Since 2008, the Alabama football program has finished inside the final AP Top 25 Poll each season. Coincidentally, Alabama has become the pinnacle of top-end professional talent during that span. Although the Crimson Tide failed to win double-digit games in 2024 for the first time in 17 seasons, NFL franchises did not shy away from the pedigree associated with the program.
On Thursday, during night one of the 2025 NFL Draft, the Dallas Cowboys selected Alabama guard Tyler Booker with the 12th overall pick. With the 31st pick, the Philadelphia Eagles traded up for former Crimson Tide superstar linebacker Jihaad Campbell.
With the selection of Campbell and Booker, an Alabama player has gone in the first round for a record 17th consecutive season. In second is Ohio State, who has had a first-round pick for nine straight seasons, while Georgia is at eight years.
After failing to have any selection during the 2008 NFL Draft, Alabama offensive tackle Andre Smith went to the Cincinnati Bengals with the sixth overall pick in 2009. Rolando McClain and Kareem Jackson went in the first round in 2010, while a then-record four players (Marcell Dareus, Julio Jones, James Carpenter, and Mark Ingram) went during the first round of the 2011 NFL Draft.
2015 (Ryan Kelly) and 2016 (Amari Cooper) are the only years since 2009 in which only one Alabama player went in the first round. Meanwhile, following an undefeated 2020 campaign, six Crimson Tide players (Jaylen Waddle, DeVonta Smith, Patrick Surtain, Mac Jones, Alex Leatherwood, and Najee Harris) went in the subsequent draft.
