Chris Smith targeted by several GMs in NFL Draft as turnover machine
Las Vegas Raiders general manager Dave Ziegler has an emphasis in mind this offseason when adding to his defense: turnovers. He got one out of Georgia on the third day of the 2023 NFL Draft in safety Christopher Smith.
An unanimous All-American this past season for the Bulldogs, Smith had a team-high three interceptions, one fumble recovery and returned a blocked field goal back 96 yards for a touchdown in 2022. He also finished fourth on the team in tackles with 61 stops, starting all 15 games on his way to being named First-Team All-SEC by both the Associated Press and the league’s head coaches. Smith was a finalist for the 2022 Bronko Nagurski Award as the nation’s top defensive player and was selected in the fifth round by the Raiders with the No. 170 overall pick.
“Chris Smith, when I watched him it reminded me a lot of Duron Harmon and his ability. Duron was obviously a great player for us last year, and Chris relies on his instincts and his awareness to make plays on the football as a student of the game. He has a very unique ability to pattern read, look at a route concept and how it develops out of the snap and make some reads. That puts himself in positions to be able to make plays on the football,” Ziegler said. “He’s also a physical kid, not the biggest in stature. When you look at Chris Smith and just read the numbers, I don’t think he ran a super fast 40, he’s not a super big guy, but when you put on the tape, he’s a guy that impresses you. There’s a few picks like this, but after the Chris Smith pick, I got four or five texts from different GMs around the league where they were targeting Chris Smith just because of how good of a football player he was. Excited about him to come in and see him compete with that group.”
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Smith also had a trio of interceptions in 2021 including a pick-six in Georgia’s season-opening win over No. 3 Clemson for the only touchdown of the night in Charlotte. It was his first career interception and came with less than 3:00 to go in the first half, still scoreless between the Bulldogs and Tigers.
Smith had another interception in a win at Vanderbilt just a few weeks later before picking off Panthers’ No. 1 overall pick Bryce Young in the National Championship Game. Smith had a career-best seven tackles in the win over the Crimson Tide with two pass breakups, a quarterback pressure, the interception and a couple of key blocks for Kelee Ringo on his interception return that sealed the deal on the title for Georgia.
