The NFL Draft’s Alabama roots: Pick No. 30
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.
The seven players from Alabama high schools and colleges chosen 30th in an NFL Draft had careers that lasted from three to 119 games, and three have been Super Bowl champions. The No. 30 picks include:
· Tackle Bobby Wood (Alabama): 1940 by the Cleveland Rams. Wood did not play for the Rams but appeared in one game for the Chicago Cardinals and two games for the Green Bay Packers as a rookie, which was the extent of his NFL career. The Rams have drafted 13 players from Alabama in Cleveland, St. Louis and Los Angeles, and none has been picked as early in the selections as Wood was.
· Center Dave Thompson (Valley): 1971 by the Detroit Lions. After playing center, tackle and long snapper in a reserve role in three seasons in Detroit, the former Clemson standout was part of a big trade at the 1974 draft. The Lions swapped Thompson and the 13th pick for the eighth pick and a 1975 sixth-rounder. Detroit traded up to get Penn State linebacker Ed O’Neil. New Orleans picked Ohio State linebacker Rick Middleton at No. 13, but the Saints also got their starting left tackle in Thompson. In 1975, an injury cut Thompson’s season in half, and the next spring, New Orleans left him available for the NFL expansion draft. The Tampa Bay Buccaneers chose Thompson, but he never played for the Bucs.
· Running back Johnny Davis (Sidney Lanier, Alabama): 1978 by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Davis ran for 2,519 yards as a wishbone fullback for the Crimson Tide. In 10 NFL seasons, he had 1,094 rushing yards as he worked mainly as a blocking back sandwiching three seasons with the Bucs and five with the Cleveland Browns around one year with San Franciso 49ers. But in the 1981 campaign with San Francisco, Davis ran for seven touchdowns on 94 carries in the regular season and one more on four postseason carries as the 49ers won Super Bowl XVI.
· Cornerback Issiac Holt (Carver-Birmingham): 1985 by the Minnesota Vikings. A small-college All-American at Alcorn State, Holt had 14 interceptions for the Vikings when he was included in the largest trade of players in NFL history as Minnesota acquired running back Herschel Walker from the Dallas Cowboys. Holt had nine more interceptions for Dallas, and the Cowboys capped the 1992 season by winning Super Bowl XXVII. But that was Holt’s final game. The next spring, Holt questioned coach Jimmy Johnson’s abundance of “voluntary” offseason workouts and got released.
· Guard Kendall Simmons (Auburn): 2002 by the Pittsburgh Steelers. Simmons went right into the Steelers’ lineup at right guard and helped Pittsburgh win Super Bowl XL to cap the 2005 campaign. In the fourth game of the 2008 season, Simmons suffered an Achilles tendon injury and played in only four more NFL games. Of the nine players drafted from Auburn by the Steelers, none has been chosen as early as Simmons, and only one has been chosen since – wide receiver Sammie Coates in 2015.
· Safety Jimmie Ward (Davidson): 2014 by the San Francisco 49ers. Injuries have affected almost every season of Ward’s career since he entered the NFL from Northern Illinois. He’s played in every game in a season only once in his 10 NFL campaigns, but he’s still going with the Houston Texans. Ward has played in 116 regular-season and nine playoff games.
· Cornerback Noah Igbinoghnene (Hewitt-Trussville, Auburn): 2020 by the Miami Dolphins. A former college wide receiver, Igbinoghene started five games in three seasons with the Dolphins before being traded to the Dallas Cowboys last year. In 2024, he’ll be with the Washington Commanders after signing as a free agent earlier this month.
Four of the No. 30 picks were not first-round selections. Wood was the fifth pick of the fourth round, Thompson was the fourth pick of the second round and Davis and Holt were the second picks of the second round.
The Baltimore Ravens hold the 30th 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.