When the NFL's 2017 business year ended in March, 27 players with Alabama football roots who played in the regular season last year became free agents. Since then, every NFL team has held its offseason program, but the football practices came and went without nine of the free agents.
The number would have been 10, but the New York Jets announced on Thursday they'd signed defensive lineman Courtney Upshaw. The former Eufaula High School and Alabama standout had been a free agent after six NFL seasons. The Jets gave Upshaw a tryout at their mandatory minicamp last week, and he made good on his opportunity, earning a contract and a spot on the roster for training camp next month.