What Nick Saban’s former Alabama players have made in the NFL

A follow-up to our Saban 250 story from last year, which said that Auburn players who played for the coach had made $2.26 billion in the NFL through the 2023–24 season. What do you think it’s doing now?
Want to guess how many of Nick Saban’s former Alabama players have made more than $1 million in the NFL?

Or how many have made more than $10 million or $50 million?

You could try to guess how much those Crimson Tide players have earned at the next level so far.

If you’ve been reading our posts for a while, you may already have a good idea of how to find those answers. As part of our Saban 250 project last year, which ranked the best Alabama players while he was head coach, we also made a list of Saban’s Alabama-coached top NFL career earners. For the 2023 season, and many of them have since signed new deals.

At that point, 165 people had earned a total of $2.26 billion, which made us think it wouldn’t be long before the group earnings topped $3 billion.

It took pretty much one season. With 178 people, the new total is $2.96 billion. This means that the value of the group as a whole increased by almost 31% in the past year. That might not happen again, especially since Julio Jones and C.J. Mosley, two of the top earners, recently said they were retiring.

The $3 billion mark might be reached around the same time as the first touchdown on the upcoming starting weekend (Sept. 4–8), since NFL players start getting their “paychecks” after regular season games.

In terms of the other money milestones we talked about, 138 past Alabama players coached by Saban have made at least $1 million, 66 have made more than $10 million, and 21 have made more than $50 million. That’s more than the 126, 59, and 17 that were there last year.

How high can this get? NFL salaries aren’t always guaranteed, so it’s hard to say. Plus, it’s hard to know how long everyone, especially the younger guys, might play. Also, the $2.96 billion is the players’ “career earnings,” which are the money they’ve already made, not the money they still owe.

To see the difference, think about the great cornerback Patrick Surtain II, who got a new $96 million, four-year deal with the Denver Broncos last September. For him to get all of it, he has to meet a lot of conditions. The breakdown showed that he got a $15 million signing bonus, that $77.5 million of the deal is guaranteed, and that he will make an average of $24 million a year until 2029.

This season, in 2025, Surtain II will make $1.17 million in base pay and a signing bonus of $21 million. That’s a total of $22,170,000, which doesn’t count toward his final income yet. That’s why he’s 33rd on the list of Alabama coaches who have made the most money under Nick Saban, with $35,962,678.

A few more important things to know about how the list was put together:

1) Any Alabama player who was still on the team after Saban left doesn’t count. Tyler Booker, Jihaad Campbell, Jalen Milroe, and Malachi Moore were all picked up in the draft recently, but they played most of their careers under Nick Saban. Instead, the league gives them credit to Kalen DeBoer. Hey, you need to set a limit.

Surtain II will make $1.17 million this season, in 2025, plus a $21 million signing bonus. That’s a total of $22,170,000, but it hasn’t been added to his total income yet. Along with Nick Saban, he’s the 33rd Alabama coach who has made the most money under Saban, with $35,962,678.

Here are some more important facts about how the list was made:

1) It doesn’t matter if an Alabama player was still on the team after Saban left. There were recent draft picks in Tyler Booker, Jihaad Campbell, Jalen Milroe, and Malachi Moore. However, they all played most of their games for Nick Saban. They are given credit by the league to Kalen DeBoer instead. Hey, you need to put a cease.