I think there is a myth about Saban and his teams that they are/were some kind of rolling juggernaut year and year out as if each championship season they fielded a team that was on par with 2005 Texas, 95 Nebraska, etc.
The only Saban team I think you can possibly say that about was the 2020 team, and even that team gets an asterisk due to covid.
His 2009 team, while undefeated, well we all saw the game.
All his other championship teams had a loss and at least one other close game that could have been a loss against a team nowhere as talented.
In between, there gave been plenty of 2 or 3 loss seasons, where they ended up losing one or two of those close games.
Hell, they just played in the championship game two seasons ago and lost to a team they had already beaten soundly which evened out a similar reverse scenario with them and LSU back before the playoff format.
Saban's strength was always consistency and process and it allowed Alabama to always be in the mix even with the talent ebbs and flows.
Saban is still Saban and if there is any drop off it won't be because of him.
NIL and the portal may cut into the frequency of MNCs, but that's just because others got better, not because Saban got worse.