Three Bulldogs Included in First Round of Latest Mock Draft

The NFL draft is quickly approaching, and the Georgia football program has a long list of players that will be anxiously waiting to see which team claims them in this year's draft. Several former Bulldogs are in good standing to become first-round picks while a couple of others are right on the outside looking in. So with the draft being just a little over two weeks away, where are some of Georgia's players being mocked?

ESPN draft analyst Mel Kiper recently released his fourth mock draft of the year and predicted the first 63 picks of the draft. As for some former Bulldogs, Kiper has remained fairly consistent in regard to where he thinks they will fall in the draft order while other continue to slide around a little bit. In his latest mock, he had three former Georgia players going in the first round, and two others just on the outside of the list of day-one selections.

Here is the former Bulldogs Kiper predicted to go within the first 63 picks of the draft:

No. 5, Jalen Carter, DT, Seattle Seahawks
No. 8, Nolan Smith, OLB, Atlanta Falcons
No. 13, Broderick Jones, OT, New York Jets
No. 40, Darnell Washington, TE, New Orleans Saints
No. 44, Kelee Ringo, CB, Atlanta Falcons

Kiper has remained firm on the stance that Carter will not fall outside of the top five despite other mocks predicting that the former Georgia defensive lineman will fall outside of the top 10. Kiper has stated that he still views Carter as the no. 1 prospect in this year's draft and stated, "NFL teams believe he's too talented to pass up." Carter's agent also recently came out and said that he is not taking visits with any team that is selecting outside of the top 10 in the draft.

Smith essentially locked himself in as a top 10 selection after his showing at the NFL combine. Ever since he ran a 4.39 in the 40-yard event his draft stock skyrocketed and it has not moved since. Smith is not the most complete football player, but he possesses great leadership skills and has all of the tools in the world to be successful at the professional level, and those are things NFL organizations are willing to take a chance on in the first round.

Jones is another player that has seemingly remained locked in as a top-15 pick. Most mock drafts have him being selected right outside of the top 10, and the New York Jets appear to be a popular prediction. As for Washington and Ringo, they both have been players that are sitting in that late first to early second range. Washington seemed to have launched himself into the first round after the NFL combine, but Michael Mayer and Dalton Kincaid being in the same class as Washington might keep him out of it.

It may not be five first-round selections like what they had a year ago in the draft, but nonetheless, it appears that Georgia will be getting off to a hot start at this year's draft once again.

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