Georgia's Greatest NFL Draft Success is Yet to Come

The dust has settled on the 2023 NFL draft and this year’s version was another astounding success for the Georgia football program. When the curtain closed on the proceedings in Kansas City last weekend, the Bulldogs were once again the talk of the football world as the program found itself at the front of the pack in both first-round and total draft selections for the second-consecutive NFL draft. The superlatives do not end there, though, as the strong showing by the Bulldogs in this year’s draft also helped the program set records for the most draft picks in a two-year and a three-year span with 25 and 34 selections respectively. Yet, despite the unprecedented run of draft success the Bulldogs have enjoyed in recent years, Georgia’s well-established recruiting and development prowess under head coach Kirby Smart has the program poised to reach even greater heights with its 2024 draft class.

While, on the surface, it may seem rather preposterous to suggest that Georgia’s upcoming draft class will outpace the program’s record-breaking 15 total draft picks from the 2022 draft, a close examination of the Bulldogs’ roster reveals that perhaps it is not such an outrageous notion, after all. To be certain, this exercise is speculative in nature, but Georgia’s 2023 roster is overflowing with draft-eligible players that have either consistently demonstrated NFL-caliber talent throughout their career or have shown enough flashes of next-level ability for one to reasonably surmise that they will place themselves on NFL draft boards with their play during the 2023 season.

The Bulldogs set the standard for total picks in a single NFL draft when 15 players off of their 2021 national championship team were selected in the 2022 NFL draft. While that is a lofty number to eclipse, I believe the Bulldogs are positioned to do exactly that. In my estimation, there are currently 13 players on the Georgia roster who will be draft-eligible following the 2023 season that are “locks” to hear their name called at some point during the 2024 NFL draft. Those players include:

TE Brock Bowers
C Sedrick Van Pran
OT Amarius Mims
OG Tate Ratledge
OG Xavier Truss
S Javon Bullard
CB Kamari Lassiter
WR Dominic Lovett
WR Ladd McConkey
WR Arian Smith
DT Nazir Stackhouse
ILB Smael Mondon
ILB Jamon Dumas-Johnson

While 13 selections would likely ensure the Bulldogs will lead all teams in NFL draft selections for the third-consecutive draft and would best Georgia’s 2023 NFL draft production, it would not be enough to surpass the record 15 draft picks the Bulldogs produced in 2022. However, while I would not categorize them as “locks” to be drafted in 2024, there are several other Bulldogs that could easily position themselves to be drafted in the 2024 NFL draft with a strong 2023 season. Those players include:

QB Carson Beck
DB Tykee Smith
DT Zion Logue
RB Kendall Milton
DE Tramel Walthour
WR RaRa Thomas
WR Marcus Rosemy-Jacksaint

It is certainly possible that none of those draft-eligible players on Georgia’s roster currently on the fringes of NFL draft consideration ultimately end up getting drafted in 2024, but they have all showcased enough flashes of ability to at least make it reasonable to suggest the possibility of being drafted exists for each of them. To be certain, each of those players are in need of a strong 2023 campaign to bolster their draft prospects, but if merely three of them ultimately end up being selected by NFL teams in next year’s draft, it could be enough for Georgia to break its own record of 15 total draft picks in a single NFL draft.

Yet, while total number of draft picks is one measure of a team’s NFL draft success that can be trumpeted and sold to recruits, the number of first-round draft picks a program produces goes even further to burnish and elevate a program’s image. The apex of Georgia’s first-round success came in 2022 when the Bulldogs produced five first-round draft picks. In 2024, Georgia has a chance to not only equal or surpass its own first-round standard, but also has the potential to break the record of six first-round draft selections set by Miami in 2004 and equaled by Alabama in 2021. Based on their talent level and previous collegiate production, there are currently six players on the Georgia roster that I believe have a realistic chance to be drafted in the first-round of the 2024 NFL draft.

Brock Bowers
Sedrick Van Pran
Amarius Mims
Tate Ratledge
Kamari Lassiter
Smael Mondon

Of course, this is an entirely speculative exercise and, outside of Bowers, there are no guarantees that any other Georgia players will be first-round selections. However, it is equally true that there are several Bulldogs that I am not currently including among my first-round projections, that could potentially work themselves into first-round contention with highly productive 2023 seasons including WR Dominic Lovett, WR Arian Smith, DB Javon Bullard, and even QB Carson Beck.

Lovett totaled 846 yards receiving on 56 receptions last season for a Missouri team operating with deficient quarterback play. Lovett's measurables are very similar to those of former Boston College WR Zay Flowers who was just drafted in the first-round of the 2023 draft. The Illinois native is not currently projected as a first-round selection, but with the talent around him at Georgia he could be in line for a monster junior season that could potentially propel him into the first-round conversation.

Smith has been plagued by an assortment of injuries through the first three seasons of his Georgia career, but if he can stay healthy and demonstrate consistent play-making ability for the Bulldogs in 2023, the former track All-American possesses the type of rare speed that NFL teams covet.

At 5-foot-11, 180-pounds, size concerns will plague Bullard as the 2024 NFL draft approaches, but after a strong 2022 season that was capped by two defensive MVP awards in Georgia's College Football Playoff run, he is already firmly on the national radar and another strong season could put him over the top into first-round consideration. Bullard was a force for Georgia at STAR in 2022, but his move to safety this season will add versatility to his resume, further bolstering his chances to hear his name called in the first-round of the next year's draft.

Beck has yet to start a game for the Bulldogs, but he has impressed in games when given the opportunity and has an elite collection of skill talent around him. With the arm talent he has displayed, his experience in Georgia’s system, and the talent he will be distributing the ball to, the potential is there for Beck to demonstrate he is one of the top quarterback prospects in the country which would certainly garner him consideration as a first-round prospect.

The Bulldogs have dominated the NFL draft over the past two seasons, but the 2024 draft could very well prove to be their greatest showing yet.

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