More Alabama alumni are on current NFL rosters than from any other college program, and the two teams with the most Crimson Tide players on their active rosters will square off in the marquee game of Week 7.

In this week’s Sunday night contest, the Miami Dolphins and the Philadelphia Eagles will meet in a clash of one-loss teams.

The Dolphins’ Alabama players include guard Lester Cotton, defensive tackles Raekwon Davis and Da’Shawn Hand, quarterback Tua Tagovailoa and wide receiver Jaylen Waddle.

The Eagles’ Alabama players include guard Landon Dickerson, quarterback Jalen Hurts, cornerbacks Josh Jobe and Eli Ricks, wide receiver DeVonta Smith and offensive lineman Tyler Steen. Philadelphia also signed wide receiver Julio Jones for its practice squad on Tuesday, adding another Crimson Tide possibility for Sunday night’s game.

Twelve Alabama teams are represented by the Miami and Philadelphia players, with seven from the 2018 team and six apiece from the 2017 and 2019 teams.

Of the 16 Alabama teams coached by Nick Saban before this season, the 2017 squad has produced the most NFL players. A look at how many Alabama alumni who played for a Saban-coached Tide team have gone on to appear in at least one NFL regular-season game (and how each team did):

· 2007: 15 players (7-6 record, defeated Colorado 30-24 in the Independence Bowl)

· 2008: 20 players (12-2 record, lost to Florida 31-20 in the SEC Championship Game and lost to Utah 31-17 in the Sugar Bowl)

· 2009: 27 players (14-0 record, defeated Florida 32-13 in the SEC Championship Game and Texas 37-21 in the BCS national-championship game)

· 2010: 29 players (10-3 record, defeated Michigan State 49-7 in the Capital One Bowl)

· 2011: 31 players (12-1 record, defeated LSU 21-0 in the BCS national-championship game)

· 2012: 33 players (13-1 record, defeated Georgia 32-28 in the SEC Championship Game and Notre Dame 41-14 in the BCS national-championship game)

· 2013: 29 players (11-2 record, lost to Oklahoma 45-31 in the Sugar Bowl)

· 2014: 33 players (12-2 record, defeated Missouri 42-13 in the SEC Championship Game, lost to Ohio State 42-35 in the Sugar Bowl)

· 2015: 42 players (14-1 record, defeated Florida 29-15 in the SEC Championship Game, Michigan State 38-0 in the Cotton Bowl and Clemson 45-40 in the CFP national-championship game)

· 2016: 45 players (14-1 record, defeated Florida 54-16 in the SEC Championship Game and Washington 24-7 in the Peach Bowl and lost to Clemson 35-31 in the CFP national-championship game)

· 2017: 47 players (13-1 record, defeated Clemson 24-6 in the Sugar Bowl and Georgia 26-23 in overtime in the CFP national-championship game)

· 2018: 36 players (14-1 record, defeated Georgia 35-28 in the SEC Championship Game and Oklahoma 45-34 in the Orange Bowl and lost to Clemson 44-16 in the CFP national-championship game)

· 2019: 33 players (11-2 record, defeated Michigan 35-16 in the Citrus Bowl)

· 2020: 25 players (13-0 record, defeated Florida 52-46 in the SEC Championship Game, Notre Dame 31-14 in the Rose Bowl and Ohio State 52-24 in the CFP national-championship game)

· 2021: 17 players (defeated Georgia 41-24 in the SEC Championship Game and Cincinnati 27-6 in the Cotton Bowl and lost to Georgia 33-18 in the CFP national-championship game)

· 2022: 10 players (11-2 record, defeated Kansas State 45-20 in the Sugar Bowl)

The succeeding waves of players entering the NFL have allowed Alabama to increase its representation annually for six consecutive seasons. In 2016, 38 Tide alumni played in at least one NFL regular-season game. In the 2022 season, that number reached 70, the most for one college program in NFL history.

This season, 66 players from Alabama have appeared in the regular season. Eight Crimson Tide alumni who have not played are on NFL practice squads, and two more are eligible to be activated when healthy from injured reserve/physically unable to perform.

The 2017 team has the most alumni on current NFL active rosters with 28, along with two on injured reserve and six on practice squads.

Six players from Alabama’s 2017 team are in the Sunday night game — Cotton, Davis, Hand, Hurts, Smith and Tagovailoa.

Hurts, Smith and Tagovailoa are intersecting for the first time in the NFL after playing key parts in the Crimson Tide’s victory over Georgia in the CFP national-championship game for the 2017 season.

Hurts was the SEC Offensive Player of the Year in 2016, when he led Alabama to the CFP title game. Tagovailoa came aboard as a prized recruit in 2017.

“I think when I got there, it was like, ‘OK, I don’t want to mess up what we have here, so I’m going to try to find where I fit,’” Tagovailoa said on Wednesday. “But then it’s also one of those things where if you aren’t strong mentally — you either had to be, like find out you had to be, or figure it out — or you wouldn’t have made it there. There was just an aura around there that was just like you didn’t really speak of what the standard was, but when you got there, you knew what that was and you knew you couldn’t do anything to bring that down, and the guys wouldn’t allow you to do that.”

Hurts got the Tide back to the national-title game in 2017. But with Alabama trailing 13-0 at halftime, Tagovailoa took over at quarterback, and his overtime touchdown pass to fellow freshman Smith gave the Tide a 26-23 victory over Georgia.

If Jones plays, he’ll be the only Tide player without a former Alabama teammate in uniform with him. Jones played for the Tide’s 2008, 2009 and 2010 teams. None of the other players on the Sunday night rosters played for Alabama before 2014, which was Hand’s freshman season. Ricks and Steen will represent the rookie class for Alabama.

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The Alabama Game of the Week is the Dolphins-Eagles contest on Sunday night. Seventeen players from Alabama high schools and colleges are on the teams’ active rosters.

The Carolina Panthers, Cincinnati Bengals, Dallas Cowboys, Houston Texans, New York Jets and Tennessee Titans do not play in Week 7.

The complete Week 7 schedule (with all times Central and point spreads from Catena):

Thursday

· Jacksonville Jaguars at New Orleans Saints (-1), 7:15 p.m. (Prime Video)

Sunday

· Detroit Lions at Baltimore Ravens (-3), noon

· Las Vegas Raiders (-3) at Chicago Bears, noon

· Cleveland Browns (-2.5) at Indianapolis Colts, noon

· Buffalo Bills (-8.5) at New England Patriots, noon (WHNT)

· Washington Commanders (-2.5) at New York Giants, noon (WIAT, WKRG, WAKA, WTVY)

· Atlanta Falcons at Tampa Bay Buccaneers (-2.5), noon (WBRC, WZDX, WALA, WCOV, WDFX)

· Pittsburgh Steelers at Los Angeles Rams (-3), 3:05 p.m.

· Arizona Cardinals at Seattle Seahawks (-8), 3:05 p.m.

· Green Bay Packers (-1) at Denver Broncos, 3:25 p.m.

· Los Angeles Chargers at Kansas City Chiefs (-5.5), 3:25 p.m. (WIAT, WHNT, WKRG, WAKA, WTVY)

· Miami Dolphins at Philadelphia Eagles (-2.5), 7:20 p.m. (NBC)

Monday

· San Francisco 49ers (-7) at Minnesota Vikings, 7:15 p.m. (ABC, ESPN)

CHECK OUT MAPS OF SUNDAY’S BROADCAST TV COVERAGE

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