Brian Billick: NFL teams are leery of Bama players because Saban wears them down

Billick said this on CBS Sports Radio this morning when he was asked by one of the hosts if there was a player in the draft who is getting more hype than they deserve. He didn't mention any players. Instead, he decided to bring up the fact that he is wary of Bama players due to all the injury issues they have after leaving college. He said NFL teams are starting to notice that a lot of Bama players are very beat up and already breaking down physically by the time they reach the NFL.

Basically, Saban is so hard on his players that it has taken a heavy toll on their bodies. Bama players are more physically beat up than players from other programs and there is a lot more wear and tear on their bodies due to the physicality of their games and practices. Billick said NFL teams are starting to view Saban as someone who chews his players up and spits them out, a coach who rides his players relentlessly and squeezes everything out of their bodies until they break down.

It was pretty interesting to hear Billick say that about Bama players. There have been criticisms about Bama players busting or not reaching their potential but this is the first time I've heard anybody speak about Saban riding his players so hard that it caused them to break down physically earlier in their NFL career. I wonder how it'll affect the stock of Bama players in the future. Will it hurt their stock and maybe cause Saban to change his way or is this just a blip on the radar? Hopefully, it's the latter.