2025 NFL Draft: Nick Saban, Kirk Herbstreit reveal how Jalen Milroe can overcome inconsistency as passer

One day before the 2025 NFL Draft, Jalen Milroe remains one of the more intriguing players on the board. The former Alabama quarterback continues to face questions about his accuracy as a passer, and his former coach said they had those conversations in 2023.

Nick Saban – now an ESPN analyst – said he and Milroe talked about “eliminating bad plays” during their time together. Milroe took over for Bryce Young as Alabama’s starting quarterback in 2023 and ultimately chose to return in 2024 after Saban announced his retirement.

Saban and Kirk Herbstreit broke down Milroe’s up-and-down two years as the Crimson Tide starter. But the thing that stands out to Saban is the athleticism, which he argued makes Milroe stand out from the rest of the quarterbacks in this year’s draft.

“I think the No. 1 thing with Jalen Milroe is this guy adds an element to your offense that nobody else has in this draft,” Saban said Wednesday on SportsCenter. “This guy’s a tremendous athlete. I love the guy as a competitor. He can make all the throws. He’s a very good deep-ball thrower because he has a very strong arm. He made a significant amount of explosive plays. … And this is the fastest guy on the team, and one of the most physical guys.

“So I think if Jalen is going to develop in the NFL, he’s got to become a little more consistent as a passer. And the thing I met with him every week his junior year was eliminate your bad plays. Eliminate the negatives. You make so many good plays, you eliminate those bad plays, you’re going to play at a high level for somebody.”

Milroe threw for 2,844 yards and 16 touchdowns in 2024 while adding 726 rushing yards and 20 touchdowns on the ground. On the whole, in his two years as the Crimson Tide’s starting quarterback, he totaled 5,678 passing yards and 39 touchdowns to go with 1,257 rushing yards and 32 touchdowns.

But as Herbstreit noted, Milroe won some big-time games for Alabama, notably against LSU and Georgia in 2024. However, there are other games – such as the shocking loss to Oklahoma – that show some of his vulnerabilities.

“[The] interesting thing to me, you turn on the film and watch him against LSU, he runs all over LSU. You turn on the film against Georgia, he is consistent with his decision-making and his accuracy,” Herbstreit said. “Then, you turn on the film of Oklahoma, and you’re like, ‘What the heck just happened?’ And that’s what Coach is talking about. But he’s got that skillset – those legs and the ability to create.”