The 2024 NFL Draft starts on April 25 in Detroit with the 32 first-round picks. In the 88 NFL drafts, teams have chosen 128 prospects who played at Alabama high schools and colleges in the first round, and another 29 who were not first-rounders but were selected in the first 32 picks. AL.com is counting down to the draft by highlighting the players with Alabama football roots who have been chosen in the first 32 picks.

Seattle running back Ricky Watters had recorded five consecutive seasons with at least 1,100 rushing yards and 40 receptions when the Seahawks used the 19th selection in the 2000 draft to add Alabama running back Shaun Alexander.

Alexander left the Crimson Tide as the school’s career rushing leader. But as an NFL rookie, Alexander recorded 313 yards and two touchdowns on 64 rushing attempts. Watters put up 1,278 yards and seven touchdowns on 278 rushing attempts while also catching 63 passes in 2000.

The next season, a shoulder injury sidelined Watters for eight games, and when he returned to the lineup, he sustained a broken ankle and never played in the NFL again. While Watters ran for 318 yards in five games, Alexander stepped up with 1,318 yards and 14 touchdowns on 309 rushing attempts while catching 44 passes for 343 yards and two TDs in 2001.

In the four seasons that followed, Alexander ran for 6,186 yards and 73 touchdowns and caught 139 passes for 1,003 yards and nine touchdowns.

In 2005, Alexander won the NFL Most Valuable Player Award as the NFL rushing leader with 1,880 yards and an NFL-record 27 rushing touchdowns as the Seahawks went to the Super Bowl for the first time.

Two other prospects who played at Alabama high schools and colleges entered the NFL as the 19th pick in a draft, and both had injury-affected careers:

· Wide receiver Terry Beasley (Lee-Montgomery, Auburn): 1972 by the San Francisco 49ers. Now a member of the College Football Hall of Fame, Beasley recorded the first 1,000-yard receiving season in Auburn history and remains the Tigers’ career leader for receiving yards and touchdown receptions. In the NFL, Beasley played in 29 games in four seasons, and he missed the entire 1973 campaign. He totaled 38 receptions for 570 yards and three touchdowns in his career.

· Tight end O.J. Howard (Autauga Academy, Alabama): 2017 by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. A three-time All-State player and an Under Armour All-American in 2012 at Autauga Academy, Howard had 114 receptions for 1,726 yards and seven touchdowns at Alabama. In his six NFL seasons, Howard played the entire schedule once. In 72 NFL regular-season games, Howard had 129 receptions for 1,882 yards and 17 touchdowns.

The Los Angeles Rams hold the 19th selection in this year’s draft.

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Mark Inabinett is a sports reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter at @AMarkG1.