Alabama Football 2016 NFL Draft Recap: Picks, UDFA, Veterans & More

THE UNPREDICTABLE DRAFT

In case you missed it, the Crimson Tide had a somewhat surprisingly disappointing first round of the NFL Draft. However, they made up for it on Day Two.

Ryan Kelly C Round 1, Pick 18 (18th overall) Colts
Reggie Ragland ILB Round 2, Pick 10 (41st overall) Bills
Derrick Henry RB Round 2, Pick 14 (45th overall) Titans
A'Shawn Robinson DT Round 2, Pick 15 (46th overall) Lions
Jarran Reed DT Round 2, Pick 18 (49th overall) Seahawks
Cyrus Jones CB Round 2, Pick 29 (60th overall) Patriots
Kenyan Drake RB Round 3, Pick 10 (73rd overall) Dolphins

With all the pre-draft buzz around Kelly, it should not have surprised too many folks that he landed in the first round. Henry was a longshot to make the first round. However, the fall of Ragland, Robinson, and Reed to the second round was a bit confounding. Regardless of those disappointments, Tide fans were rewarded with Jones also going in the second round and Drake soon after in the third.

UNDRAFTED

TIDE PLAYERS

Bama fans could've saved themselves a lot of time if they had know that Drake's selection at number 73 would be the last Tide player picked out of 253 total. Soon after the draft concluded, the UDFA (undrafted free agents) free-for-all began:

Jake Coker QB Arizona Cardinals
Dominick Jackson OG Washington Redskins
D.J. Pettway DL New Orleans Saints
Richard Mullaney WR Houston Texans
Michael Nysewander FB Kansas City Chiefs
Dillon Lee LB New Orleans Saints
Geno Matias-Smith DB Washington Redskins
Darren Lake DL San Francisco 49ers

* Jabriel Washington and Ty Flournoy-Smith have not been picked up as of this writing.

EARLY ENTRIES

30 of the 96 early-entry prospects went undrafted. A select list:

Bralon Addison, WR, Oregon
Dominique Alexander, LB, Oklahoma
Peyton Barber, RB, Auburn
Beniquez Brown, LB, Mississippi State
Denver Kirkland, OT, Arkansas
Jalin Marshall, WR, Ohio State
Marquez North, WR, Tennessee
De'Runnya Wilson, WR, Mississippi State
Avery Young, OL, Auburn

THE VETERANS

With all the players starting their NFL careers, there are veterans who will be pushed out the door. Players drafted in 2013 are starting the fourth year of their rookie contracts. The fifth year is a team option. Two Bama players had their fifth year option not picked up by the team as noted in Tuesday's JP.

Titans not picking up option on Chance Warmack

"At this point and time for our football team, as we manage the roster and salary cap, we believe this is in the best interest of our team," GM Jon Robinson said in the team's press release. "We expect Chance to play well for us this year; and we are not closing the door on his long-term future with our franchise."

Are the Titans getting a little cocky? Flushed with the recent success of the draft, are they really ready to dump a guy who has started 46 games in three seasons?

Jets' Mike Maccagnan explains why he didn't exercise Dee Milliner's option

"Dee is a bit of a wildcard. He was doing some good things [last offseason], and then hurt his wrist [early in training camp]. By the time he got back, he was doing some good things in practice, but our defense was playing well, we stayed very healthy, and it's kind of hard sometimes to get in there and earn play time. Dee, to me, is a bit of a wildcard — and not in a bad way.  "This is going to be a big offseason for him. I think, in fairness, with the injuries Dee has had through his career, at the end of the day, it was just because of the body of work [that] we decided it's kind of beneficial for both sides [to not pick up the option]. If Dee goes out and plays well, we have the ability to potentially try and negotiate a contract and sign him [in free agency next offseason]."

This move is not as surprising. After a good rookie year in which Milliner made 12 starts and had three interceptions, he only played eight games in the last two seasons due to various ailments. Aside from the injuries, I hated it when the Jets drafted him. It never felt like a good fit. Hopefully, he can get it together somewhere in a smaller market.

NFL = NOT FOR LONG

A few others in a similar situation are Luke Joeckel, Jacksonville Jaguars (second overall pick from Texas A&M); Barkevious Mingo, Cleveland Browns (just seven sacks in three seasons since being the sixth overall pick out of LSU); Sylvester Williams, Denver Broncos (28th pick out of UNC); and Cordarrelle Patterson, Minnesota Vikings (29th overall, 80 rec, 863 yards, 5 TD in three seasons makes this former Tennessee Vol expendable).

A NEW TEAM

New Lions DE Wallace Gilberry could make up to $1.75 million in '16

Gilberry has a base salary of $885,000 along with a signing bonus of $340,000. He also has a workout bonus of $25,000. His cap number is $1.25 million. If he somehow failed to make the Lions roster, he would have $340,000 in dead money attached to him.  His deal becomes more interesting with the incentives. He can receive up to an extra $500,000 in incentive-based pay based on playing time, sacks and overall team performance.

Not a bad career for someone who was signed as an undrafted free agent in 2008, waived, and then picked up by another team.

THE END OF THE ROAD?

Miami Dolphins waive Christion Jones

Jones was one of the new players on last year's postdraft transactions list, joining Miami as an undrafted rookie. A hamstring issue hampered him during training camp, and Miami waived Jones with an injury designation on Sept. 5. After clearing waivers and reverting to Miami's injured reserve list, he was released with an injury settlement on Sept. 9.

Sad to say, this may be the end of his NFL career.

Also cut was OL Leon Brown of the Baltimore Ravens.

TBD

Perhaps a little surprising, DeMeco Ryans is still a free agent. The Philadelphia fan favorite is 31 years old.

ESS-EE-SEE

51 SEC players were drafted including eight in the first round. Both numbers are the most of any conference.

Round	Overall	Athlete	School	NFL Team
1	9	Leonard Floyd	Georgia	Chicago Bears
1	11	Vernon Hargreaves III	Florida	Tampa Bay Buccaneers
1	13	Laremy Tunsil	Ole Miss	Miami Dolphins
1	17	Keanu Neal	Florida	Atlanta Falcons
1	18	Ryan Kelly	Alabama	Indianapolis Colts
1	23	Laquon Treadwell	Ole Miss	Minnesota Vikings
1	29	Robert Nkemdiche	Ole Miss	Arizona Cardinals
1	31	Germain Ifedi	Texas A&M	Seattle Seahawks
2	36	Hunter Henry	Arkansas	San Diego Chargers
2	37	Chris Jones	Mississippi State	Kansas City Chiefs
2	41	Reggie Ragland	Alabama	Buffalo Bills
2	45	Derrick Henry	Alabama	Tennessee Titans
2	46	A'Shawn Robinson	Alabama	Detroit Lions
2	49	Jarran Reed	Alabama	Seattle Seahawks
2	52	Deion Jones	LSU	Atlanta Falcons
2	60	Cyrus Jones	Alabama	New England Patriots
3	68	Will Redmond	Mississippi State	San Francisco 49ers
3	72	Jonathan Bullard	Florida	Chicago Bears
3	73	Kenyan Drake	Alabama	Miami Dolphins
3	76	Shon Coleman	Auburn	Cleveland Browns
3	84	Jordan Jenkins	Georgia	New York Jets
3	92	Brandon Williams	Texas A&M	Arizona Cardinals
4	112	Malcolm Mitchell	Georgia	New England Patriots
4	114	Ricardo Louis	Auburn	Cleveland Browns
4	117	Pharoh Cooper	South Carolina	Los Angeles Rams
4	123	Jerald Hawkins	LSU	Pittsburgh Steelers
4	125	Antonio Morrison	Florida	Indianapolis Colts
4	126	Demarcus Robinson	Florida	Kansas City Chiefs
4	128	Evan Boehm	Missouri	Arizona Cardinals
4	133	Rashard Robinson	LSU	San Francisco 49ers
4	135	Dak Prescott	Mississippi State	Dallas Cowboys
5	144	Connor McGovern	Missouri	Denver Broncos
5	145	John Theus	Georgia	San Francisco 49ers
5	156	Jonathan Williams	Arkansas	Buffalo Bills
5	158	Brandon Shell	South Carolina	New York Jets
5	160	Kentrell Brothers	Missouri	Minnesota Vikings
5	171	Alex Collins	Arkansas	Seattle Seahawks
5	174	Fahn Cooper	Ole Miss	San Francisco 49ers
6	179	Drew Kaser	Texas A&M	San Diego Chargers
6	184	Jerell Adams	South Carolina	New York Giants
6	190	Josh Forrest	Kentucky	Los Angeles Rams
6	193	Sebastian Tretola	Arkansas	Tennessee Titans
6	196	Blake Countess	Auburn	Philadelphia Eagles
6	199	Cody Core	Ole Miss	Cincinnati Bengals
6	201	Brandon Allen	Arkansas	Jacksonville Jaguars
6	211	Kelvin Taylor	Florida	San Francisco 49ers
7	227	Stephen Weatherly	Vanderbilt	Minnesota Vikings
7	233	Jalen Mills	LSU	Philadelphia Eagles
7	234	Vadal Alexander	LSU	Oakland Raiders
7	240	Alex McCalister	Florida	Philadelphia Eagles
7	242	Keith Marshall	Georgia	Washington Redskins

PLAYERS DRAFTED:

Alabama 7
Florida 7
Arkansas 5
Georgia 5
LSU 5
Ole Miss 5
Auburn 3
Mississippi State 3
Missouri 3
South Carolina 3
Texas A&M 3
Kentucky 1
Vanderbilt 1
Tennessee 0

A FEW UDFA OF NOTE:

Cleveland Browns
Mike Matthews, C, Texas A&M
A.J. Stamps, S, Kentucky

Pittsburgh Steelers
Jay Rome, TE, Georgia

New England Patriots
CJ Johnson, DL, Ole Miss
Jonathan Jones, CB, Auburn
Steven Scheu, TE, Vanderbilt
De'Runnya Wilson, WR/TE, Mississippi State

Indianapolis Colts
Sterling Bailey, DL, Georgia
Curt Maggitt, OLB, Tennessee

Jacksonville Jaguars
Mike Hilton, CB, Ole Miss
Max Wittek, QB, Hawaii (transferred from Southern Cal)

Oakland Raiders
Denver Kirkland, OL, Arkansas

Chicago Bears
Taveze Calhoun, DB, Mississippi State

Green Bay Packers
Beniquez Brown, LB, Mississippi State

Minnesota Vikings
Marquise Williams, QB, North Carolina

Atlanta Falcons
Cory "C.J." Johnson, DT, Kentucky
Mike Matthews, C, Texas A&M
Brian Poole, DB, Florida
Brandon Wilds, RB, South Carolina

Carolina Panthers
Jeremy Cash, S, Duke (Consensus All-American and ACC Defensive Player of the year )

New Orleans Saints
Michael Caputo, S, Wisconsin
Trae Elston, DB, Ole Miss
Avery Young, OL, Auburn

Tampa Bay Buccaneers
Peyton Barber, RB, Auburn
Russell Hansbrough, RB, Missouri
DaVonte Lambert, DL, Auburn
Cassanova McKinzy, LB, Auburn
Channing Ward, DL, Ole Miss

Arizona Cardinals
Elie Bouka, DB, University of Calgary

Los Angeles Rams
Marquez North, WR, Tennessee

Seattle Seahawks
Vernon Adams, QB, Oregon (tryout only)
Trevone Boykin, QB, TCU (from Heisman hopeful to this...)