ESPN expert praises Eagles strategy drafting Georgia defenders
Looking for big winners from night one of the 2023 NFL Draft? ESPN NFL expert Louis Riddick has one for you, and it’s the Philadelphia Eagles. He’s a believer in what general manager Howie Roseman, head coach Nick Sirianni and the rest of the organization are doing by drafting four players off of Georgia’s 2021 championship-winning defense and allowing them to play together at the next level too.
The Eagles traded up one spot to No. 9 to take defensive lineman Jalen Carter. Fans in Philadelphia were already excited about the idea of putting Carter beside his college teammates defensive lineman Jordan Davis and inside linebacker Nakobe Dean. Then, with their second pick of the first round, the cards fell their way to have the opportunity to land another Georgia Bulldog, drafting outside linebacker Nolan Smith with the No. 30 overall pick.
“That’s unbelievable. They’re the Philadelphia Bulldogs, that’s who they are now,” Riddick said during a post-draft interview with Scott Van Pelt on SportsCenter. “When you’re trying to build culture and you’re trying to build a college like atmosphere via the draft which is what every team is trying to do, what better way to do it than to get all of the defensive players on the best defense in college football over the past few years and put them all in the same organization?! Now they’re going to take ownership of the organization now.”
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“You think about Jalen Carter being combined with some of the defensive presences that they have over there already in terms of Fletcher Cox and Brandon Graham who can develop him, teach him how to be a professional, teach him what the standard is. And then you say, ‘Oh by the way, with the 30th pick, we’re going to get your buddy, we’re going to get Nolan Smith,’ who happens to be a sub-4.4 edge rusher, and we’re going to let him go ahead and learn from Brandon Graham and Haason Reddick. And then we’re going to put him with Nakobe Dean, and then all you guys can just recreate the same thing you did as back-to-back, two-time National Champions,” Riddick continued. “To me, that – look, sometimes the board has to fall your way, and obviously you have to make some moves to put yourself in a position to get these players, but man, if you’re Philadelphia right now, you’re going, ‘We did work. We did some serious work on night one.'”
Carter and Smith being taken by the same team gives Georgia a pair of players drafted in the first round by the same team for a second straight season. The Green Bay Packers did so last season taking Devonte Wyatt and Quay Walker after drafted Eric Stokes in the first round the year before. The New England Patriots also did so in 2018 taking Isaiah Wynn and Sony Michel. In all three examples, Georgia was coming off of an appearance in the College Football Playoffs with the past two being National Championship winning teams.
