Christopher Smith signs rookie contract with Raiders
Former Georgia safety Christopher Smith became the second Bulldog to sign his rookie contract this past week, inking his deal with the Las Vegas Raiders. Smith was selected No. 170 overall in the fifth round of the 2023 NFL Draft late last month.
According to Spotrac.com, Smith is set to make $4.1 million with a signing bonus just shy of $245,000.
An unanimous All-American this past season for the Bulldogs, Smith finished fourth on the team in tackles with 61 stops. He started all 15 games in 2022 and a total of 31 over the course of his career.
Smith was named First-Team All-SEC by both the Associated Press and the league’s head coaches. He also was a finalist for the 2022 Bronko Nagurski Award as the nation’s top defensive player.
Raiders general manager Dave Ziegler said after the draft that when the Smith pick went in, he got several calls from other NFL executives that thought the organization was getting a great value taking Smith in the fifth round.
“There’s a few picks like this, but after the Chris Smith pick, I got four or five texts from different GMs around the league where they were targeting Chris Smith just because of how good of a football player he was,” Ziegler said. “Excited about him to come in and see him compete with that group.”
“Chris Smith, when I watched him it reminded me a lot of Duron Harmon and his ability. Duron was obviously a great player for us last year, and Chris relies on his instincts and his awareness to make plays on the football as a student of the game. He has a very unique ability to pattern read, look at a route concept and how it develops out of the snap and make some reads. That puts himself in positions to be able to make plays on the football,” he continued. “He’s also a physical kid, not the biggest in stature. When you look at Chris Smith and just read the numbers, I don’t think he ran a super fast 40, he’s not a super big guy, but when you put on the tape, he’s a guy that impresses you.”
Smith’s selection by the Raiders came as a part of their plan to prioritize turnovers. He had a team-high three interceptions, one fumble recovery and returned a blocked field goal back 96 yards for a touchdown in 2022.
Smith also had a trio of interceptions in 2021 including a pick-six in Georgia’s season-opening win over No. 3 Clemson for the only touchdown of the night in Charlotte. It was his first career interception and came with less than 3:00 to go in the first half, still scoreless between the Bulldogs and Tigers.
Smith had another interception in a win at Vanderbilt just a few weeks later before picking off Panthers’ No. 1 overall pick Bryce Young in the National Championship Game. Smith had a career-best seven tackles in the win over the Crimson Tide with two pass breakups, a quarterback pressure, the interception and a couple of key blocks for Kelee Ringo on his interception return that sealed the deal on the title for Georgia.
