Saban bullish on Tua in Year 2, touts Smith, Harris as high picks

The Dolphins have two Alabama stars: Tua Tagovaloa and Raekwon Davis. Nick Saban lays out why they should add others, such as DeVonta Smith and Najee Harris.

No person outside the Dolphins’ organization has had a bigger impact on their roster — and their future prospects — than Alabama coach Nick Saban.

GM Chris Grier has selected four Alabama players in the past five drafts. The two still with the team — Tua

Tagovailoa and Raekwon Davis — will be starters in 2021.

And the two who are gone — Minkah Fitzpatrick and Kenyan Drake — were flipped for draft picks, one of which Grier used to select starting left tackle Austin Jackson.

Grier and Saban have a relationship that dates back more than 15 years, when Saban was the Dolphins’ coach and Grier their national scout.

And yet, Saban on Monday insisted that “there’s

no special relationship” with the franchise he once led.

“I think Chris Grier does a great job — he was there when I was there,” Saban said in a predraft Zoom news conference for sportswriters from around the country. “We have a longtime relationship, but I think he’s going to make all professional decisions relative to what they need and how they evaluate our players as an organization.”

The Dolphins, like every rational team, evaluate Alabama’s players highly. The Crimson Tide just put a bow on its 14th consecutive top-five recruiting class. And Saban’s staff has done a masterful job of developing those talented teenagers into NFL-ready stars.

Look no further than DeVonta Smith, the No. 1 player in college football last season. Smith arrived in Tuscaloosa weighing 159 pounds.

And while Smith is still slight (he’s only up to 170), he has proven plenty strong against the best defenders college football has had to offer. Smith, the Heisman Trophywinning wide receiver, is on a short list of players the Dolphins are considering taking with the sixth overall pick.

“I’ll be honest with you; when we recruited DeVonta, he weighed 159 pounds and I wished he was bigger,” Saban said. “Now he weighs 170 pounds, and I think people at the next level are saying I wish he was bigger. But there are bigger people who [don’t] perform anyway near how he performs.

“There are people that are bigger than him that don’t have the competitive spirit or toughness that he has,” Saban continued. “Tell me how many receivers are tougher than he is, that block better, that play more physical than he does. Maybe there’s a time where you say this guy really overcomes the fact that he isn’t the biggest guy in the world and he plays this game really really well, and I don’t think anybody can argue that fact.”

But even if the Dolphins pass on Smith for Kyle Pitts or Ja’Marr Chase, there will be plenty of Alabama prospects later in the draft from which to choose.

Najee Harris makes a ton of sense, especially since the Dolphins didn’t sign a no-doubt running back in free agency.

While Harris might be a bit of a stretch with their second first-rounder (18th overall), he would absolutely get consideration should he slip to the second round.

“I think if you check the record, every running back that we’ve had here since we came here has been a third-round [pick] or better in terms of the draft, how they got drafted,” Saban said. “So we’re very proud of that in terms of the quality of guys we’ve been able to recruit, but also how they’ve developed in the program here. And Najee is, I think, an exceptional player. He’s got great size. He’s a really good receiver. He’s instinctive as a runner, he’s tough, he’s hard to tackle and he kind of gets better as the game goes on. He’s got some really, really positive attributes. He’s always been a really, really good team guy here. I love the guy and I think he’ll be a really, really good player at the next level.”

Saban had the same opinion about Tagovailoa a year ago, and Tua’s challenging rookie season didn’t move his former coach off that opinion — even if Saban acknowledges he didn’t watch a single Dolphins game in 2020.

“I don’t think it’s fair to me to evaluate what he did or didn’t do or how he progressed,” Saban said. “I know there’s a lot written about it. I know he’s a hard worker and there’s a lot of pride in performance. I know there’s a lot of improvement from the first year to the second year in most cases going to that level or going from high school to here. We think Tua will have a great career, he’ll continue to work hard and develop really nicely.”

Adam H. Beasley: 305-376-2387, @AdamHBeasley