Most Players in the NFL? It's Sill Alabama by a Wide Margin Due to Nick Saban

For the eight straight season, the Crimson Tide had the most former players on NFL rosters during opening weekend.

Sep 7, 2024; Tuscaloosa, Alabama, USA; Former Alabama Crimson Tide head coach Nick Saban speaks at the dedication ceremony of Saban Field at Bryant-Denny Stadium. / William McLelland-Imagn Images

Even though he's no longer the head football coach of the Alabama Crimson Tide, or the Miami Dolphins for that matter, Nick Saban's domination in proving the National Football League players shows no signs of slowing down.

Thursday, the league made its annual report on roster breakdown for the opening weekend of regular season, the only time during the year it does so when rosters are fixed for the first game. To the surprise of no one, Alabama had the most players of any school on active rosters (injured players and practice squads don't count) with 61. Ohio State was a distant second at 51.

It's the eighth straight season that Alabama has topped the league. The Crimson Tide also placed the most active NFL players on season-opening rosters in 2018 (44), 2019 (56), 2020 (53), 2021 (54), 2022 (58) and 2023 (57), and was tied for the league lead in 2017.

But that only tells part of the story. It took Saban at Alabama a decade to knock off the program he previous built up, LSU, as the top feeder program for NFL teams.

For the eighth consecutive season, Alabama had the most or tied for the most players (61) on
active NFL Kickoff Weekend rosters, the league announced today. Alabama and LSU were tied for the most players on NFL Kickoff 2017 active rosters with 39 each. LSU was ranked first the previous three years, with 42 players in 2016, 40 in 2015 and 38 in 2014.

The last time a non-Saban coached program topped the list was USC in 2013, with 40.

It should also be noted that 40 would be fifth this year. Here's the top 25:

2024

1] Alabama 61
2] Ohio State 51
3] Georgia 45
4] Notre Dame 41
5] Michigan 40
6] LSU 39
7] Penn State 36
8] Oklahoma 33
9] Washington 32
10] Texas 31
11] Clemson 30
(tie) Florida 30
13] Oregon 28
(tie) USC 28
15] Texas A&M 27
16] Florida State 26
(tie) Iowa 26
(tie) Tennessee 26
19] Stanford 25
(tie) Wisconsin 25
21] UCLA 24
(tie) Illinois 22
(tie) Mississippi 22
24] Auburn 21
(tie) Miami 21
(tie) South Carolina 21

Check out the team-by-team, and by position listing of active Crimson Tide players in the NFL, which will continually updated throughout the season, and the status of each individual player including contract details.

See Also: Bama in the NFL: 2024 Week 2 Crimson Tide Tracker, How to Watch