This is an opinion column.

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It was an entertaining draft night from Detroit, but two things stood out most of all.

Bo Nix went 12th overall to the Denver Broncos two years after leaving the Auburn Tigers for the Oregon Ducks. That was the biggest first-round shocker on Thursday night.

Two years ago, few in football viewed Nix a first-round talent. Some people at Auburn didn’t even view him as a worthy starter for the Tigers.

For Auburn, Nix’s draft night represented a low point for the football program under former coach Bryan Harsin. It was a final reminder of how awful of a coach Harsin really was. Nix propped up Auburn as long as he could, but Harsin destroyed Auburn football and forced Nix to leave.

They say there are no losers on draft day. That’s incorrect. With Nix going in the first round, Harsin now goes down as the worst coach in the history of the SEC.

Some coaches do less with more. John Calipari, for example. Harsin was so bad he couldn’t recognize a first-round talent at quarterback and all but ran Nix off.

You know who believed in Nix? Coach Dan Lanning, the former Georgia defensive coordinator who became the head coach at Oregon. Nix never came close to beating rival Georgia, but Lanning saw something he liked and knew Nix wasn’t reaching his full potential.

Nix still has his detractors. I’ve always been a fan, and Nix’s comments recently about football in Alabama offered some insight into the state. After leaving Auburn for Oregon to resurrect his career, Nix will now head to Denver to play for coach Sean Payton.

Payton is the coach who took a chance on quarterback Drew Brees in New Orleans. That worked out pretty well, so I’ll defer to Payton’s evaluation of his new quarterback over still-bitter Auburn fans.

Brees is the quarterback who Nick Saban really wanted when he was the coach of the Miami Dolphins. According to Saban’s account of things, the Dolphins medical staff refused to clear Brees after shoulder surgery and wouldn’t allow Saban to sign the future franchise quarterback.

The second point of interest from Thursday night’s first-round festivities was a comment made by Saban during the draft. Now an analyst for ESPN, Saban participated in the draft broadcast with fellow members of ESPN’s College GameDay crew. Saban did a great job. He was informative, insightful and funny just like I knew he would be.

Had Saban landed Brees all those years ago, then he probably never would have left the Dolphins to coach Alabama. Funny how things work out.

College football fans outside of Alabama are glad to see Saban retired. It gives everyone else a chance, but Saban also adds some much needed spice to ESPN College GameDay. Saban even created a minor controversy during his first broadcast when he seemed to imply that Alabama tried to recruit a player from another college team for the Crimson Tide’s 2023 season.

Did Saban admit to tampering? I wouldn’t go that far, but that’s certainly where the chatter went after Saban’s analysis of draft pick Quinyon Mitchell, the cornerback from Toledo who went 22nd overall to the Philadelphia Eagles.

Saban said Alabama wanted Mitchell badly. Here’s the quote. The exact wording is interesting to say the least.

“He was our No.1 guy in the portal last year,” Saban said, “to try to get him to come out of the portal, and he would never get in the portal.”

Fishy.

Did Saban mean that Alabama tried to coax Mitchell out of the portal, or did Alabama’s former coach just point out that Mitchell was on Alabama’s radar?

Saban was probably vague enough to avoid an investigation, but I wonder what Mitchell would have to say about it. He probably doesn’t care at this point. He’s a first-round pick.

Saban’s admission about Mitchell also raises another question. Where would Mitchell have played had he transferred to Alabama? Maybe in place of former Alabama cornerback Kool-Aid McKinstry.

McKinstry, Bo Nix’s teammate from high school, went undrafted in the first round.

SOUND OFF

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Joseph Goodman is the lead sports columnist for the Alabama Media Group, and author of the most controversial sports book ever written, “We Want Bama: A Season of Hope and the Making of Nick Saban’s Ultimate Team.”