Former Alabama linebacker Dylan Moses signed with the Jaguars as an undrafted free agent this week, and Nick Saban thinks the Jaguars got themselves a great player. In fact, Saban compared Moses to Drew Brees.
Saban was with the Dolphins when they passed on Brees in free agency because Brees was coming off a shoulder injury, and Saban believes the NFL teams that passed on Moses because he had a knee injury last year are going to regret that as much as Saban regrets missing out on Brees.
“Don’t forget, when I was the coach of the Miami Dolphins, doctors failed Drew Brees on a physical,” Saban told reporters. “From that time on he made about 14 Pro Bowls, won a Super Bowl, passed for I don’t know how many thousands of yards. So I guess they make mistakes, too.”
Saban said Moses going undrafted was completely about his history of knee injuries. Moses missed the entire 2019 season with a knee injury and said he was playing through pain in 2020.
“It had nothing to do with what kind of football player he is,” Saban said. “It was based on medical grades by the teams, which, frankly, was a little surprising to me. In my time in the league, when guys were injured and they came back and played, that usually got out of that 5 medical grade, which is undraftable. It might have been a 4 medical grade, which means a guy does have an injury, it could be a problem in the future, but he’s come back and played with it so we ought to give him an opportunity, which I certainly think that’s where Dylan Moses should’ve fallen for sure and should’ve gotten an opportunity because he played all season long for us. And I think that should be a good enough indicator that he can play in the NFL.”
The Jaguars hope Moses proves Saban right.