By now, it has been well documented that Jalen Milroe had one of his best starts at Alabama Saturday night, as he put up nearly 500 yards of total offense on No. 1 Georgia’s top-ranked defense and accounted for all but one of the Crimson Tide‘s touchdowns.
And as Milroe led No. 4 Alabama to its biggest DeBoer era win, it came in front of nearly 20 NFL scouts.
Though he wasn’t in Tuscaloosa — nor does he work for one of those NFL teams in attendance — former NFL coach Rex Ryan said on ESPN’s “Sunday NFL Countdown” he saw enough on Saturday night to begin the conversation on Milroe being the possible No. 1 overall pick in April’s NFL draft.
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“It’s funny because right away Greenie (Mike Greenberg) used to talk about that (Carson) Beck (was) possibly the first overall pick. Why the hell isn’t Milroe the first overall pick?” Ryan said Sunday alongside Greenberg, Randy Moss and Alex Smith.
“He outplayed Beck in that game last night. I tell you what, that guy was impressive.”
Milroe completed 27 of 33 passes for a career-high 374 passing yards and two touchdowns, including the game-winning 75-yard touchdown pass to Ryan Williams. The 6-foot-2 quarterback also showed off his running game Saturday, as he ran for a season-high 117 yards with a touchdown.
With his big scoring day, Milroe has is now responsible for 108 of Alabama’s 188 points this season, which ranked second-most of any player in the FBS, per Alabama’s postgame notes.
Using NFL Mock Draft Database as a database, Milroe is currently projected as a second-round pick and has a 32.4% chance of being selected in the first round.
The Alabama quarterback was ranked the No. 5 quarterback in this year’s NFL draft class per ESPN NFL draft analyst Mel Kiper Jr.’s 2025 big board. He trails only Colorado’s Shedeur Sanders, Georgia’s Carson Beck, Texas’ Quinn Ewers and Miami’s Cam Ward.
Milroe and Alabama will now prepare for their Week 6 road trip up to Nashville, Tennessee to take on Vanderbilt on Saturday, Oct. 5 at 3:15 p.m. CT.
This article originally appeared on The Tuscaloosa News: Jalen Milroe, No. 1 pick? Former NFL coach Rex Ryan asks why not
