Should the Eagles have Georgia on their mind again?

The Bulldogs have won back-to-back national titles. Should the Birds have any UGA players high on their draft board?

Over the past two years, the Georgia Bulldogs have been the best team in college football. They are 29-1, with their only loss coming to Alabama in the 2021 SEC Championship Game, and have won the last two national titles. They had 15 players selected in last year’s NFL Draft and should have another nine or 10 picked this year.

With team interviews and medical exams at the NFL Scouting Combine already underway (the on-field portion of the Combine doesn’t start until Thursday, with the defensive line and linebackers going first) we thought it would be interesting to see if the Philadelphia Eagles should head back “between the hedges” for more contributors.

If my rudimentary calculations, and Wikipedia’s List of Georgia Bulldogs in the NFL Draft, are correct, the Eagles have picked the most Georgia players of any NFL team in history! From Lamar “Racehorse” Davis in 1943 to Nakobe Dean and Jordan Davis in 2022, the Birds have selected 23 UGA players in the draft.

You may also remember former Georgia players like OT Bernard Williams (1st round, 1994), WR Reggie Brown (2nd round, 2005), OG Max Jean-Gilles (4th round, 2006), and DB Brandon Boykin (4th round, 2012) playing for the Eagles over the last 30 years. Boykin was the last Bulldog picked before the two defensive standouts heard their names called last year.

Here are a few Bulldogs players you should keep your eye on if you tune in to the Scouting Combine this weekend:

• In Ben Natan’s mock draft simulator linked above, he was in the enviable position of being able to draft two Bulldogs with Philadelphia’s first round picks. While he admits it is HIGHLY unlikely that DL Jalen Carter falls to No. 10…if he does the Eagles should be sprinting to the podium to select him. Pairing Carter with his former teammate Davis would set the Eagles up for success on the d-line for years to come.

So, I wrote this before news that a warrant was being issued for Carter’s arrest in relation to a crash back in January that resulted in the death of a former teammate and an UGA staff member. I don’t want to make any assumptions before the legal process plays out, but were I in the Eagles front office, I would make sure to do my due diligence on this player.

• EDGE Nolan Smith is a player with whom both Ben and I are enamored. He would be the perfect addition to refresh the Eagles vaunted pass rush and should be available with Philadelphia’s second first-round pick.
• If the Eagles are interested in adding a high upside running back to their backfield, using their 3rd round pick on RB Kenny McIntosh would be a good idea. He rushed for 829 yards on 150 carries (5.5 ypc) last year while scoring 10 touchdowns and added 43 catches for 504 yards (11.7 ypc) and two more scores as a receiving threat. At 6-foot-1 and 210 pounds, McIntosh has great size for the position and offers a versatility that few in this year’s class can match.

Photo by Michael Wade/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images

• Philadelphia is set at the starting quarterback position for the foreseeable future. But if they need a veteran presence to come in and mentor Jalen Hurts, back-to-back CFP National Championship MVP winning QB Stetson Bennett could offer the knowledge gained over his years of experience to Hurts. Bennett, who is over a full year older than Hurts, is not a player I would select. I just wanted to get one last joke off at his expense before he starts his career as a very successful car dealership owner in suburban Atlanta.