After an amazing weekend in the Queen City where Georgia football came out on top over Clemson 10-3, UGA’s attention will now shift to UAB on Saturday at 3:30.
There were multiple players who looked like future NFL studs on Saturday night from both teams. But what about the players currently in the league whose futures depend on this upcoming 2021 season?
There is no question that the Dawgs have stars in the league – Nick Chubb, Roquan Smith and Matthew Stafford come to mind. However, there are some former Dawgs entering a 2021 campaign that could very well define the rest of their career.
There is no question that AJ Green has had a tremendous career. Green made the Pro Bowl in his first seven seasons, averaging 79 catches, 1,173 yards and 8 touchdowns.
Since 2017, Green’s career has been marred by injuries. During the 2018 season, Green missed seven games due a toe injury and missed the entire 2019 season with an ankle injury.
Green was able to play the entire 2020 season but was a shell of his former self putting up career lows in yards and touchdowns.
In the offseason, AJ signed a one-year deal worth $6 Million with the Arizona Cardinals and for the first time in his career, has a legitimate receiving threat on the opposite side of him in DeAndre Hopkins. There could not be a better opportunity to extend AJ’s career than being in Arizona.
If AJ can stay healthy, expect him to put up good numbers in an explosive offense and parlay that into a contract extension or a new home in the offseason.
The former first-round pick will forever be remembered in Georgia football history for his memorable Rose Bowl performance.
Sony’s NFL career did not get off to a bad start either as he led New England in rushing in 2018 and 2019 and scored the only touchdown in Super Bowl LIII as the Patriots defeated the Rams.
2020 was different story. Bill Belichick has a knack for getting rid of players right as their careers start to take a downturn (Tom Brady excluded).
The Patriots drafted Damien Harris in the 2019 draft and when Michel had foot surgery in the 2020 offseason, Harris took the reigns and Sony never seemed to get his lead-dog status back.
This past offseason, the Patriots declined Michel’s fifth-year option, which indicated his tenure with the Patriots was ending after this season regardless of what he did in the 2021 season.
Then, Belichick does what he does best and recouped some assets, trading Sony for 5th and 6th round picks to the injury depleted Rams.
It was a fortuitous landing spot for Sony. He has a chance to work with offensive wonderkid Sean McVay, and play next to another Georgia great that joined the Rams via trade in the offseason, quarterback Matthew Stafford.
All of the ingredients are in place for Sony to have a bounceback year in the City of Angels.
The term “bust” is thrown around way too quickly for my liking these days. A rookie has one bad year and fans want them put out to pasture.
Unfortunately for former Georgia bookend tackle Andrew Thomas, New York Giants fans have little patience for early draft pick offensive tackles who are not plug-and-play contributors.
After the Ereck Flowers debacle from several years ago, Giants fans want an early return on the draft investment.
To say that Andrew Thomas’s rookie year was a disaster would be an understatement. He gave up more pressures than any other left tackle in the league, with 57. The next closest was Alejandro Villanueva with 43.
Making matters worse, Pro Football Focus rated him 31st out of 38 qualifying left tackles in the league in their overall grades. And let’s be honest, it’s not like the other four Giant offensive linemen were doing well. Offensive line coach Marc Colombo was fired in November due to the poor performance of his unit and disagreements with the head coach.
On a more positive note, Thomas did get better as the season progressed and if he can build off of that momentum from the second half of the season, the sky is the limit for the former No. 4 overall pick.