Philadelphia Eagles head coach sees major trend with Georgia players
The Philadelphia Eagles have used the past two NFL Drafts to take five Georgia players and with the 2024 NFL Combine upon us, head coach Nick Sirianni was able to shed some light as to why his team has made those picks and what he has noticed since those Bulldogs arrived in the City of Brotherly Love. It goes back to one of the pillar’s of Kirby Smart‘s program, toughness, but it doesn’t top there.
It started when the Eagles selected mammoth nose tackle Jordan Davis No. 13 overall in the 2022 NFL Draft. They then took Butkus Award-winning linebacker Nakobe Dean in the third round of that same draft.
The organization really ramped it up in 2023, after Georgia had won a second National Championship in as many seasons. Philadelphia had two first-round picks and used both on Bulldogs, taking defensive tackle Jalen Carter with the No. 9 overall pick and then selecting EDGE Nolan Smith No. 31 overall. Day two of that event went by without the Eagles taking a Georgia player but they struck again on day three, taking cornerback Kelee Ringo in the fourth round.
“Toughness, right? Obviously toughness in the guys we’ve drafted and have on our team from Georgia are highly talented,” Sirianni said on Tuesday in Indianapolis. We have two first-round guys in Jordan and Jalen. The another first-round guy in Nolan. We’ve got a third-round guy in Nakobe and a fourth-round guy in Kelee.
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So they’re tough, they’re physical, they know how to win and on top of that, they’re really good football players. So we look forward to continuing to develop those guys.You look at it from afar and say these guys know how to work, these guys know how to practice and these guys are tough. Any time you can say that about another coach, hopefully you understand that’s the highest praise that I have for coach Smart and what he has done at that program and obviously grateful for that because have some of those good players on our team.”
While Philadelphia was unable to win its division and get back to the Super Bowl in 2024, it was able to get back to the playoffs where it lost to Tampa Bay in the first round. Each of those Georgia players helped it get there with Davis and Carter playing major snaps throughout the year. Dean was a mainstay at linebacker when healthy while Smith was a role player and Ringo was forced into action late in the year due to injuries.
