Eagles-Georgia pipeline has Kirby Smart pleased
The Georgia to Philadelphia connection has been a hot topic the last few weeks since the 2023 NFL Draft. With the Eagles taking two Bulldogs in last year’s draft, three more in this year’s and adding another by way of trade, Howie Roseman hasn’t been shy about his desire to bring Dawgs to the City of Brotherly Love – even if he is a Florida Gator himself.
Jordan Davis and Nakobe Dean helped pave the way in 2022. Jalen Carter and Nolan Smith gave Georgia fans two more Philly Dawgs to root for before on day three of the NFL Draft Roseman took Kelee Ringo and traded for D’Andre Swift. Roseman said last season he was able to make the trip down to Athens to check out practice and would have wanted to take every player he saw. He’s somewhat doing that, and Kirby Smart doesn’t mind.
“I think one of the most important things with the draft is not necessarily what number you get picked, what round you get picked but what team you get picked by. It creates an opportunity,” Smart said on Monday morning during an appearance on 680 The Fan. “You go to to a team that hasn’t traditionally won, they don’t have great ownership, they don’t have great management, and the next thing you know you’re in a recycle mode and you may burn years. Those guys that have gone to Philadelphia just stepped into a winning culture, a championship culture, great ownership, great leadership.”
“They’re going to grow,” he continued. “They’ve also got great players around them in terms of experience. I think they’re going to learn a lot. They’re going to have a chance to compete and play well. It’s not about the number, it’s about where you go, and they fell into some good hands.”
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Smart was asked if he sees similar strategy ever at the college level with teams like Georgia developing a relationship at a certain high school and taking numerous players from there. You’d think that might be the case with a state school like UGA, but for Smart, it’s all about getting the right guys – wherever they come from.
“I don’t know if it’s the same level as them (Philadelphia and the NFL) because we have to look at it from a position of ‘How good can this kid be?’ We have to project harder,” Smart said. “I feel like the colleges get a… when it comes down to evaluating, they (NFL) get a really good evaluation. We don’t get as many opportunities to evaluate as they do. They go to our practice any time they want. We can’t go to the high school practices so I don’t have as much information to say, ‘Hey, this kid’s a really good player. This kid’s not.’ We have a little more unknown, and I do like taking kids from championship programs, meaning they win state championships, they win games. But you can’t take a guy thats raw and say just because he played at a small, poor high school, he’s 6-foot-5 and 250 and can run, I’m taking him because I think I’ve got a chance to develop that guy.”
All three of the Eagles Georgia draftees this year were former five-stars. There was no projection on the Georgia end recruiting the likes of Carter (No. 14 overall, No. 4 DL in C/O ’20), Smith (No. 1 overall, No. 1 LB in C/O ’19) or Ringo (No. 4 overall, No. 1 CB in C/O ’20). Same goes for Dean in 2022 (No. 30 overall, No. 5 LB in C/O ’19). However, Davis (No. 406 overall, No. 39 DL in C/O ’18) absolutely was a projection – and one that paid off.
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Rookie OTAs are underway for the Georgia guys in Philadelphia. The Eagles have given the Bulldogs a warm welcome and embraced the bit. Now it’s time to put all jokes aside though and focus on football where expectations certainly are high for the trio of defenders coming off of being major contributors on two straight National Championship squads.
