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NFL Draft gap between Georgia, Alabama, and the rest of the SEC is eye-popping
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NFL Draft talent is annually dripping all over the SEC. It’s been that way for decades and probably will be for many decades more.
The conference that’s succeeding so much lately in basketball and baseball is still a football-driven league at its core, and that fact shows up every spring when the NFL Draft comes calling. A look at every NFL roster come fall shows this, with SEC talent up and down those rosters.
But even within the conference, there’s a hierarchy. When it comes to the NFL Draft and the SEC, 2 blue blood programs rule over the rest of the league. They are Georgia and Alabama, and that was on display once again this weekend in Green Bay as Bulldogs and Crimson Tide players were taken left and right by NFL teams.
The Georgia-Alabama dominance is particularly present at the top of the draft, during Rounds 1 through 3. According to ESPN’s Chris Low, over the past 4 drafts, Georgia has had 25 players and Alabama has had 23 players selected in the first 3 rounds of the draft.
After that, there is a drastic drop-off. LSU and Texas are next on the list with 13 picks each, followed by Tennessee with 9 selections. This is telling but not at all surprising, considering what programs are annually in the running for the SEC title.
Every year since 2013, the SEC Championship game has featured either Georgia or Alabama. They have both made it to the title game 3 times in just the last 7 seasons.
Here is the complete list of each SEC team’s selections over the last 4 drafts:
Cory Nightingale, a former sportswriter and sports editor at the Miami Herald and Palm Beach Post, is a South Florida-based freelance writer who covers Alabama for SaturdayDownSouth.com.
