ATHENS – The “Philly Connection” thing is getting real between the Georgia Bulldogs and Philadelphia Eagles.
The Eagles chose two more Georgia players Thursday night in the first round of the NFL draft in Kansas City, Missouri. First, they selected controversial defensive tackle Jalen Carter with the ninth pick. Then, with the next-to-the-last pick of the night – No. 30 overall – Philadelphia selected outside linebacker Nolan Smith.
Choosing two players from the same team in the first round is unusual, but that actually gives the Eagles four defenders in the early rounds of the past two drafts. The Eagles selected Georgia defensive tackle Jordan Davis in the first round last year and linebacker Nakobe Dean in the third round. That means that more than one-third of the Bulldogs’ 2021 defense will be reunited it Philadelphia this year.
Carter, as one might expect, was thrilled about.
“That’s an exciting moment for me,” Carter said on a conference call with Eagles’ reporters late Thursday night. “Them guys were the leaders of the 2021 team. I just know that if I got any questions, I can ask them and also ask anybody else on the team.”
In between the ninth and 30th selections, the Bulldogs watched another of their players get snatched up by a team from Pennsylvania. This time it was that team from Pittsburgh as the Steelers picked Broderick Jones, a third-year sophomore offensive lineman from Lithonia, with the 14th pick overall.
That gave Georgia three first-rounders for this year’s draft, a player selected in the first round of each of the past six NFL drafts and 15 first-rounders overall under coach Kirby Smart, who attended Thursday’s ceremony in Kansas City with Carter.
UGA has produced 46 first-rounders overall.
As for Carter, going ninth overall actually was considered a fall for the 6-foot-3, 315-pound junior defensive lineman. Carter was considered a potential No. 1 overall pick before he was implicated in a fatal car crash that brought additional scrutiny and character questions.
Nevertheless, the Eagles executed a trade with the New England Patriots to move up and make Carter a top-10 pick.
“They really didn’t ask much about that accident that happened,” Carter said of a meeting with the Eagles earlier this month. “It was pretty much getting to know me and the love of the game I’ve got for football. Just getting to know my personality and stuff like that. It was just to get to know me.”
Smith going in the first round represented one of the greatest comebacks from a serious injury ever executed by a Georgia player. A senior from Savannah, Smith sustained a torn pectoral muscle midway through the season in a game against Florida. Not only was Smith able to have surgery and rehabilitate himself back into shape, but he set several positional standards at the NFL combine in Indianapolis in February. Smith ran a 4.39-second 40-yard dash and had the best marks among outside linebackers for vertical leap and broad jump.
The Steelers swapped first-round picks and traded a fourth-round draft pick this year to the Patriots to move up three spots to get Jones.
Jones visited with the Steelers on April 15 in Pittsburgh, but said he still had no inclination they were about to choose him Thursday.
“It felt like UGA when I was up there,” Jones said on a conference call with reporters. “It felt like there was energy there. Everything that was talked about was needed.”
In March, Carter was sentenced to two months of probation, fined $1,013 and ordered to perform 50 hours of community service in a negotiated plea with Athens-Clarke County prosecutors. In Kansas City and in the days leading to the draft, Carter has declined to discuss his role in the tragedy, citing the likelihood of “pending civil litigation.”
Carter’s work ethic also was questioned when he showed up at UGA’s Pro Day under-conditioned and overweight. And well before national championship or draft or the accident, ESPN’s Todd McShay was among draft experts citing unnamed sources that there were “character concerns” surrounding Carter.
In the end, Carter’s tremendous athletic gifts ultimately overrode all those issues and perceptions. ESPN’s Mel Kiper rated the top player available in the 2023 draft, “based solely on his ability to play football.” As it worked out, three quarterbacks, three defensive players, a running back and an offensive lineman were selected before Carter’s name finally was called by NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell.
Smart, appearing on an ESPN TV show earlier in the day Thursday, said he fielded a lot of questions about Carter in the lead-up to the draft, but didn’t expect him to have to wait too long Thursday night.
“I know he had some mistakes off the field, but to be honest with you, it’s hard to find any players that age that haven’t had mistakes,” Smart said on “First Take” on Thursday. “I’m really proud of the way Jalen competes. He’s going to make an unbelievable NFL football player.”
Carter missed two games and parts of four others because of ankle and knee injuries this past season. He finished with 32 tackles, three sacks and 31 quarterback hurries. His most famous play was lifting up LSU quarterback Jayden Daniels in one arm while holding up a No. 1 signal with his other hand after sacking Daniels in the SEC Championship game last December.
In all, Carter played in 38 games for Georgia and finished with 83 tackles including six sacks and 18.5 tackles for loss.
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