Can You Imagine an “All Bama” NFL Team?
By: Larry Burton
Nick Saban may not have left his stamp on the NFL as a head coach, but look at the NFL talent that he and other Alabama coaches have put in professional football. Just this past week we’ve seen stories of different Alabama players making the pro bowl, but could you imagine for a moment Saban coaching a team in the NFL comprised of former Alabama players? They could be one of the top NFL teams on their own and might find themselves contending for championships in the top league just as they did in college.
In looking over the other players currently playing professional football, I could not find one other college who could supply a whole team to every position. It just sort of puts into perspective just how Alabama has become college football’s stepping stone to the professional ranks and gives the Alabama haters just one more reason to be envious of everything coming out of Tuscaloosa. Not only is the Crimson Tide the only team that can field a professional in every position, they are also the only one who could field an entire 53 man roster.
Offense
Quarterback- AJ McCarron -(with the Bengals now) helped put the Bengals in the playoffs last week and could surely run a Saban offense in the NFL to perfection. Looking around for a backup would be tough, there’s Blake Sims who was just cut by Saskatchewan in the Canadian league, but a better notion would be to tap Greg McElroy to come out of his network job and go back to quarterbacking.
Running backs – Eddie Lacy (Green Bay) and Mark Ingram (New Orleans)- Both proven NFL backs, with TJ Yeldon from Jacksonville as a backup.
Fullback – Jalston Fowler (Tennessee Titans) – proven runner with soft hands and great blocking ability
Tight End – Brian Vogler – (Chicago) – Good run blocker with reliable pass catching ability and Brad Smelly from St. Louis as a backup
Receivers – Amari Cooper – (Oakland) NFL rookie of the year candidate, Julio Jones, (headed to pro bowl again) and Kevin Norwood (Seattle) Mr. Reliable clutch catcher, put him in the slot and this group would make a defensive coordinator cry. Then you have DeAndrew White and Christion Jones as reliable backups.
Offensive Line – Center – Barrett Jones – (Eagles) – Good guy to have on team, can play any position, Anthony Steen (Arizona) – good guard, can play center too, Cyrus Kouandjio, (Bills) – NFL size and speed at tackle, DJ Fluker – D.J. Fluker (San Diego) – proven tackle with many good years ahead of him, Austin Shepherd (Minnesota) – great reliable guard with a bright future. And for backups here, you have Andre Smith, Leon Brown, Arie Kouandijio and Michael Williams as backups.
Can’t you imagine how that offense would roll? Who would you double cover at receiver? Who could you afford not too? And the running backs? Boy, wouldn’t they open up the passing game? This is a WOW offense in every sense of the word.
Defense
Now on defense, the all star parade just keeps on going….
Defensive Linemen – Josh Chapman (Colts) – what a run stopper, Marcel Dareus (Bills) – Proven NFL talent, Wallace Gilberry (Bengals) – proven NFL defensive tackle. If you want to play a 4-3, then plug in Jesse Williams (Seattle)
Linebackers – There are about 10 great ones in the NFL, with more going in this year, so it’s hard to decide on just four, but for argument’s sake we’ll go with, Donta Hightower (New England) – proven NFL super talent, C.J. Mosley and Courtney Upshaw (both with the Ravens), and either Nico Johnson (Bengals) or Rolando McClain (Dallas), both great choices. The list of backups here would be stunning.
Now with defensive backs, choosing four will be tough with 8 of them in the NFL right now and all talented, but you’d have a great team with Rashad Johnson (Cardinals), NFL standout safety for a while now, Mark Barron (St. Louis) – Another proven safety and what about Roman Harper (Carolina) as a backup safety to bring his all pro bowl and Super Bowl experience to a relatively young group. He’d be another coach on the field. Then you have Dre Kirkpatrick (Bengals) – solid player at corner and Kareem Jackson (Houston), another corner who just signed a 34 million dollar contract extension. I’d say they could lock down the corners.
And coming in on nickle, how about having HaHa Clinton-Dix and Dee Milliner choose from?
Special Team
With this team, it would be unfair to have a spectacular special team, but they could field a darn good one except for maybe an all star kicker, but with the rest of this team, it would be just fine.
Carson Tinker – (Jacksonville) – Super proven long snapper, Cody Mandell (Green Bay) – great punter, Jeremy Shelley (was with Falcons, now with Arizona Rattlers in the Arena Football League) – has proven he can be on championship caliber teams and contribute. Now throw in Christion Jones as a punt and kickoff returner.
Conclusion
There are about 60 players playing professional football right now from the University of Alabama, throw in the ones that will join it at the end of this season and you could field a complete 53 man roster. Since you can only dress 46 for any one game, only the Crimson Tide could put such a complete and dominating team on the field.
Throw in coaches who have coached at Alabama and you would have a team that truly could contend and the best news for Alabama fans would be that the supply of men that Alabama could supply for years to come have no apparent end in sight.
Larry has been published in almost every media outlet for college sports and now primarily writes here for Touchdown Alabama. Follow Larry on Twitter for inside thoughts and game time comments at https://twitter.com/LBSportswriter
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