Georgia football: 3 teams that love drafting the Dawgs

Georgia football has a long history of putting players into the NFL, as all 32 teams have drafted at least one Dawg.

Who has drafted the most Dawgs since Georgia’s 1980 national title and the 2021 one? Since 1980, there have been 189 players drafted among the 32 teams. The Dawgs have also seen 31 first-round picks in that same time frame.

So we looked into who has drafted the most Georgia players in the first round and overall. The winner may not surprise some, but it was interesting to see how the numbers stacked among all 32 teams.

Georgia football has three NFL teams that love drafting the Dawgs.

While Georgia has seen at least one player drafted to all 32 teams since 1980, not all 32 showed the Dawgs a ton of love. The NFL Draft has only so many picks, so it’s understandable. However, three teams clearly enjoy having a Dawg on their team.

These three teams had double-digit Dawg picks since 1980. The Cincinnati Bengals lead the NFL with 11 players, and the Denver Broncos and New England Patriots both have drafted 10 Dawgs.

As for the remaining 29 teams, here are how many Dawgs they drafted in the last few decades.

Georgia football players drafted by each NFL team since 1980:

Cincinnati Bengals: 11

Denver Broncos: 10

New England Patriots: 10

Dallas Cowboys: 9

Indianapolis Colts: 9

Pittsburgh Steelers: 9

New Orleans Saints: 8

New York Giants: 7

Philadelphia Eagles: 7

Atlanta Falcons: 7

Arizona Cardinals: 7

Chicago Bears: 7

Seattle Seahawks: 7

Cleveland Browns: 6

Carolina Panthers: 6

Detroit Lions: 6

Kansas City Chiefs: 6

Miami Dolphins: 6

Buffalo Bills: 5

New York Jets: 5

San Francisco 49ers: 5

Tennessee Titans: 5

Green Bay Packers: 4

Jacksonville Jaguars: 4

Minnesota Vikings: 4

St. Louis/LA Rams: 4

Washington Redskins/Commanders: 4

Baltimore Ravens: 3

Tampa Bay Buccaneers: 3

Oakland/Las Vegas Raiders: 2

Los Angeles Chargers: 2

Houston Texans: 1

Cincinnati set the tone, and for a while, it seemed like if there was a Dawg available, they got him. From 2010 to 2013, the Bengals picked up at least one and two players in the 2011 draft.

The Bengals recently picked up Trey Hill during the sixth round of the 2021 NFL Draft. However, they also drafted A.J. Green in 2011 and David Pollack in 2005.

Another few notable names drafted to Cincy were Orson Charles (2012), Geno Atkins (2010), Odell Thurman (2005) and Robert Geathers (2004).

Denver is another team that loves the Dawgs and knows if they pick one of Georgia’s players, they’re getting someone who will help them succeed.

With 10 players drafted, the last one they picked up was in 2017 when they added Isaiah McKenzie as a 5th round addition. Tavarres King went to Denver in 2013 and Terrell Davis in 1995.

However, they have only picked up two Dawgs in the first round during this time frame. Denver drafted Knowshon Moreno as the 12th overall pick in the 2009 class and Foster as the 20th in 2003.

Maybe the Broncos will add to that total in the 2022 NFL Draft.

Then there are the Pats, who also drafted 10 Dawgs since 1980. However, what is most impressive about New England is they were the team who drafted the most Georgia players in the first round, with five.

Those five Dawgs are Robert Edwards in 1998 at 18, Richard Seymour in 2001 as the sixth overall, Ben Watson as the 32nd pick in 2004 and then the Dawg duo Isaiah Wynn at 23 and Sony Michel at 31 in the 2018 NFL Draft.

The duo New England drafted in 2018 helped them win their Super Bowl in 2019.

Malcolm Mitchell got picked up during the fourth round of the 2016 draft, and he also is someone that won a ring while in New England. Watson and Seymour both won rings during their stints with the Pats, and Seymour most recently got inducted into the Hall of Fame — New England’s and the NFL.

Head coach Bill Belichick knows he is getting Super Bowl-worthy players when the Pats draft someone from Georgia — ones that already understand his culture.

Of the 32 NFL teams, 17 have selected a Dawg in the first round. The Pats lead the pack with five, but behind them are the Saints and Giants with three apiece.

The Saints drafted Lindsey Scott at the 13th pick in 1982, Charles Grant at 25 in 2002, and Jonathan Sullivan at 6 in 2003.

New York drafted Rodney Hampton at 24 in 1990, Deandre Baker at 30 in 2019 and Andrew Thomas in 2020 as the fourth overall pick.

Eight of the 17 have drafted one Georgia player in the first round, and six have drafted two, including the Broncos and Bengals, who pick the Dawgs a lot.

These teams know what they’re getting, and as the program continues to evolve with head coach Kirby Smart, these numbers will only change because the Dawgs will see a lot of players in the coming years make it into the league.

With 15 Dawgs available, at least one is likely to get swooped up by one of these three teams since they have shown Georgia the most love. Regardless of the amount drafted, Georgia gets a lot of love from across the NFL because these teams know talented players come out of Athens.