Alabama’s streak of producing a first-round choice in the NFL Draft will reach a record 15 years on April 27. But will the streak be extended by the No. 1 pick?

One Crimson Tide star has been the first selection in an NFL Draft – Harry Gilmer in 1948. Alabama quarterback Bryce Young has the shortest odds to be the Carolina Panthers’ choice with the No. 1 pick in the 2023 draft.

The first round of an NFL Draft most recently was completed without an Alabama player in 2008. The Tide’s 14-year streak of first-rounders is tied for the longest in draft history with the run produced by Miami (Fla.) from 1995 through 2008.

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The NFL has held 15 drafts since Nick Saban coached his first game at Alabama, and its teams have selected 41 Tide players in the first round during that span.

In the 72 drafts that preceded Saban’s arrival at Alabama, the Tide produced 33 first-round draft picks.

Saban’s total has benefited over most of the Alabama teams of the past because his Tide career has been spent during the era of the 32-pick first round, although in the first year of the first-round streak, there were only 31 selections because the New England Patriots had to forfeit their pick as a Spygate penalty.

A similar situation exists this year. The first round will include only 31 picks because the Miami Dolphins forfeited their first-round choice as an NFL-imposed penalty for violating the league’s tampering rules.

Ten Alabama players who were not first-rounders when they were selected would be if they were chosen in the same spot in the 2023 NFL Draft.

The Alabama players who have been picked in the first 31 selections of an NFL Draft include:

No. 1 pick: Harry Gilmer, quarterback, Washington Redskins, 1948.

Gilmer led the nation in touchdown passes, interceptions (made, not thrown) and punt-return yards and finished fifth twice in the voting for the Heisman Trophy during his career with the Crimson Tide. Alabama’s only No. 1 pick went to a team that had a future Hall of Famer at quarterback in Sammy Baugh, and injuries limited Gilmer to one game as a rookie. The former Woodlawn High School star spent eight seasons in the NFL (six with Washington and two with the Detroit Lions), went to the Pro Bowl twice and was the Lions’ head coach for two seasons.

No. 2 picks: Riley Smith, back, Boston Redskins, 1936; Cornelius Bennett, linebacker, Indianapolis Colts, 1987; Chris Samuels, tackle, Washington Redskins, 2000.

Smith was the second player picked in the first NFL Draft, and, in a way, the first drafted player to reach the pros. Jay Berwanger, the first Heisman Trophy winner (before the award was even called that) and the first player picked in the first draft, decided not to play pro football. Smith played quarterback (or blocking back in the nomenclature of the era) in the Redskins’ final season in Boston and two more years in Washington.

Bennett made the Pro Bowl five times and played in 206 regular-season and 21 playoff games, including five Super Bowls, although his team lost in all those NFL championship games.

Samuels was a six-time Pro Bowler, starting all 141 regular-season games in his NFL career at left offensive tackle for Washington before a spinal condition abruptly ended his career in his 10th season.

No. 3 picks: Marcell Dareus, defensive tackle, Buffalo Bills, 2011; Trent Richardson, running back, Cleveland Browns, 2012; Quinnen Williams, defensive tackle, New York Jets, 2019.

Picked in consecutive years, Dareus received two Pro Bowl invitations, earned first-team All-Pro recognition once and was paid $89.532 million while playing in 121 regular-season games in nine NFL seasons while Richardson was traded after his first season and was paid $18.211 million while playing in 46 regular-season games in three seasons.

Williams was a Pro Bowl selection in his fourth NFL season, and the Jets are working on keeping with the team on a long-term contract.

No. 4 picks: Lowell Tew, fullback, Washington Redskins, 1948; John Hannah, guard, New England Patriots, 1973; Jon Hand, defensive end, Indianapolis Colts, 1986; Derrick Thomas, linebacker, Kansas City Chiefs, 1989; Keith McCants, linebacker, Tampa Bay Buccaneers, 1990; Amari Cooper, wide receiver, Oakland Raiders, 2015.

Hannah and Thomas are members of the Pro Football Hall of Fame, taken out of Alabama at No. 4 16 years apart. A member of the NFL All-Time Team chosen for the league’s centennial celebration, Hannah was a seven-time first-team All-Pro and nine-time Pro Bowler for New England. Thomas was a two-time first-team All-Pro and nine-time Pro Bowler for Kansas City.

Cooper has been a Pro Bowler four times and is coming off his sixth 1,000-yard receiving season.

No. 5 picks: Vaughn “Cisco” Mancha, center, Boston Yanks, 1948; E.J. Junior, linebacker, St. Louis Cardinals, 1981; John Copeland, defensive end, Cincinnati Bengals, 1993; Tua Tagovailoa, quarterback, Miami Dolphins, 2020.

When the Boston Yanks drafted Mancha, that made three Alabama players picked in the first five selections of the 1948 draft. Washington had chosen Harry Gilmer with the No. 1 pick and Lowell Tew at No. 4. Mancha played one season in the NFL. By the next season, he was the head football coach at Livingston State Teachers College (now West Alabama).

Junior and Copeland had longer careers. In 13 seasons, Junior played in 170 regular-season games and earned Pro Bowl invitations twice and first-team All-Pro recognition once. Copeland played all 107 of his games for Cincinnati.

After sustaining a dislocated hip and posterior wall fracture in his final game for Alabama, Tagovailoa became Miami’s starting quarterback in his seventh game in 2020.

No. 6 picks: Lee Roy Jordan, linebacker, Dallas Cowboys, 1963; Richard Todd, quarterback, New York Jets, 1976; Barry Krauss, linebacker, Baltimore Colts, 1979; Eric Curry, defensive end, Tampa Bay Buccaneers, 1993; Andre Smith, tackle, Cincinnati Bengals, 2009; Julio Jones, wide receiver, Atlanta Falcons, 2011; Jaylen Waddle, wide receiver, Miami Dolphins, 2021.

The sixth pick has been a productive one for NFL teams where Alabama players are concerned, and Waddle kept up the tradition by setting an NFL rookie record for receptions in 2021 and recording 1,356 receiving yards in 2022. Jones has seven Pro Bowl and two All-Pro selections and has more NFL receiving yards than any other Alabama alumnus. Jordan was a five-time Pro Bowler and one-time All-Pro who has more interceptions than any other Crimson Tide alumnus. All the No. 6 picks have played at least a decade in the NFL except Curry, who had a seven-year career, and Waddle, who’s just getting started.

No. 7 picks: Mark Barron, defensive back, Tampa Bay Buccaneers, 2012; Evan Neal, offensive tackle, New York Giants, 2022.

An All-American safety at Alabama, Barron played that position in the pros, too, until moving to outside linebacker in 2015 and inside linebacker in 2017.

No. 8 picks: Bobby Marlow, back, New York Giants, 1953; Rolando McClain, linebacker, Oakland Raiders, 2010.

It doesn’t seem possible today that pro teams in Canada could sign players away from the NFL, but that’s what happened with Marlow and others in the 1950s. The former Troy High School star skipped the NFL to sign with the Saskatchewan Roughriders, where he was a two-way star for eight seasons.

No. 9 picks: Butch Avinger, fullback, Pittsburgh Steelers, 1951; Wilbur Jackson, running back, San Francisco 49ers; 1974; Antonio Langham, defensive back, Cleveland Browns, 1994; Dee Milliner, cornerback, New York Jets, 2013; Patrick Surtain II, cornerback, Denver Broncos, 2021.

Avinger played only one season in the NFL, although he did get off the league’s longest punt that year, which was 1953 — two years after he’d been drafted. After leaving Alabama, Avinger served a year in the U.S. Army, then signed for a season with the Saskatchewan Roughriders of the Western Interprovincial Football Union, one of the forebearers of the Canadian Football League.

Jackson closed his career in the Washington Redskins’ 27-17 victory over the Miami Dolphins in Super Bowl XVII. Jackson played in only one regular-season game for Washington in the 1982 campaign because he sustained a knee injury in the opener. But he returned to play in all four of Washington’s postseason victories.

Surtain opened his career as a member of the Pro Football Writers of America’s All-Rookie team in 2021 and he made first-team All-Pro in 2022.

No. 10 pick: Chance Warmack, guard, Tennessee Titans, 2013; Jedrick Wills Jr., offensive tackle, Cleveland Browns, 2020; DeVonta Smith, wide receiver, Philadelphia Eagles, 2021.

Smith started his NFL career with a Philadelphia rookie record of 916 yards, then had 1,196 in his second as the Eagles went to Super Bowl LVII.

No. 11 picks: D.J. Fluker, offensive tackle, San Diego Chargers, 2013; Minkah Fitzpatrick, safety, Miami Dolphins, 2018; Jonah Williams, offensive tackle, Cincinnati Bengals, 2019.

When the San Diego Chargers chose Fluker, the pick was the third in a row from Alabama in the 2013 draft. The New York Jets selected Dee Milliner at No. 9 and the Tennessee Titans took Chance Warmack at No. 10.

Traded to Pittsburgh two games into his second season, Fitzpatrick earned first-team All-Pro recognition in 2019, 2020 and 2022 for the Steelers.

Williams missed his rookie season after suffering a shoulder injury during Cincinnati’s offseason program and missed six more games in 2020, but he was a fixture at left tackle as the Bengals won the AFC championship in 2021.

No. 12 picks: Joe Namath, quarterback, St. Louis Cardinals, 1965; Henry Ruggs III, wide receiver, Las Vegas Raiders, 2020; Jameson Williams, wide receiver, Detroit Lions.

Namath never played for St. Louis, instead signing pro football’s most lucrative contract with the New York Jets when the NFL and AFL were competing for players. Thus, “Broadway Joe” was born and a Pro Football Hall of Fame career started.

Ruggs was the first wide receiver chosen in the 2020 NFL Draft. But his NFL career is in limbo after he was charged in 2021 in a fatal traffic accident and released by Las Vegas.

Williams sustained a torn anterior cruciate ligament in the 2021 CFP national championship game, which delayed the start of his NFL career. He had only two touches as a rookie, but they went for a 41-yard touchdown reception and a 40-yard run.

No. 13 picks: Joe Kilgrow, back, Brooklyn Dodgers, 1938; Daron Payne, defensive tackle, Washington Redskins, 2018.

After finishing fifth in the 1937 Heisman Trophy balloting, Kilgrow did not play in the NFL. He joined the Alabama coaching staff instead and later became the superintendent of the university’s golf course. Kilgrow also played two seasons of minor-league baseball, with the Class B Montgomery Rebels of the Southeastern League and the Class D Troy Trojans of the Alabama State League.

Payne’s selection made it two consecutive seasons that the Redskins had used their first-round pick to draft a defensive lineman from Alabama. As with Jonathan Allen in 2017, Payne stepped directly into Washington’s starting lineup. He made the Pro Bowl in 2022 and signed a $90 million contract with the Commanders last month.

No. 14 picks: Tarzan White, guard, New York Giants, 1937; Marty Lyons, defensive end, New York Jets, 1979.

White played on the New York Giants’ 1938 NFL championship team. Lyons was a starter for 11 seasons with the New York Jets and is a member of the team’s Ring of Honor for his role in the New York Sack Exchange.

No. 15 picks: Ed Salem, defensive back, Washington Redskins, 1951; Jerry Jeudy, wide receiver, Denver Broncos, 2020; Mac Jones, quarterback, New England Patriots, 2021.

After intercepting five passes in 12 games for Washington in 1951, Salem played a season of football in Canada, where he set a record by kicking a 53-yard field goal for the Montreal Alouettes in 1952.

Jones started every game for New England and played in the Pro Bowl to cap his rookie season.

No. 16 picks: Mike Pitts, defensive tackle, Atlanta Falcons, 1983; Marlon Humphrey, cornerback, Baltimore Ravens, 2017.

Pitts played in 169 regular-season games in 12 seasons.

In his third NFL season, Humphrey earned first-team All-Pro recognition with Baltimore and received Pro Bowl selection again in 2020 and 2022.

No. 17 picks: Dre Kirkpatrick, cornerback, Cincinnati Bengals, 2012; C.J. Mosley, linebacker, Baltimore Ravens, 2013; Jonathan Allen, defensive end, Washington Redskins, 2017; Alex Leatherwood, offensive tackle, Oakland Raiders, 2021.

Mosley earned Pro Bowl recognition in four of his five seasons with Baltimore, then moved to the New York Jets for a five-year, $85 million contract in free agency and got another Pro Bowl nod in 2022.

Allen received his first Pro Bowl invitation in 2021, when Leatherwood broke into the NFL by starting every game for Las Vegas. Allen earned Pro Bowl recognition again in 2022, when Leatherwood got released and landed with the Chicago Bears.

No. 18 picks: Bob Cryder, tackle, New England Patriots, 1978; Ryan Kelly, center, Indianapolis Colts, 2016.

Cryder spent nine seasons in the NFL as an offensive lineman, but he didn’t do what Kelly has done – make the Pro Bowl, which the center had done three times.

No. 19 picks: Shaun Alexander, running back, Seattle Seahawks, 2000; O.J. Howard, tight end, Tampa Bay Buccaneers, 2017.

Alexander is one of four Alabama alumni to have been the NFL’s Most Valuable Player. He won the award with Seattle in 2005, when he led the NFL with 1,880 rushing yards and scored a league-record 27 rushing touchdowns. Bart Starr was the MVP in 1966 with the Green Bay Packers, and Ken Stabler was the MVP in 1974 with the Oakland Raiders. Don Hutson won the Joe F. Carr Trophy, the NFL’s original MVP Award, in 1941 and 1942 with the Packers. Hutson wasn’t drafted because he entered the NFL before the first draft in 1936.

No. 20 picks: Dennis Homan, wide receiver, Dallas Cowboys, 1968; Dwayne Rudd, linebacker, Minnesota Vikings, 1997; Kareem Jackson, cornerback, Houston Texans, 2010.

Rudd led the NFL in fumble-return yards in 1998. He returned a fumble 63 yards for a touchdown in Minnesota’s 24-3 victory over the Bengals on Nov. 15 and returned another 94 yards for a touchdown in the Vikings’ 48-22 victory over the Bears on Dec. 6. He had another fumble recovery that season, but it didn’t come with any return yards.

Only two Alabama alumni have more NFL starts than Jackson’s 185 – Cornelius Bennett with 204 and Ozzie Newsome with 191.

No. 21 picks: Don McNeal, cornerback, Miami Dolphins, 1980; Ha Ha Clinton-Dix, safety, Green Bay Packers, 2014.

McNeal played in 110 regular-season and 10 playoff games, and Clinton-Dix was a Pro Bowler for Green Bay in 2016.

No. 22 pick: Rashaan Evans, linebacker, Tennessee Titans, 2018.

Evans made 159 tackles in 2022, his first season with the Atlanta Falcons.

No. 23 picks: Charley Holm, back, Washington Redskins, 1939; Ozzie Newsome, tight end, Cleveland Browns, 1978.

Holm sustained a knee injury that ended his career before he ever played a game for Washington.

Newsome spent his entire 13-season NFL playing career with Cleveland and holds the franchise record for receptions and receiving yards. The former Colbert County High School star has been in the Pro Football Hall of Fame since 1999.

No. 24 picks: Butch Wilson, tight end, Baltimore Colts, 1963; Josh Jacobs, running back, Oakland Raiders, 2019; Najee Harris, running back, Pittsburgh Steelers, 2021.

Mainly a blocking tight end, Wilson caught 25 passes for 317 yards and three touchdowns in seven NFL seasons.

Jacobs was the Pro Football Writers of America’s NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year in 2019, when he ran for 1,150 yards in 13 games. He had another 1,000-yard season and received Pro Bowl recognition in 2020. In 2022, Jacobs was the first-team All-Pro running back as he led the NFL with 1,653 rushing yards.

Harris started his NFL career by leading the league in touches as Pittsburgh’s workhorse. He had 1,200 rushing yards, the most by a rookie from Alabama, and played in the Pro Bowl to cap his rookie season. Harris had another 1,000-yard season in 2022.

No. 25 picks: Fred Davis, tackle, Washington Redskins, 1941; Emanuel King, linebacker, Cincinnati Bengals, 1985; James Carpenter, offensive tackle, Seattle Seahawks, 2011; Dont’a Hightower, linebacker, New England Patriots, 2012.

Davis played on NFL championship teams in 1942 with Washington and 1946 with the Chicago Bears, Carpenter did the same in 2013 with Seattle, and Hightower played on three NFL championship teams — for the 2014, 2016 and 2018 seasons — with New England. King played in the Super Bowl, but Cincinnati lost that NFL title game 20-16 to the San Francisco 49ers on Jan. 22, 1989.

No. 26 picks: Les Kelley, linebacker, New Orleans Saints, 1967; Fernando Bryant, defensive back, Jacksonville Jaguars, 1999; Calvin Ridley, wide receiver, Atlanta Falcons, 2018.

Kelley was the first player drafted by the Saints. An expansion team, New Orleans held the No. 1 pick in the 1967 draft but traded it to Baltimore for quarterback Gary Cuozzo, who’d been Johnny Unitas’ backup with the Colts. Baltimore used the No. 1 pick on Michigan State defensive end Bubba Smith, who was a two-time Pro Bowler and a first-team All-Pro in 1971. Center Bill Curry, who went from the Saints to the Colts in the deal, also became a two-time Pro Bowler for Baltimore (and later the Crimson Tide’s head coach). Kelley played in 30 games, with one start, in three seasons.

Ridley made the NFL All-Rookie team in 2018, then caught 90 passes for 1,374 yards and nine touchdowns in 2020. He missed the 2022 season on an NFL suspension for betting on league games.

No. 28 picks: Joe Domnanovich, center, Brooklyn Dodgers, 1943; Mark Ingram, running back, New Orleans Saints, 2011.

Domnanovich’s six NFL seasons (split between the Boston Yanks and the New York Bulldogs) didn’t start until 1946 because of his service in World War II.

Ingram was Alabama’s first Heisman Trophy winner in 2009 and the first running back selected in the 2011 draft. In the NFL, he was a two-time 1,000-yard rusher and Pro Bowler with New Orleans, and he reached those milestones again in his first season with the Baltimore Ravens in 2019.

No. 29 pick: George Teague, defensive back, Green Bay Packers, 1993.

Teague played in 133 regular-season and 12 playoff games in nine NFL seasons. In 1999, he led the league with two interception-return touchdowns, going 32 yards in Dallas’ 35-7 victory over Arizona on Oct. 3 and 95 yards in the Cowboys’ 27-13 victory over Green Bay on Nov. 14.

No. 30 picks: Bobby Wood, tackle, Cleveland Rams, 1940; Johnny Davis, running back, Tampa Bay Buccaneers, 1978.

Wood played in three NFL games – none for the Rams – before heading for the military and World War II.

A fullback in 10 NFL seasons, Davis earned a Super Bowl ring with the San Francisco 49ers in 1981, when he scored seven touchdowns on 94 rushing attempts plus another one on four postseason carries.

No. 31 picks: Paul “Bear” Bryant, end, Brooklyn Dodgers, 1936; Reuben Foster, linebacker, San Francisco 49ers, 2017.

In 10 NFL drafts, the league’s Brooklyn franchise selected 10 players from Alabama, starting with Bryant. He never played in the NFL. Instead, Bryant stepped right into coaching and went on to become a college football icon and a Crimson Tide legend.

Foster made the Pro Football Writers of America’s All-Rookie team, but an offseason knee injury in 2019 wrecked his career. He’s attempting a comeback in 2023 with the USFL.

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