When the NFL gathers in Green Bay, Wisconsin, for its 90th draft next week, the third round will consist of the 65th through 102nd selections on April 25.
Fifty-five players have been chosen from Alabama with those picks, including nine who were on NFL rosters during the 2024 season.
Only one of the 55 has earned first-team All-Pro recognition – Evan Mathis, the 79th pick in the 2005 NFL Draft.
One other player selected from Alabama in the current third-round range has been a Pro Bowler – Jess Richardson, the 93rd pick of the 1953 draft.
Richardson was one of the last players in the NFL to take the field without a face mask, the kind of story that fits in well with the Crimson Tide third-rounders, who include World War II heroes, a future college president, a running back who overcame getting shot, a defensive back who lost part of a finger during a game, the model for the NFL’s Man of the Year Award statue and a Chicago Hornet.
The Alabama players who have been picked with the 65th through 102nd selections of an NFL Draft include:
No. 65 pick: Benny Perrin, defensive back, St. Louis Cardinals, 1982; Tyler Steen, offensive tackle, Philadelphia Eagles.
The former Decatur High School quarterback started 47 of the 48 games that he played for St. Louis at safety and intercepted nine passes in his first three seasons. But a knee injury that shortened his 1985 campaign caused his early retirement during the next year’s training camp. Perrin committed suicide in 2017, and examination revealed he had chronic traumatic encephalopathy.
Steen has started three regular-season games and one playoff contest for Philadelphia, and he won a Super Bowl ring in his second season.
No. 67 pick: Corky Tharp, defensive back, Los Angeles Rams, 1955.
Released by the Rams before his rookie season, Tharp played in Canada and ran for 798 yards in seven games for the Toronto Argonauts in 1955. After a year in the U.S. Navy, the former Ramsey High School star played in a preseason game with the New York Giants in 1957 before returning to Toronto for three more seasons. In 1960, Tharp played safety for the New York Titans in the AFL’s first season and intercepted two passes.
No. 69 picks: Bobby Luna, defensive back, San Francisco 49ers, 1955; Bill Rice, end, St. Louis Cardinals, 1962; Steve Wright, tackle, Green Bay Packers, 1964; Saleem Rasheed, linebacker, San Francisco 49ers, 2002.
Luna did double duty in his two NFL seasons at safety and punter. He punted 63 times in each season and averaged 40.6 yards in one and 40.7 yards in the other even though there was a three-year gap between them. After starting every game and intercepting two passes for San Francisco as a rookie, Luna served a two-year hitch in the U.S. Army, then was an assistant coach at Alabama for one season before returning to the NFL in 1959. He started 11 games and intercepted three passes for the Pittsburgh Steelers in his final NFL season.
The sculptor who created the trophy that the NFL presents annually as the Walter Payton NFL Man of the Year Award used Wright as his model. Wright was a starter at right tackle for Green Bay’s 1965 NFL title team, then got championship rings from the first two Super Bowls.
After four seasons with the 49ers, Rasheed played for the Calgary Stampeders when they won the 2008 Grey Cup.
No. 70 picks: Tony Leon, guard, Washington Redskins, 1943; Johnny August, back, Cleveland Rams, 1945; Jim Cain, defensive end, Chicago Cardinals, 1949; Byron Young, defensive tackle, Las Vegas Raiders.
Leon played for three teams – Washington, the Brooklyn Dodgers and Boston Yanks – in four seasons and had four interceptions.
August did not play for the Rams, who won the 1945 NFL championship, then moved to Los Angeles.
Cain was a starter for the Detroit Lions’ 1953 championship team, returning to the NFL after playing two seasons north of the border for the Calgary Stampeders.
Young played in six games as a rookie and did not appear in a regular-season game in 2024.
No. 71 pick: Kevin Turner, fullback, New England Patriots Patriots, 1992.
In eight NFL seasons with New England and the Philadelphia Eagles, Turner proved a reliable target out of the backfield with 236 receptions in 106 NFL games. Turner lost his life to amyotrophic lateral sclerosis in 2016, a disease that was attributed to chronic traumatic encephalopathy.
No. 72 pick: Jeremiah Castille, defensive back, Tampa Bay Buccaneers, 1983.
Castille’s six NFL seasons are best remembered for “The Fumble.” In the 1987 AFC Championship Game, Castille stripped the football from Cleveland Browns running back Earnest Byner at the Denver 1-yard line with the Broncos holding a 38-31 lead with 1:12 to play. Castille intercepted a pass in Denver’s subsequent Super Bowl appearance, but the Broncos lost to Washington 42-10.
No. 73 picks: Lew Bostick, guard, Cleveland Rams, 1939; Herb Hannah, tackle, New York Giants, 1951; Bobby Jackson, defensive back, Green Bay Packers, 1959; Kenyan Drake, running back, Miami Dolphins, 2016.
Hannah started all 12 of New York’s 1951 games at right offensive tackle as a 30-year-old rookie after five years in the U.S. Navy, then attending Alabama. Hannah retired after his single season, but his sons had longer NFL careers. A Pro Football Hall of Famer, John Hannah played left guard for the New England Patriots for 13 years. During his 12 NFL seasons, Charley Hannah began as a defensive end, moved to offensive tackle, then played left guard for the Los Angeles Raiders for his final six seasons.
Jackson played quarterback at Alabama, but he was a safety during his two NFL seasons, which included the 1960 campaign with the league champion Philadelphia Eagles.
In eight NFL seasons with five teams, Drake ran for 3,866 yards and 33 touchdowns on 869 carries, caught 218 passes for 1,655 yards and eight touchdowns and averaged 23.5 yards and scored one TD on 41 kickoff returns.
No. 74 pick: Glen Coffee, running back, San Francisco 49ers, 2009.
After running for 226 yards and one touchdown on 83 carries for San Francisco as a rookie, Coffee left football to join the U.S. Army.
No. 75 pick: Ricky Moore, running back, San Francisco 49ers, 1985; Christian Harris, linebacker, Houston Texans.
In his three seasons as an NFL fullback, Moore had more receiving yards than rushing yards – 27 receptions for 220 yards and 40 rushing attempts for 126 yards and one touchdown. Moore played one season apiece with the Buffalo Bills, Houston Oilers and Phoenix Cardinals.
Harris started 11 games as a rookie and 12 in his second season, recording 101 tackles in 2023. But injuries limited him to three games in 2024.
No. 77 pick: Antoine Caldwell, guard, Houston Texans, 2009.
The consensus All-American center in 2008, Caldwell played mainly right guard in his four seasons with Houston, during which he made 19 starts.
No. 78 picks: Mitch Olenski, tackle, Brooklyn Dodgers, 1944; Tim Williams, outside linebacker, Baltimore Ravens, 2017.
Olenski never played for Brooklyn but was in the U.S. Army in 1944 and 1945. He started his pro career with the Miami Seahawks of the All-American Football Conference in 1946 and finished it with the Detroit Lions in 1947.
Williams played in 19 games during three seasons with Baltimore.
No. 79 picks: Noah Langdale, tackle, Green Bay Packers, 1942; Evan Mathis, guard, Carolina Panthers, 2005; ArDarius Stewart, wide receiver, New York Jets, 2017.
Langdale was the first Alabama player drafted by the Packers. He never played in the NFL, but coached at Alabama in 1942, joined the U.S. Navy during World War II, went to law school at Harvard and spent 31 years as the president of Georgia State.
Mathis was a first-team All-Pro selection for the Philadelphia Eagles in 2013, a Pro Bowler in 2013 and 2014 and a Super Bowl winner with the Denver Broncos in 2015. He played in 134 regular-season games across 12 years in the NFL.
A former Fultondale High School star, Stewart had six receptions for 82 yards, seven rushing attempts for 27 yards and nine kickoff returns for a 19.2-yard average in his only NFL season.
No. 80 pick: Jermaine Burton, wide receiver, Cincinnati Bengals, 2024
Burton had four receptions for 107 yards as a rookie.
No. 81 pick: Kenny Smith, defensive tackle, New Orleans Saints, 2001.
After three seasons with New Orleans, Smith had a five-year gap in his career before returning to the field with the Kansas City Chiefs in 2009. In between, he was on injured reserve with the Saints, Oakland Raiders and New England Patriots for one season apiece.
No. 82 pick: Louis Thompson, defensive tackle, New York Giants, 1967.
Thompson had a 36-year high school coaching career that included 253 victories. He coached mainly in Tennessee, with his longest stint at Lincoln County, but he started with six seasons at Dadeville in Alabama.
No. 83 picks: Sid Youngelman, defensive tackle, San Francisco 49ers, 1954; Terrell Lewis, outside linebacker, Los Angeles Rams, 2020.
Youngelman came from Brooklyn to play basketball at Alabama. But after missing a practice and having a run-in with coach Floyd Burdette, he was kicked off the team. Rather than send Youngelman home, athletic director Hank Crisp steered him to the football team. After five seasons in the NFL, Youngelman played in the first four seasons of the AFL and finished his career with 107 regular-season appearances.
Lewis had six sacks in three seasons with the Rams. But he played in a regular-season game since the 2022 season.
No. 84 picks: Ray Richeson, guard, Philadelphia Eagles, 1948; Shannon Brown, defensive tackle, Atlanta Falcons, 1996.
Richeson is the only Alabama alumnus to play for the Chicago Hornets. His only pro season was also the Hornets’ only season. A member of the All-American Football Conference, the Chicago team had been called the Rockets in its first three seasons before becoming the Hornets for the 1949 campaign. After his single pro season, Richeson was the coach at Livingston State (now West Alabama) from 1953 through 1956.
Brown tore the anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee during his first training camp and never played in an NFL regular-season game. He became a high school football coach and led teams at Greensboro, Bob Jones and Ardmore.
No. 85 pick: Brodie Croyle, quarterback, Kansas City Chiefs, 2006.
In five seasons with Kansas City, Croyle started 10 games, and the Chiefs lost all of them. He completed 181-of-319 passes for 1,669 yards with eight touchdowns and nine interceptions during his NFL career, which was beset by injuries.
No. 87 picks: Jerry Watford, guard, Chicago Cardinals, 1953; Damien Harris, running back, New England Patriots, 2019; Anfernee Jennings, outside linebacker, New England Patriots, 2020.
After two seasons with the Cardinals, Watford became a high school football coach, including guiding his alma mater, Gadsden, to a 30-14-5 record in five seasons.
New England used the 87th pick in consecutive drafts on Crimson Tide players. Harris ran for 2,094 yards and 20 touchdowns on 449 carries and caught 40 passes for 281 yards in 38 regular-season games with the Patriots. He left in free agency last offseason for the Buffalo Bills. After suffering a season-ending injury in the sixth game of the 2023 season, he retired.
Jennings, who missed the 2021 season with an injury, still plays for New England and has been a starter for the past two years.
No. 90 pick: Ed Hickerson, guard, Washington Redskins, 1941.
Hickerson ended up in the U.S. Navy instead of the NFL. In 1942, he played on the Georgia Pre-Flight Skycrackers, who defeated Alabama 35-19 at Legion Field on Nov. 28. The team also defeated Auburn 41-14 in Columbus, Georgia, on Nov. 7.
No. 91 pick: Wayne Trimble, defensive back, San Francisco 49ers, 1967.
Trimble’s NFL career consisted of one game for San Francisco in 1967. He sustained a knee injury working out before his rookie season. Released at the end of the season, he joined the St. Louis Cardinals but suffered another knee injury.
No. 92 pick: Jess Richardson, defensive tackle, Philadelphia Eagles, 1953.
A Pro Bowler in 1959 and a starter for Philadelphia’s NFL championship team in 1960, Richardson was one of the last position players to perform without a face mask. He finished 12 seasons in the NFL and AFL with all his teeth but is said to have broken his nose at least 10 times.
No. 93 picks: Cary Cox, center, Pittsburgh Steelers, 1940; Ronnie Harrison, safety, Jacksonville Jaguars, 2018.
Cox never played in the NFL. Instead, he was in the U.S. Army and saw action in World War II.
Harrison has seven interceptions in 84 NFL regular-season games.
No. 94 picks: Larry Lauer, center, New York Yanks, 1951; Derrick Lassic, running back, Dallas Cowboys, 1993.
Lauer played two seasons with quarterback Bart Starr in Green Bay.
With Emmitt Smith holding out in a contract dispute, Lassic started the first two games of his NFL career and ran for a career-high 75 yards in his debut. Lassic got a Super Bowl ring with Dallas as a rookie. But a preseason injury kept him off the field in 1994. After going to the Carolina Panthers in the 1995 expansion draft, more injuries prevented Lassic from playing again.
No. 95 picks: Bill Shipp, tackle, New York Giants, 1954; Rashad Johnson, defensive back, Arizona Cardinals, 2009; Jordan Battle, safety, Cincinnati Bengals.
After his rookie season in New York, Shipp played the next 12 seasons in Canada and was a CFL Eastern Conference All-Star three times.
Johnson spent eight seasons in the NFL and returned three of his 15 interceptions for touchdowns. In a 2013 game against the New Orleans Saints, Johnson had the tip of his left middle finger severed, an injury he discovered after taking off his glove.
Battle moved into the Bengals’ starting lineup for the final seven games of his rookie season and six games in his second.
No. 96 pick: Bob Hood, end, Pittsburgh Steelers, 1949.
Hood played for the Hamilton Wildcats of the Inter-Provincial Rugby Football Union, a forerunner of the Canadian Football League, in 1949.
No. 98 pick: Mike Johnson, guard, Atlanta Falcons, 2010; Brian Robinson Jr., running back, Washington Commanders, 2022.
In three injury-filled seasons with Atlanta, Johnson played in 16 regular-season games, but he caught a touchdown pass in one of them. On Nov. 11, 2012, Johnson scored on a 1-yard toss from Matt Ryan for the opening points in a 31-27 loss to the New Orleans Saints.
Robinson was shot in the knee and hip during a robbery attempt two weeks before the start of his rookie season. After missing the first four games, the former Hillcrest-Tuscaloosa standout returned to lead Washington with 797 rushing yards. He followed with 733 rushing yards in 2023 and 799 in 2024.
No. 99 pick: Nico Johnson, linebacker, Kansas City Chiefs, 2013.
The former Andalusia High School star played for three teams in three seasons – six games with the Chiefs in 2013, 11 games with the Cincinnati Bengals in 2014 and one game with the New York Giants in 2015.
No. 100 pick: Michael Myers, defensive tackle, Dallas Cowboys, 1998.
Myers played in 138 games for four teams in a 10-year NFL career. He was a regular in the starting lineup for the Cowboys in 2001 and the Denver Broncos in 2005 and 2006.
No. 101 pick: Ed Culpepper, Green Bay Packers, defensive tackle, 1955; Cameron Latu, San Francisco 49ers, tight end, 2024.
During Culpepper’s six NFL seasons, he played for the Cardinals in 1960, their first year in St. Louis after moving from Chicago, then played for the first Minnesota Vikings team in 1961 after being the seventh player picked in the expansion draft.
A knee injury sustained in San Francisco’s preseason finale sidelined Latu for his entire rookie season, and he didn’t play in a regular-season game in 2024 either.
No. 102 pick: Sam Shade, defensive back, Cincinnati Bengals, 1995.
Shade played 117 games and intercepted 10 passes at safety in eight NFL seasons. Shade is now the head coach at Alabama A&M.
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Mark Inabinett is a sports reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on X at @AMarkG1.