JETS TAB JENKINS
Georgia outside linebacker Jordan Jenkins was selected in the third round by the New York Jets, going 83rd overall. “He wasn’t spectacular at Georgia, but he was solid week after week,” ESPN analyst Mel Kiper said. “He didn’t have the measurables, but his production was great.”
The University of Alabama set a unique National Football League draft record this year by having three players return to the Green Room for the second round.
Inside linebacker Reggie Ragland and defensive linemen A'Shawn Robinson and Jarran Reed elected to come back to the Auditorium Theatre in Chicago despite being bypassed in Thursday night's opening round. Ragland, who had 195 tackles and 17 tackles for loss in his last two seasons with the Crimson Tide, became the first of the returning bunch to get picked when the Buffalo Bills tabbed him as the 41st overall selection.
"We always wanted to walk across that stage," Ragland told the NFL Network, "and we always stick together as a team. That's how we've always been. When we lost to Ole Miss early last season, we stuck together."
The NFL Network reported Thursday afternoon that Ragland had been flagged for an enlarged aorta that will require yearly monitoring and that several teams were pushing him down their draft lists.
Alabama was expected to have as many as four first-round selections, but center Ryan Kelly was the only member of the reigning national champions to have his name called on Thursday. Kelly went 18th overall to the Indianapolis Colts.
Kelly did not attend the draft in Chicago, nor did running back and 2015 Heisman Trophy winner Derrick Henry, who became the third Crimson Tide player selected when he went 45th overall to the Tennessee Titans. Henry set a Southeastern Conference record this past season by rushing for 2,219 yards, but he became the lowest-picked Heisman-winning running back since 1960.
The Titans acquired Demarco Murray, who rushed for 702 yards with the Philadelphia Eagles last season after rushing for 1,845 yards with the Dallas Cowboys in 2014, during the offseason and suddenly may have the league's most intriguing tandem.
"We've got two workhorse running backs now," Titans general manager Jon Robinson told reporters Friday night.
The Detroit Lions followed Tennessee and selected Robinson with the 46th pick. Robinson racked up 46 tackles, 7.5 tackles for loss and 3.5 sacks in 2015 and, like Ragland, admitted that spending two nights in the Green Room was difficult.
"It was a little nerve-racking, but it happened," Robinson told the NFL Network. "God has a plan, and this is his plan for me."
Reed became the last player to leave the Green Room when the Seattle Seahawks selected him 49th overall.
"The Seahawks have a player coming," Reed said. "I'm ready to work. All I know is fast and physical."
Reed wasn't, however, the last Tide player taken in the second round. Cornerback Cyrus Jones became Alabama's fifth second-round pick when the New England Patriots tabbed him 60th overall.
Jones was the first pick of the Patriots, who did not have a selection Thursday.
Alabama had its seventh player selected early in the third round when backup running back Kenyan Drake went 73rd overall to the Miami Dolphins. Drake is the sixth Crimson Tide running back in the last six years to get drafted in the first three rounds.
Contact David Paschall at dpaschall@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6524.