Top 5 performances for Alabama Football in the NFL Week 1

Alabama Football fans can confidently turn on pretty much any NFL game on Sundays and see multiple former Crimson Tide standouts making plays. This week was no different, with plenty of big performances. From the opening night on Thursday in Kansas City to Brazil on Friday to across the country on Sunday, Alabama players continue to shine.

Narrowing down the top five performances is difficult, with 62 former Tide players making opening 53-man rosters. We saw some flashy debuts for some rookies, some breakouts, and plenty of veterans who continue to show they are among the best at their respective positions in the National Football League.

This list is subject to change with the Jets facing the 49ers tonight. Quinnen Williams and CJ Mosley will be suiting up for New York against the defending NFC Champions.

Here's a few honorable mentions that just missed the cut first:

Brian Robinson Jr. touched the ball 15 times in the Commanders' loss to Tampa Bay and produced 89 yards from scrimmage and scored a rushing touchdown.

Jaylen Waddle went over 100 yards receiving in Miami's come-from-behind win over Jacksonville.

Henry To'oTo'o stepped in for former Tide teammate Christian Harris at LB for the Texans, and finished with 7 tackles, a tackle for loss, and a pass deflection in Houston's close win over division rival Indianapolis.

Josh Jacobs went over 100 scrimmage yards on 18 touches in his Packers debut in Brazil against Philadelphia. Jalen Hurts had a pair of touchdown tosses and DeVonta Smith caught 7 passes for 84 yards in the same game as the Eagles edged out Green Bay.

Derrick Henry scored the first touchdown of the season in his debut with Baltimore against Kansas City on opening night.

Top 5

5. Dallas Turner

The Vikings took Dallas Turner with the 17th pick in the 2024 NFL Draft in hopes he could make an immediate impact as a pass rusher to help improve a defense that struggled last season. It took Turner little time to make his presence felt.

Late in the 2nd quarter against the Giants with the Vikings up 14-3, New York was looking to put points on the board before the half as they approached midfield. Turner put an end to that threat with a nice move on Giants LT Andrew Thomas as Daniel Jones stepped up in the pocket. Turner brought Jones to the ground for the first sack of his NFL career.

Turner finished with three tackles and that sack as Minnesota cruised to a 28-6 win over the Giants.

4. Brian Branch

Brian Branch burst onto the scene as a rookie last season for Detroit, and quickly became one of the best and most versatile nickel corners in the NFL. Head coach Dan Campbell and defensive coordinator Aaron Glenn decided to move Branch to safety full-time in 2024, and unsurprisingly the former 2nd round pick is already great at it.

Branch was flying all over the field on Sunday Night Football against the Rams. He deflected three passes, made a tackle-for-loss, and finished with seven total tackles as the Lions won a thriller in overtime.

His best play of the night was when he came screaming down from his safety spot to dive and deflect what looked like an easy out-route completion to Cooper Kupp.

Branch continues to get better and better and looks like a future All-Pro (maybe as early as this season.)

3. Trevon Diggs

It has been a long, emotional road back to the field for Trevon Diggs. He tore his ACL in practice heading into Week 3 last season and missed the rest of the year. In his first game action in nearly a full year, Diggs did what he does best.

Diggs intercepted the pass after the ball tipped off the WR's hands. Diggs is one of the best ballhawking cornerbacks in the NFL, and in 2021 he led the league with 11 interceptions. Even after missing almost all of last season, Diggs leads the NFL with 16 interceptions since the beginning of the 2021 season.

It was great to see Diggs back out there for Dallas as he helped lead the Cowboys to an easy victory over the Browns.

2. Tua Tagovailoa

In his first game since signing a massive 4-year contract extension, Tua Tagovailoa had a big performance in leading the Dolphins to a comeback win over the Jaguars. Tua led the NFL in passing yards with 338, and a big second half peformance allowed Miami to overcome a 17-7 deficit.

Tua had to be nearly flawless to give Miami a chance, and the Alabama football legend delivered. In the 2nd half alone, he completed 12-of-16 passes for 207 yards and one long touchdown to Tyreek Hill on a perfectly placed deep ball

That touchdown cut the lead to just three, and Tua then led Miami on back-to-back field goal drives, including the game-winner as time expired, to give the Dolphins the season-opening victory.

1. Jameson Williams

Jamo has arrived. The third-year player has dealt with injuries and a rookie year suspension that has prevented the former first-round pick from realizing his potential. There was a lot of talk this offseason about this being the year that Williams finally broke out.

On Sunday Night Football, Williams announced to the world that the chatter was real.

Williams beat former LSU CB Tre'Davious White with a filthy double move. White tried to tackle Jamo at the top of the route, but Jamo shook it off and streaked wide-open down the field for the long touchdown.

It wasn't just the long touchown, which we've seen from Williams several times in the first two years of his NFL career. It was the fact that he was very obviously a featured part of the offense and not just a gimmick. He caught five passes for 121 yards and a touchdown, while also taking an end around for a 13 yard gain.

Williams caught a lot of flack on social media for having the goal of leading the league in receiving yards and touchdowns, but those who laughed at that probably aren't laughing after what they saw last night.