The national championship game between Alabama and Clemson is growing closer by the second, and members of the Crimson Tide football team are obviously confident that they can win and claim their third title in four years.

But how confident are they about beating an NFL team? Yahoo Sports’ Tank Williams had to find out. He asked members of Alabama’s football team to pick an NFL team that they could beat to win the national championship game.

Most of the players who answered that question were very diplomatic. They wouldn’t pick a team, or said that there’s no way a college team — even one as successful as Alabama — could beat even the worst NFL team. Safety Deionte Thompson agreed with that assessment, adding that he didn’t want to burn any bridges with NFL teams (who could presumably draft him in the future).

An Alabama player thinks the Crimson Tide could beat the NFL’s Arizona Cardinals. (Photo by Roy K. Miller/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images) More

But not everyone agreed. Near the end of the video, one player wanted to confer with offensive lineman Alex Leatherwood on the question, and after a moment, Leatherwood arrived at his answer: the Arizona Cardinals. The reason he gave was simple.

“The Cardinals [are] trash.”

While that’s a little harsh, the 3-13 Cardinals were pretty putrid this season. While the Oakland Raiders were loudly and obviously bad, the Cardinals were just as bad, though in a quiet, low-key way. A way that some people might miss, but not Lockwood. The Raiders occasionally stumbled into brilliance (and would just as quickly stumble away from it), but the Cardinals were bad from pretty much start to finish.

Thankfully for Alabama (and possibly for the Cardinals), they don’t have to beat an NFL team to win the national championship. They just have to beat Clemson. They’ve done it before, and on Monday they’ll find out if they can do it again.



More from Yahoo Sports:

• Cowboys lose WR Hurns to gruesome injury

• Cowboys defense shines in win vs. Seahawks

• Colts have big challenge ahead after wild-card win

• Forde: Don’t be salty about Clemson-Alabama IV

