According to data released Monday by ESPN, this past weekend’s NFL Draft was the most watched in history — and Birmingham’s television market helped make that milestone possible.
Just In: ESPN says this year’s draft was the most watched & most attended draft in NFL history. 6.1M people tuned in on TV/digital, 600K fans attended. In total, all NFL Draft telecasts combined to reach more than 47.5M television viewers over the three-day event, up +5% vs. 2018 pic.twitter.com/s2WLkHbrZt
— Jess Golden (@JGolden5) April 29, 2019
The 2019 draft was also big for the Yellowhammer State for other reasons.
According to Max Preps, defensive tackle Quinnen Williams’ selection as the third overall pick this year marked the eighth top-ten overall pick since 2009 for Alabama high schools. Williams attended Wenonah High School in Birmingham before starring at the University of Alabama.
UA produced more drafted players (10) than any other school this year after the Crimson Tide boasted the same accomplishment in 2018 when 12 of Coach Nick Saban’s players were selected by NFL teams.
Per Alabama Media Group‘s tally, 21 players in total with Alabama ties – having attended college and/or high school in the state – were drafted this year.
This did not include Washington State University’s star quarterback Gardner Minshew, who had a brief stint at Troy University at the beginning of his collegiate career and actually turned down a graduate transfer offer by the University of Alabama before heading to WSU to play his final season. Minshew was selected in the fifth round by the Jacksonville Jaguars on Saturday.
However, the 21-player total did include six players from Auburn University, plus defensive tackle Byron Cowart, who played on the Plains in the 2015 and 2016 seasons but for Maryland in 2018.
Another tremendous draft story for the state was offensive tackle Tytus Howard, the 23rd overall pick. Howard walked on at Alabama State in Montgomery after not having a star rating at all coming out of Monroe County High School.
Sean Ross is a staff writer for Yellowhammer News. You can follow him on Twitter @sean_yhn
Don’t miss out! Subscribe today to have Alabama’s leading headlines delivered to your inbox.