Nick Saban caught on hot mic shading Cowboys pick during NFL Draft

Nick Saban accidentally told the world how he really felt about the Dallas Cowboys selecting Malachi Lawrence in the first round of the NFL Draft.

The NFL can look down on pick tipping all they want, but if fans want to know who’s being drafted before Roger Goodell announces the pick, it’s not hard to find. Surely, Nick Saban was aware of who the Cowboys were selecting before Goodell took the podium to announce the 23rd pick of the night.

And just as the NFL Draft on ABC was returning from a commercial break, viewers were able to hear someone say, “Wow, this is a reach” on a hot mic.

It was Saban. Saban called the Cowboys’ pick a reach, followed by several seconds of silence before Rece Davis welcomed viewers back to the broadcast, where Goodell was there to announce the Cowboys were selecting (or reaching) for Malachi Lawrence with the 23rd pick.

And when it was Saban’s turn to offer some live analysis of the pick, he didn’t bash it as a reach, but he also made it clear the Cowboys were selecting Lawrence earlier than he expected.

“Actually, this guy was one of my sleepers for tomorrow,” Saban admitted, which garnered some laughter from the rest of the panel. “But he is a good player…this guy is a good player. I thought he was someone that was getting overlooked in the draft, but obviously the Cowboys didn’t overlook him.”

Going from “this is a reach” to making it seem like NFL teams were the ones who were overlooking Lawrence was a tremendous pivot by Saban, quickly explaining away his minor hot-mic blunder.

Or maybe Saban would have been willing to call the pick a reach even while knowing his mic was hot. He had no problem shading former Alabama recruit Kadyn Proctor ahead of the draft. And Saban wasn’t alone in his assessment of Lawrence either. Lawrence was widely viewed as a second-rounder in mocks just a few weeks ago. But a recent surge propelled him into the first round, and onto the Cowboys, meaning Saban will need to quickly find a new sleeper for Friday night.