I Hate You, John Crist: Even after signing new contract, Nick Saban still underpaid

After signing a contract extension that will take him through 2024, Alabama coach Nick Saban is scheduled to make $11 million this year.

I’m of the opinion that Saban is still underpaid. To suggest that a program like ‘Bama can win national championships no matter who’s on the sideline is categorically wrong. Just ask Mike Shula, Dennis Franchione and Mike DuBose.

If I were running professional leagues like the NFL, NBA and NHL, I’d allow each franchise to pay one player whatever it wanted with no salary-cap restrictions. With the current system, Tom Brady is underpaid by the New England Patriots. Same with LeBron James of the Cleveland Cavaliers and Sidney Crosby of the Pittsburgh Penguins.

While there is no salary cap in college football — it’s not like the players get paid, but that’s an argument for another day — Saban deserves to make 10 times what other coaches do because he’s accomplished 10 times as much.

Here are some of my favorite comments from this past week. Even with the NFL Draft complete, that didn’t stop the conversation.

Kentucky running back Stanley “Boom” Williams was one of 25 players from the SEC who left school in order to enter the draft early.

Unfortunately, after the full seven rounds were complete, Williams didn’t hear his name called. The same can be said for Georgia linebacker Tim Kimbrough and Texas A&M receivers Speedy Noil and Ricky Seals-Jones.

I don’t profess to know Williams and his personal situation intimately, although I did speak with him briefly at the Scouting Combine. When I asked him why he left Lexington, he didn’t paint the picture of a hopelessly desperate family needing him to help put food on the table. He just thought he was ready for the pros.

However, the scouting community didn’t agree. It’s possible Williams simply picked the wrong year to be a ball carrier. This draft was loaded at the tailback spot, with two (Leonard Fournette, Christian McCaffrey) going in the Top 8.

Williams managed to sign with the Cincinnati Bengals as a free agent, although he appears to be a long shot at best to make the final roster.

There doesn’t look to be enough room in the backfield as it is in the Queen City. The depth chart already featured Jeremy Hill and Giovani Bernard even before the organization selected Joe Mixon in Round 2.

Had he returned to the Wildcats, he at least would’ve had a chance to elevate his draft stock going into 2018. We know that offensive coordinator Eddie Gran will run the ball early and often, and Williams paired with Benny Snell for quite the one-two punch a season ago. It’s a shame that we won’t see it a second time.

Since Williams was only at UK for three seasons and surely spent the majority of spring semester preparing for the draft, my guess is he never finished his degree. The success rate for undrafted free agents in the NFL is awfully low.

While I wish Williams nothing but the best because he’s a quality young man, he’s already close to becoming part of a dubious statistic.

I wrote a column after Day 2 of the draft about Tennessee quarterback Joshua Dobbs still being available at that point.

Ultimately, Dobbs was chosen at the beginning of Day 3. The Pittsburgh Steelers took him off the board in the fourth round with the 135th selection overall. The fact that he went No. 135 proved to be very interesting.

One of the best nuggets to come out of draft weekend was former Mississippi State QB Dak Prescott also being taken 135th last year by the Dallas Cowboys. Needless to say, Dobbs got a lot of comparisons to Prescott during the pre-draft evaluation process. Both on and off the field, there were similarities.

As a result, Dobbs was supposedly rocketing up draft boards after all the success Prescott had in Big D as a rookie. Plus, there’s no greater value in a salary-cap league than a signal caller on a bargain of a contract.

Credit: Christopher Hanewinckel-USA TODAY Sports

In the days leading up to the draft, ESPN analyst Todd McShay suggested that Dobbs could even be a threat to go in Round 1.

In the end, Dobbs wasn’t rewarded for playing the pre-draft fiddle so well. He nailed the Senior Bowl, the Scouting Combine and his Pro Day. Naturally, it’s safe to assume that he was as charming as could be when interviewing with teams.

That being said, I do believe that the Prescott comps were a bit unfair for Dobbs. On the surface, they were both spread-option guys who put up big numbers in the SEC. Additionally, despite their accomplishments, each is incredibly humble and has the personality traits you hope for at the game’s most important position.

But if you dig a little deeper, Prescott was a more precise passer in Starkville than Dobbs ever was in Knoxville. On top of that, Prescott delivered more NFL-type throws junior year to senior year. Dobbs didn’t have the same evolution.

Still, I thought Dobbs would benefit from the Prescott Effect and get nabbed in Round 2 or 3. I was surprised he lasted as long as he did.

Alabama quarterback Jalen Hurts is the reigning Offensive Player of the Year in the SEC, and he did it as a freshman.

As such, I felt quite comfortable putting Hurts at No. 1 of my post-spring QB power rankings. The Texas native still has a lot of doubters out there, though. All the Tua Tagovailoa talk during spring practice only amplified them.

It’s impossible to deny that Hurts didn’t throw it particularly well throughout the postseason last year. In the Florida, Washington and Clemson contests, he was less than effective with his arm for prolonged stretches. And aside from that TD run in the national title game, his legs were somewhat neutralized, too.

But you can’t just ignore a touchdown-to-interception ratio of 23-to-9 right out of high school, not to mention an additional 13 scores as a rusher. Hurts had one of the greatest freshman seasons for a QB in conference history.

Moreover, to imply that his supporting cast is solely responsible for the numbers Hurts put up is grossly misguided.

Look no further than the 2016 season opener against USC in Arlington. With Blake Barnett at the controls for the opening two drives, the Crimson Tide ran seven plays for a total of 14 yards and punted twice.

Now it took Hurts a little time to find his footing upon being inserted into the lineup, but once he started to figure it out, ‘Bama transformed into a juggernaut. An early 3-0 deficit to the Trojans was answered by a 38-0 run that was highlighed by four total touchdowns — two passing, two rushing — from Hurts.

Again, he was a true freshman. For the majority of the next three months, Hurts was a dual-threat monster. Perhaps he hit a bit of a rookie wall in the postseason, but that doesn’t invalidate what he had done previously.

The best thing about freshmen? The become sophomores. If anything, the presence of Tagovailoa could push Hurts to be even better.