Credit: Kirby Lee-Imagn Images
By Chris Marler
We continue our series about one thing people aren’t talking enough about for each SEC football team before the 2026 season. Today’s team, Alabama.
The Secondary
Alabama lost a lot to the NFL a season ago. Last year’s 11 win team saw the second most draft picks of any team in the country leave for the NFL with ten. Also, notice that the description said “11 win team” since a lot of people have really leaned into describing year two of the Kalen DeBoer era as a “back to back four loss” team. Both things are statistically true. One is inherently way more negative and weird.
Alabama has a lot to prove in year three of the post-Nick Saban era. The biggest question they’ll have to answer is how well they were able to replace some of the key contributors from a season ago. Their run game was inexplicably bad a season ago and so was the offensive line. They were held to -3 yards rushing in the SEC Championship Game against Georgia and ranked 125th in yards per game and 126th in yards per carry. They were also ranked 13th in the SEC in sacks allowed with 32. They did all that while still having a first round draft pick at left tackle. They lost him and three other starters off that line.
With the 2026 draft in the books, @IC_Draft dropped a NEW 2027 NFL Mock Draft 🔮 pic.twitter.com/8slGkrz42S
— Pro Football Network (@PFSN365) May 4, 2026
That’s a concern. The good news for Alabama is they also return one of the best secondaries in the entire country. The Tide lost one starter to the NFL Draft but return three including multiple potential first rounders. There were defensive struggles a season ago especially when it comes to getting to the quarterback and stopping the run. The pass defense however was incredible. They led the SEC in passing yards allowed per game and were second in interceptions with 11 on the year.
This year the back end of the defense will not only be the strength of the defense; it will be the strength of the team. It’s the one position unit on the field where there are no question marks, just answers. And, really, really talented answers at that.
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