seven years in the fledgling league. That’s undoubtedly an impressive run.

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