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Georgia football: Kirby Smart knows how to move the NFL Draft needle

By Savannah Leigh

INDIANAPOLIS, INDIANA - JANUARY 10: Head Coach Kirby Smart of the Georgia Bulldogs celebrates after the Georgia Bulldogs defeated the Alabama Crimson Tide 33-18 during the 2022 CFP National Championship Game at Lucas Oil Stadium on January 10, 2022 in Indianapolis, Indiana. (Photo by Emilee Chinn/Getty Images)
INDIANAPOLIS, INDIANA - JANUARY 10: Head Coach Kirby Smart of the Georgia Bulldogs celebrates after the Georgia Bulldogs defeated the Alabama Crimson Tide 33-18 during the 2022 CFP National Championship Game at Lucas Oil Stadium on January 10, 2022 in Indianapolis, Indiana. (Photo by Emilee Chinn/Getty Images) /
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Nick Chubb runs for a gain during the second half against the Cincinnati Bengals. (Photo by Jason Miller/Getty Images) /

The 2018 Georgia football NFL Draft class

After the Dawgs beat Oklahoma in the Rose Bowl and fell short to Alabama in the national championship, Georgia saw six players drafted in the 2018 NFL Draft. This draft class featured leaders who came back for one more year to leave a legacy, and they did.

Even if they did fall short of winning a championship, this group showed what Smart could do and how the future of Georgia football would look.

The 2018 class set the school record for most first-round picks with three. Roquan Smith was the eighth overall pick as the Bears chose the Butkus Award winner. Then the New England Patriots decided one Dawg wasn’t enough, so they picked up two in seven picks. Isaiah Wynn was the 23rd, and Sony Michel was the 31st pick.

On Day 2, fellow running back Nick Chubb went 35th overall to the Cleveland Browns and  Lorenzo Carter got drafted in the third round at 66th overall to the New York Giants. Day 3 saw Javon Wims get swooped up in the seventh round at pick No. 224 to the Bears.

Wynn and Michel have both won a Super Bowl ring in New England in 2019. Since then, Michel left the Patriots and landed on the Rams squad, where he won his second ring in 2021. Wynn is still with the Pats and plays when healthy.

Chubb is hands down one of the best running backs in the league. He may not have two rings like Michel, but he has already emerged as a top NFL back that the Browns can trust to make plays. He is already a three-time Pro Bowler and proved to the teams who skipped on him in the first round that they made a huge mistake.

Since getting drafted, the running back has played in 58 games and amassed 4,816 rushing yards, 36 touchdowns, and averages 5.3 yards a carry.

Not to mention, Chubb has just five fumbles in 908 attempts, 46 runs that went 20-plus yards, and 13 that went 40-plus yards. He also has 92 catches for 751 yards and three touchdowns, but he shines the most when he totes the rock.

Smith is living up to his first-round draft pick status as he is one of the Bears’ leaders on defense. Something about the way he plays stands out, and Chicago seems to love him.

He has played in 61 games, recording 524 tackles, with 348 of them being solo ones — that means 66% of the time, he makes the play by himself. Smith has five interceptions, one returned for a touchdown, 43 tackles for loss, 17 quarterback hits, and 14 sacks.  He continues to grow as a player and prove why Georgia is LBU.

Carter found success with the Giants as the linebacker has 14.5 career sacks, 21 tackles for loss, and 35 quarterback hits. However, after fighting back from a 2020 Achilles injury, he now heads home to play for the Atlanta Falcons as he signed a one-year contract with them this off-season.

This draft class gave Dawg fans their first taste of what this program would be like under Smart, and now look at Georgia — they could have 14 drafted this weekend.

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