Alabama legend ranked second greatest all-time NFL Draft ‘steal’
The 2025 NFL Draft is a week away, undoubtedly sure to feature its usual chorus of fans either praising or second-guessing their favorite franchise’s first-round pick virtually on the spot.
The Alabama Crimson Tide are likely to see at least one player go in the first round of this year’s draft, set for April 24 at Lambeau Field in Green Bay. Linebacker Jihaad Campbell and offensive lineman Tyler Booker are the two biggest names to watch from an Alabama standpoint.
Many teams could find what turns out to be their best player(s) from this year’s draft class in the later rounds, which brings us to this: USA TODAY Sports’ Jack McKessy on Thursday looked at the 10 best NFL Draft steals of all time. An Alabama football alum was ranked No. 2 on the list.
The distinction went to Bart Starr, the Green Bay Packers legend who played at Alabama from 1952-55. Starr was ranked only behind arguably the greatest NFL quarterback of all-time: Tom Brady.
McKessy said of Starr:
“The Packers took a chance on a young quarterback out of Alabama in the 17th round of the 1956 NFL Draft. He was the ninth quarterback selected in a time in which the league only had 12 teams. And, as has become something of a tradition with Packers quarterbacks, Starr did not age as a ‘steal’ for Green Bay until a few years into his career.
“In his fourth season, 1959, new head coach Vince Lombardi named him the starting quarterback. The next year, he was named to the Pro Bowl for the first time and led the Packers to the NFL championship game, though they lost to the Eagles. In 1961, he earned a second straight Pro Bowl nod and won his first championship.”
At Alabama, Starr played under head coaches Harold “Red” Drew and the ill-fated J.B. “Ears” Whitworth. He battled injuries and made only 11 starts in four seasons.
But beginning in 1956, Starr’s second season with Green Bay, he threw the first of his 152 career touchdowns over a 16-year NFL career — all with the storied Packers.
McKessy adds:
“Starr went on to win four more NFL championships as the Packers’ starter and led Green Bay to wins in the first two Super Bowls after the 1966 and 1967 seasons. Starr was the winner of the first two Super Bowl MVP awards. He was also the NFL MVP in 1966 and was enshrined in the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1977.”
Starr passed away in May 2019 at age 85 at his home in Birmingham
In its obituary of the legendary quarterback, the New York Times praised Starr as “the in-the-huddle incarnation of their fierce and masterly coach, Vince Lombardi,” and hailed his accomplishments in a league since “transformed by precision-passing offenses and increasingly coddled quarterbacks, many groomed since childhood and arriving at the annual N.F.L. draft as celebrities.”
