What a difference a year makes. In the 2008 draft, Alabama sent 0 players in 7 rounds. Fucking embarrassing. Well, this year the Tide fared much better. We scoured the tubes to see what NFL fans thought of their incoming Alabama alum.

Andre Smith
Cincinnati Bengals

The sixth overall pick seemed to be a foregone conclusion to most Bengal fans. Reactions were mixed, but for the most part positive:

“hopefully he just doesnt leave a game at half time and not tell anyone”

One Cincy fan says that Andre’s family reminds him of the Klumps. “Hercules! Hercules!”

“typical bengals first rd. gaffe. smith is a fat @ss with a a bra size that makes morganna jealous. monroe was the more solid pick at that point. he’ll spend a year or two as a turnstyle at LT before they move to G. we essentially picked an overwieght, immature guard with the sixth pick of the draft. hell, if you didn’t like monroe at that pick you may as well took crabtree instead of some buffet wrecking, bust-in-waiting.”

“A++! Would draft again!. No we just need to trade Chad’s bitch ASS!”

Most reactions were realistic though, such as these two:

“Andre Smith was THE pick there. No doubt. Wouldnt look back. I really dont even care if he ends up at RT. 3 years of dominance, dude is ready to do what you need him to do in the NFL. He doesnt go down, he gets his hands on a defender and they dont get away.”

“Who cares if Smith ends up a RT. The Bengals drafted Willie Anderson at #10 to be a RT and that worked out pretty good. You need two tackles to tango and we landed the best overall talent at the OT position the draft had to offer. The only reason he wasn’t the top is because his decision making wasn’t great in January.”

After lurking in the Bengal’s blogs, rumor is that HBO’s pre-season team-jinxing show, Hard Knocks, has selected Cincinnati as the team they’ll be following this year. So we get to see how Andre handles the pressure of being a first rounder in the ballet.

Glen Coffee
San Francisco 49ers

In a pick that was a pretty big surprise, the 49ers grabbed Glen in the 3rd round. In true San Francisco style, they grabbed him right in his chaps.

One Commenter Says “Andre Brown still on the board and we take Coffee? That guy wasn’t even the best back on his college team.”

“Well than they just pulled an Al Davis and drafted a guy at least 2 full rounds to early while leaving much more talented RB’s on the board.”

Not everyone in San Fran is upset with the Coffee pick, they see alot of upside. What’s funny is that there seemed to be quite a few reactions like this, “Not picking Darius Butler and Rashad Johnson will haunt us.” Niners fan’s calls for Rashad were scattered all over the boards, only to see their rival in Arizona scoop him up.

Antoine Caldwell
Houston Texans

The Texan fans seem to be happy with this pick, remember, this is a team that let their QB get sacked 76 times once.

Rashad Johnson
Phoenix Cardinals

Kind of a weird pick, with Adrian Wilson and Antrel Rolle pretty firmly entrenched at safety. But this fan tries to make sense of it: “The Cards have tended to draft positions they felt could become a “need” a season or two in the future. Considering Johnson’s addition to the Cardinals, does this indicate the Cardinals intention to let Rolle test the FA market after this season?”

Once again, it’s a mixed bag of reactions. “Overall this may end up being the smartest pick of the draft for the Cardinals. Also sounds like they got a steal for the end of the third round.” And conversely, “A safety and now a corner? we just upgraded corner via free agency, we have our starters there. is whiz thinking we can get sacks with the front 7 we have if the coverage can last longer?”

John Parker Wilson
JPW landed in Atlanta as a free agent, where he’ll go to camp and compete with DJ Shockley and Chris Redman for a backup spot.

Overall, this was the best draft class that Alabama has had in a long time. Nick Saban now has something to point at to incoming recruits who want to make it to the pro-level. Hell, word is that Saban’s efforts kept Andre in the top ten and elevated Rashad into the 3rd round. It’s not hard to imagine that we can look forward even more successful drafts in the near future.