Alabama is spending like a contender, but the number may still not be enough to keep Kalen DeBoer happy.
The Crimson Tide’s 2026 football payroll is believed to be in the $35-38 million range, a figure that would put the program in the top 10 of college football spenders. That sounds enormous, but the market is moving fast enough that it may already be catching up to Alabama instead of the other way around.
DeBoer made that point recently when he talked about NIL support and what it takes to build a roster. “We've got to continue and grow ... I think more and more people do understand that you can have an awesome staff, but you got to have the NIL support to be able to get the players because they're the ones that make the plays on Saturdays.”
And the numbers around the sport keep getting louder. What looked like a future problem is already here.
In May, it was projected that Alabama would soon be dealing with programs carrying $50 million player payrolls. That timeline has moved up.
Multiple schools, including LSU, are now rumored to be spending $50 million or more in the 2026 cycle, and the cost of keeping up is only climbing for 2027.
The recruiting market is reflecting that shift, too. Pete Nakos recently posted an anonymous college football GM quote on payments for recruits: “It feels like $350K was the starting price for a low four-star this year. ... There are no layups anymore in high school recruiting.”
On the roster side, The NIL Standard estimates the top 75 players on Alabama’s team have NIL values ranging from $28,000 to $2.16 million, with a combined estimated value of $29.9 million. Those are values, not payouts, and they do not include revenue sharing. More than $17 million of that nearly $30 million is projected to go to Alabama starters.
For comparison, The NIL Standard pegs the top 75 Ole Miss players at $32.7 million. If that number is accurate, Alabama may be behind not only the Rebels, but also Texas, Texas A&M, LSU and possibly Georgia.
That leaves a real question hanging over the Crimson Tide: if Alabama is not actually in the top 10 in player payroll, how much does that cap the program’s ceiling? And does that ceiling leave championships out of reach?
In Other News...
Kalen DeBoer Faces A Bigger Alabama Question Than Fans Realize
Kalen DeBoers first two seasons in Tuscaloosa have produced a solid if unspectacular baseline: a 20-8 record, one College Football Playoff trip and a quarterfinal exit that left Alabama still searching for the standard it expects. The bigger issue now is not just what the Crimson Tide did on the field, but how the roster is being built for what comes next, with the program leaning more heavily on high school recruiting than on a transfer-portal overhaul.
That approach has left Alabama with a 2027 class that is sitting near the bottom of the SEC, and the Tide have also been low in portal activity for the 2026 cycle. ESPN analyst Paul Finebaum recently highlighted that philosophy as a defining question around the program, and it is easy to see why. In a league where roster churn has become a shortcut for quick fixes, Alabama is betting on a slower path, one that could shape the next few years of DeBoers tenure as much as any single game. [Read more 🡒]
Alabamas Summer League Class Faces Real Pressure Starting With Labaron Philon
Eight former Alabama basketball players are in line to spend part of July trying to turn Summer League minutes into something more meaningful, with the Tides recent pipeline to the NBA again giving the program a visible presence across the leagues showcase events. Labaron Philon, Latrell Wrightsell and Houston Mallette are among the names worth tracking, alongside Mark Sears, Chris Youngblood and Grant Nelson, as each one heads into a different setting with a different kind of opportunity in front of him.
Philons situation may be the most interesting of the group because his path to a role in Philadelphia is not as clean as it once looked. The Sixers have reshaped their backcourt and added more competition for minutes, which means Summer League is less about simply showing up and more about making a case that sticks, even before the games in Las Vegas really get rolling. [Read more 🡒]
Even Alabama Still Has Some Shockingly Close Firsts Left
For a program that has piled up 985 wins and 18 national championships over 134 years, Alabama still has an oddly long list of firsts left on the schedule. As the 2026-27 season arrives, the Crimson Tide have never lined up against 46 FBS programs, a mix that includes 10 from Power Four leagues and a broader group of opponents that, for one reason or another, have simply never crossed paths with the Tide.
Some of those gaps are surprising enough to make a future matchup feel like a small event in itself, especially with first-time games already on the calendar in the coming years. Alabama has a few of those dates circled already, and postseason pairings could always add another new name to the ledger, which is part of what makes a schedule around a blueblood so strangely unfinished. [Read more 🡒]