Alabama’s NFL Draft: Fourth-round workhorses
Alabama produced fourth-round draft picks in the first NFL Draft in 1936 and in last year’s draft, with 26 in between.
The first fourth-round pick was end Paul “Bear” Bryant, taken by the Brooklyn Dodgers at No. 31 in 1936. The most recent fourth-round pick was cornerback Jalyn Armour-Davis, taken by the Baltimore Ravens at No. 119 in 2022.
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Over the decades, the picks comprising the fourth round have changed as the number of teams in the NFL has increased, so that the fourth-round selections from Alabama have been picked as early as No. 28 and as late as No. 137.
This year’s fourth-round choices will be made on April 29 in Kansas City, Missouri, and include the 103rd through 135th selections.
Over the years, 35 players have been selected from Alabama with those picks, including Pro Bowl defensive backs Russ Craft and Eddie Jackson and three of the Crimson Tide’s most durable NFL players – Jarret Johnson, Woodrow Lowe and Deshea Townsend.
The 2023 draft could add guard Emil Ekiyor Jr. to Alabama’s list of fourth-round players.
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The Alabama players who have been picked with the 103rd through 135th selections of an NFL Draft include:
No. 103 picks: Don Comstock, back, Cleveland Browns, 1957; Jim Loftin, back, Detroit Lions, 1958.
The 103rd selection in consecutive drafts was used on an Alabama player, but neither played in the NFL.
No. 107 pick: Kendrick Burton, defensive end, Houston Oilers, 1996.
Burton played in four games as a rookie, but the NFL suspended him for the 1997 season for violating the league’s drug policy. Burton returned in 1998, but he did not make the team.
No. 108 picks: Wayne Rhodes, defensive back, Chicago Bears, 1976; Dameian Jeffries, defensive end, New Orleans Saints, 1995; Jalston Fowler, fullback, Tennessee Titans, 2015.
Rhodes did not play in the NFL, Jeffries played in two games and Fowler played in 42. Jeffries played for the Mobile Admirals in 1999, when they won the Regional Football League’s only championship.
No. 109 picks: Joe Carter, running back, Miami Dolphins, 1984; Jarret Johnson, defensive end, Baltimore Ravens, 2003.
Of Carter’s 589 career rushing yards accumulated in 30 games in three seasons, 495 of them came in his rookie campaign, when former Alabama standout Tony Nathan ran for 558 yards as a Dolphins teammate in 1984.
An outside linebacker as well as a defensive end in the NFL, Johnson played in 184 regular-season and 13 playoff games with the Baltimore Ravens and San Diego Chargers. Among position players from Alabama, Johnson is tied for eighth with Pro Football Hall of Fame member Ken Stabler in NFL regular-season games with 184.
No. 110 picks: Tommy Lewis, back, Chicago Cardinals, 1954; Ray Perkins, wide receiver, Baltimore Colts, 1966.
After scoring two touchdowns in Alabama’s 61-6 victory over Syracuse in the Orange Bowl on Jan. 1, 1953, Lewis cemented his place in Crimson Tide football lore by coming off the bench to tackle Rice ball-carrier Dick Moegle on a breakaway run in the Cotton Bowl on Jan. 1, 1954, which resulted in the award of a 95-yard touchdown to the Owls in their 28-6 victory. Lewis did not play in the NFL.
In five NFL seasons, Perkins caught 93 passes, and he played in two of the first five Super Bowls, helping Baltimore reach Super Bowl V by catching a 68-yard touchdown pass from Johnny Unitas in the 1970 AFC Championship Game. He also spent eight seasons as an NFL head coach — four years with the New York Giants and four years with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers sandwiching a four-year stint as Alabama’s coach.
No. 112 picks: Arie Kouandjio, guard, Washington Redskins, 2015; Eddie Jackson, safety, Chicago Bears, 2017.
Jackson played nearly every snap with the Chicago defense as a rookie, then earned All-Pro recognition in his second season and added another Pro Bowl invitation in his third. Jackson scored five defensive touchdowns in his first two seasons.
No. 113 pick: Barrett Jones, guard, St. Louis Rams, 2013.
Jones played in 10 games across two seasons for St. Louis after leaving Alabama as one of the Crimson Tide’s most decorated players. He had foot surgery before ever practicing with the Rams, and back surgery interrupted his second training camp. In 2012, Jones became the third Alabama player to become a two-time consensus All-American, won the Rimington Trophy as the nation’s best center and earned the William C. Campbell Trophy, an award sometimes called the “Academic Heisman.” In 2011, he had won the Outland Trophy as the nation’s best interior lineman while playing left offensive tackle.
No. 114 picks: Rebel Steiner, defensive back, Green Bay Packers, 1949; Da’Shawn Hand, defensive end, Detroit Lions, 2018.
In two seasons with Green Bay before a knee injury ended his career, Steiner intercepted 10 passes, including one that he returned 94 yards for a touchdown.
Hand made the Pro Football Writers of America’s All-Rookie team for the 2018 season. But he has played in only 18 games in the four seasons since.
No. 115 pick: Christian Miller, outside linebacker, Carolina Panthers, 2019.
Miller appeared in seven games as a rookie, then took the opt-out for the 2020 season under the NFL’s coronavirus-pandemic plan, and he has not played since.
No. 117 picks: Byron Braggs, defensive end, Green Bay Packers, 1981; Deshea Townsend, defensive back, Pittsburgh Steelers, 1998.
Braggs played in 55 games across four seasons. He recorded all 5.5 of his career sacks in the 1983 season, when he made all 14 of his NFL starts for Green Bay.
Townsend played 13 seasons – 12 with the Steelers – and his 191 NFL regular-season games rank sixth among former Alabama position players. Townsend had 21 interceptions in regular-season games plus two more in 14 postseason contests. Pittsburgh won the Super Bowl twice during Townsend’s career.
No. 118 pick: Anthony Averett, cornerback, Baltimore Ravens, 2018.
After four seasons with Baltimore, Averett left in free agency for the Las Vegas Raiders.
No. 119 pick: Jalyn Armour-Davis, cornerback, Baltimore Ravens.
After losing Averett in free agency, the Ravens drafted Armour-Davis in almost the same slot.
No. 120 pick: Frank McClendon, tackle, Minnesota Vikings, 1965.
McClendon did not appear in an NFL regular-season game, but he is a member of the Marshall County Sports Hall of Fame.
No. 121 pick: Steve Mott, center, Detroit Lions, 1983.
Mott started 75 games in six seasons with Detroit, including every game in his third and last seasons.
No. 122 picks: George Weeks, defensive end, Philadelphia Eagles, 1943; Curtis Alexander, running back, Denver Broncos, 1998.
After three games with the Brooklyn Tigers in 1944 and World War II service in the U.S. Army, Weeks coached the North Alabama baseball team from 1949 through 1971.
Alexander did not play in an NFL game, but he did play for the Birmingham Thunderbolts in the original XFL, Frankfurt Galaxy in NFL Europe and Hamilton Tiger-Cats in the CFL.
No. 123 picks: John Wyhonic, guard, Philadelphia Eagles, 1942; Kevin Norwood, wide receiver, Seattle Seahawks, 2014.
Wyhonic was drafted in 1942. He didn’t reach the NFL until 1946. What happened in between? World War II. Wyhonic’s military service delayed his entry into pro football for four years, and he played four seasons – two with the NFL’s Philadelphia Eagles and two with the All-American Football Conference’s Buffalo Bills.
Norwood caught nine passes in 10 games across two NFL seasons. In each season, Norwood’s team reached the Super Bowl and lost. In 2014, the Seattle Seahawks lost to the New England Patriots 28-24 in Super Bowl XLIX, and, in 2015, the Carolina Panthers lost to the Denver Broncos 24-10 in Super Bowl 50.
No. 125 picks: Sam Sharpe, end, Cleveland Rams, 1943; Jack Aland, tackle, Cleveland Rams, 1945.
Sharpe and Aland were Alabama teammates who were Birmingham prep stars – Sharpe at Woodlawn and Aland at Ramsey – and neither played in the NFL.
No. 126 pick: Bill Baughman, center, Green Bay Packers, 1944.
The Crimson Tide did not field a team in 1943, causing Baughman to leave for Iowa, where he earned the nickname of the Alabama Ironman. In 1944, he played for coach Paul Brown on the Great Lakes Naval Station Bluejackets, whose only losses that season came against Ohio State and Notre Dame, before shipping out for the Pacific. After World War II, Baughman returned for a senior season at Alabama in 1946. He entered high school coaching instead of the NFL after his college career.
No. 129 pick: Brad Ford, defensive back, Detroit Lions, 1996.
Ford went from Dadeville High School to Fresno City College to Alabama on his way to an NFL career that covered 14 games with the Lions in the 1996 season.
No. 131 picks: Gaylon McCollough, center, Dallas Cowboys, 1965; Woodrow Lowe, linebacker, San Diego Chargers, 1976.
McCollough became a physician instead of an NFL player. He also wrote a book titled “The Long Shadow of Coach Paul ‘Bear’ Bryant.”
Lowe spent 11 seasons as the starting right outside linebacker for San Diego after being the seventh player picked by the team during the 1976 NFL Draft. He missed one game in his pro career. Lowe’s 151 starts rank ninth among Alabama’s NFL alumni, but he’s tied for first for interception-return touchdowns. Lowe ran back four of his 21 NFL interceptions for touchdowns.
No. 132 pick: Russ Craft, defensive back, Philadelphia Eagles, 1943.
A 15th-round draft choice, Craft played on Philadelphia’s NFL championship teams in 1948 and 1949, intercepted four passes in one game in 1950 and earned Pro Bowl recognition in 1951 and 1952.
No. 133 pick: Hal Self, back, Brooklyn Dodgers, 1945.
Brooklyn drafted Self when he had a year of eligibility remaining at Alabama, and he stayed in school. Self served as North Alabama’s head football coach from 1949 through 1969.
No. 135 pick: Bill Oliver, back, Green Bay Packers, 1954.
This is not the same Bill Oliver who also played at Alabama and went on to work as defensive coordinator for the Crimson Tide and Auburn and as head coach at Chattanooga.
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Mark Inabinett is a sports reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter at @AMarkG1.