The day has finally arrived. With the NFL draft kicking off, we begin the most ballyhooed of offseason football events, and we also mark the end of spring football and the true beginning of the summer doldrums of the offseason. After the Draft, there will be nothing else football related until fall camp.
The 1st round of the Draft will begin tonight at 7:00 p.m. central time. As has been the case the last few years, it will be aired on ESPN, ABC, and NFL Network (as well as ESPN Deportes for Spanish). Each channel has a separate commenting team, and tends to focus on different types of stories.
ESPN
Host: Mike Greenberg
Analysts: Mel Kiper Jr., Booger McFarland, Louis Riddick
Reporter/News: Adam Schefter
Stage Reporter: Molly McGrath
The main channel has Mel Kiper with his traditional show, and they tend to spend more time talking about the NFL teams, league intrigue, and the player fits after they’ve been drafted.
ABC
Host: Rece Davis
Analysts: Kirk Herbstreit, Desmond Howard, Nick Saban
Contributors: Field Yates, Laura Rutledge, Pete Thamel
ABC, on the other hand, is more college focused. They’ll go deep into the backstories of all the players and spend less time talking about the NFL as a whole. Rece Davis is a phenomenal host, and Herbie, along with Nick Saban and Desmond Howard, will bring plenty of entertainment.
NFL Network
Host: Rich Eisen
Main Desk Analysts: Daniel Jeremiah, Charles Davis, Joel Klatt
Additional Analysts: Kurt Warner
Insider News: Ian Rapoport
Stage Reporter: Jamie Erdahl
The NFL Network is more of the “nerd” version of watching the draft. Daniel Jeremiah has long been one of the better film studiers in the business, and Rich Eisen is a fun host that keeps things less melodramatic than the ESPN and ABC channels. Plus Jamie Erdahl is a former SEC on CBS standout, so it’s good to see her keep rising up the ranks.
Alabama has three players who have a shot at being drafted in the 1st round tonight, extending the streak to 16 straight years with a 1st round selection.
LB- Jihaad Campbell
Campbell is the top off-ball linebacker in the draft, unless you count Georgia’s Jalon Walker, who will most likely be an edge rusher. Campbell’s production and impressive athletic measureables to go along with versatility make him one of the top overall players in the draft. Most view him as a top-ten talent, but the lack of position value of a linebacker means he’ll most likely be in the teens.
OG – Tyler Booker
Booker is probably a top-three interior offensive lineman in this draft. He had mostly been predicted to go in the top 15 of the draft, but an extremely poor showing at the Combine has seen his projections dip a bit. He’s most likely and end-of-first-round pick, but he could drop out of the 1st altogether.
QB- Jalen Milroe
Milroe is one of the most polarizing players in this draft. In September of last year, he was getting projections as the #1 overall pick. In January, the sentiment had fallen so far that he looked like a 5th rounder at best.
Then over the last month, he’s climbed back up the public opinion tree and has been getting a lot of talk as a possible 1st round selection. Who really knows, but he did get an invite to attend the first round of the draft live, so there’s at least some smoke there.
Good luck to all three of these great representatives of the University of Alabama, we’re all rooting for you. Roll Tide!
