First up today, Crimson Ace posted this in the comments on yesterday’s Jumbo Package, and I wanted to pull it to the main article today.
This is a cool breakdown of Jalen Milroe’s two games against Tennessee and Oklahoma. On one hand, you see a LOT of places where the teammates failed him. Milroe shows a lot of elite, polished moments… But then goes and misses the lay-ups. It’s incredibly frustrating to figure out what to do with him in terms of projecting to the NFL.
Ultimately, though, what separates an NFL backup from an NFL starter is 3-5 bad plays, and unless Milroe can get those cleaned up, that’s not much margin to work with.
In any case, we’ll all still be cheering him on as he moves forward in his career. Here’s his press conference at the Senior Bowl in Mobile this week:
As always, Milroe exudes pure class in his dealings with the media. Despite a couple of leading questions trying to get him to say something to make some headlines, he navigated them perfectly, showing humility and talking up others while displaying his own confidence.
He’ll forever go down as a great leader and teammate, and those soft skills will definitely be a boon for him in the NFL Draft process. It makes it a whole lot easier on an owner to draft a QB when they don’t have to worry about the guy making a fool of himself in front of the camera.
Speaking of the Senior Bowl, we got a few measurements for the Alabama players participating:
Burnip is the tallest, coming in at six feet and six and 3/8 inches tall. In second is Dippre (6’4” and 1/2 inches). Smith measured at 6’4” and 1/8 of an inch. Finally, Milroe was 6’1 and 1/2 inches tall. In order of official weights from highest to lowest, Smith was 311 pounds, Dippre was 260 pounds, Burnip was 243 pounds and Milroe was 220 pounds.
Milroe checked in with a wingspan of 74.8 inches to go with an arm length of 31.25 inches. His hand size was 8.8 inches, which is on the smaller side, just under Memphis’ Seth Henigan. Smith led in that particular category among former Crimson Tide players at 10.5 inches. The largest wingspan of the group also belonged to Smith; his was 81.5 inches. Dippre was an even 80 inches, while Burnip measured at 77.5 inches.
Arm lengths in inches for Burnip, Smith and Dippre respectively are as follows: 32.25 for the Aussie punter, 33 for defensive lineman Smith and 32 and 3/8 for Dippre. Dippre had the second-largest hand size of the group (nine and 5/8 inches). Burnip’s official measurement there was nine and 1/8 inches.
James Burnip is one massive punter!
Our old favorite, Greg McElroy, gave his opinion on Kalen DeBoer’s first year at Alabama. And honestly, I think Greg was very fair and pretty spot on with his assessment, at a high level at least.
“There were some challenges, some adjustments, some roster tinkering that were very difficult,” McElroy said. “I think that they were remarkably inconsistent from start to finish, almost on a week to week basis. You’d watch him, you’d say, ‘Wow, that that’s the way it’s supposed to look.’ And then you’d watch and be like, ‘My goodness, what was that?’ There were levels of inconsistency that were really hard to wrap your head around.
“… It was just constantly a roller coaster, and that is something that is going to be very important for the staff to try to iron out as they continue to move forward. I do think the bowl loss was one that is more difficult to get over than I think a lot of people are probably giving it credit.”
The Crimson Tide ultimately fell to the Wolverines 19-13 in the ReliaQuest Bowl on New Year’s Eve. For that — McElroy couldn’t give him an A grade.
“But had he won the bowl game against Michigan, I think this could have taken this grade and to a different level,” McElroy continued. “I also think you need to look at the penalties. I need to look at the amount of scrutiny that this team is, naturally, always going to receive. But overall, year one grade for Kalen DeBoer, I’m giving him a B-.”
“I think it was better than people realize,” McElroy said of the Tide’s season. “Especially when you take into account how bad the portal was for the Crimson Tide last year, the amount of great players they lost, the amount of depth they lost, and the amount of youth they had to rely on this roster, still getting nine wins, I think, is something to be commended.”
That Alabama didn’t fall into utter shambles going into this season is a huge credit to DeBoer and the players. There was a lot of good, too. The Tide’s defense showed improvement and an identity that’s been missing since 2018, and the team seems to be navigating the recruiting world well. The biggest concern is the total lack of identity from the offense. Finding that next year will be key.
Next, it is absolutely unconscionable that the Kansas City Chiefs keep making the Super Bowl with out any Alabama alums.
The NFL is littered with former Alabama football players making an impact in a significant way. And on Feb. 9, six former Crimson Tide players will have a chance to win it all.
After a 55-23 win against the Washington Commanders in the NFC championship game Sunday, the Philadelphia Eagles will play in its fifth Super Bowl in team history. The Eagles are looking for its first Super Bowl win since 2018.
The Eagles will play the Kansas City Chiefs, which does not have a former Alabama player on its roster.
Meanwhile, the Philadelphia Eagles are led by Jalen Hurts, DeVonta Smith, Landon Dickerson, and Tyler Steen, with Byron Young and Eli Ricks hanging around as depth. In other words, Roll Philly!
