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

The 2020 Georgia football NFL Draft class

Despite the world going through a global pandemic, football found a way to live on, and Georgia football saw seven players drafted in the 2020 NFL Draft.

There were two first-round picks, and both went to those big bullies up front that protect the quarterback. The New York Giants took a shot on a Georgia player for the second straight year as they picked Andrew Thomas fourth overall.

Isaiah Wilson was the second offensive lineman taken in the first round for the Dawgs as the Tennessee Titans drafted him 29th overall.

Surprisingly enough, D’Andre Swift wasn’t a first-round pick but should have been because he is a flat-out stud. The Lions drafted him 35th overall in the second round, and he was the second running back off the board that year.

Solomon Kindley was the Dawgs’ third offensive lineman taken off the board in the fourth round at 111th overall by the Miami Dolphins. Jake Fromm got drafted by the Bills in the fifth round at the 167th pick, Charlie Woerner went sixth round at the 190th pick, and Georgia saw Tae Crowder selected by the Giants in the draft’s final selection — dubbing him the 2020 class’ Mr. Irrelevant.

However, getting picked last doesn’t mean anything when you have worked with head coach Kirby Smart, Glenn Schumann and Dan Lanning. Crowder was ready for whatever came at him, and he has flourished since getting into the league. He came to Georgia as a running back and left as a linebacker, but that journey led him to the success he has now.

In two seasons, he has 187 tackles, seven pass deflections, a forced fumble, a fumble recovery, a fumble recovery that resulted in a touchdown and two interceptions.

Thomas is another out of this draft class that has thrived in his first two seasons. He has 28 starts and has seen playing time in 29 games. The Giants seem to love Thomas, and he seems at home up north.

Swift is representing RBU proudly in Detroit. He took a leading role as a rookie with 114 carries for 521 yards and eight scores, but he shared the load with Jamaal Williams in his second season. He did have 123 carries for 419 yards and three scores. In his two short years in the league, Swift has 940 yards and 11 touchdowns.

However, Georgia fans know that Swift has excellent hands and has made plays in the passing game during his first two years in the league. Swift has 96 catches for 777 yards and four touchdowns.

Kindley is also starting his NFL career off strong as he started 13 games as a rookie with the Dolphins, and he saw playing time in 16 games in 2021. Woerner has had some small successes as well.

He played in 14 games as a rookie and 17 in year two with the 49ers. Despite being a late pick and someone many people thought would go undrafted, Woerner’s ability to block has helped him keep his spot on the team.

As for Fromm and Wilson, those two have struggled to get their footing in the NFL. The Bills never put Fromm on the field while he was with them and got picked up by the Giants last November. New York put him in three games where he completed 45% of his passes for one score and three picks. He is currently a free agent, but maybe the NFL isn’t for him, and it’s time for Fromm to get into coaching or whatever he plans on doing next.

Wilson may have been a first-round pick, but he is probably the biggest bust to come out of Smart’s draft classes. His time with the Titans was brief, and Wilson couldn’t stay out of trouble long enough for Tennessee to keep him around. He violated team rules and had a lot of off-the-field issues, so they traded him to the Dolphins last March.

That stint in Miami lasted three days. He signed with the Giants practice squad in September but is now a free agent after getting released in January. While Wilson could turn things around, it’ll be hard to convince a team to give him a shot. He had so much potential but couldn’t stay out of trouble to live up to it.

This draft class had far more success stories than failures, marking another successful class sent into the NFL for Smart.