Alabama continues NFL opening roster dominance

Alabama averaged nearly two players for all 32 NFL teams when the 2024 regular season kicked off last week.

For the eighth consecutive year, the Crimson Tide were the college program with the most or tied for the most players on NFL kickoff weekend rosters, with 61. That outpaced No. 2 Ohio State, which had 51, followed by Georgia (45), Notre Dame (41) and national champion Michigan (40).

Alabama also placed the most players on season-opening NFL rosters in 2018 (44), 2019 (56), 2020 (53), 2021 (54), 2022 (58) and 2023 (57), and it shared the league lead in 2017 (39).

In all, 234 colleges had at least one player on an active kickoff weekend roster.

COLLEGES WITH MOST NFL PLAYERS

Alabama (61)

Ohio State (51)

Georgia (45)

Notre Dame (41)

Michigan (40)

LSU (39)

Penn State (36)

Oklahoma (33)

Washington (32)

Texas (31)

Clemson (30)

Florida (30)

Oregon (28)

Southern California (28)

Texas A&M (27)

Florida State (26)

Iowa (26)

Tennessee (26)

Stanford (25)

Wisconsin (25)

UCLA (24)

Illinois (22)

Ole Miss (22)

Auburn (21)

Miami (21)

South Carolina (21)

The Crimson Tide led all schools with the most running backs (six), defensive tackles (eight) and defensive backs (13), while tying USC with eight wide receivers and North Carolina and Oklahoma with three quarterbacks. The 13 DBs led all position groups by five.

MOST PLAYERS BY POSITION

Centers: Penn State, Wisconsin (4)

Guards: Michigan (6)

Tackles: Oklahoma (7)

Tight Ends: Iowa, Notre Dame, Stanford (5)

Quarterbacks: Alabama, North Carolina, Oklahoma (3)

Running Backs: Alabama (6)

Wide Receivers: Alabama, USC (8)

Defensive Tackles: Alabama (8)

Defensive Ends: Ohio State (8)

Linebackers: Penn State, Wisconsin (8)

Defensive Backs: Alabama (13)

Punters: Penn State (2)

Kickers: Notre Dame (2)

--Field Level Media