100 Days of Mocks: Packers Go Back to Georgia in Jeremiah’s First Mock

With 96 days until the 2023 NFL Draft, NFL.com’s Daniel Jeremiah picked a pass rusher for the Packers.

Author:
Bill Huber
Publish date:
Jan 21, 2023 9:29 AM EST

In this story:

GREEN BAY, Wis. – The Green Bay Packers’ scouting department is broken down by regions. There’s a Midwest scout, a Southeast scout and so on.

Perhaps the Packers should hire a scout just to focus on the University of Georgia, the back-to-back national champions.

After drafting cornerback Eric Stokes in the first round in 2021 and linebacker Quay Walker and defensive tackle Devonte Wyatt in the first round in 2022, the Packers went back to Georgia in Daniel Jeremiah’s first mock draft of the year at NFL.com.

The pick, Nolan Smith, would fill a key need for the Packers.

“Smith had his season cut short by injury, but he’s shown enough promise in his career to warrant top-15 consideration,” Jeremiah wrote. “He has elite burst and change of direction. Expect him to garner some comparisons to Pro Bowler Haason Reddick.”

When Rashan Gary went down with a torn ACL in Week 9, Green Bay’s pass rush obviously suffered with veteran Preston Smith joined by rookie Kingsley Enagbare, former seventh-round pick Jonathan Garvin and Rams castoff Justin Hollins.

How could it not?

Among the 100 edge defenders who played at least 200 pass-rushing snaps in 2022, Gary finished second in ProFootballFocus.com’s pass-rushing productivity, which measures sacks, hits and hurries per pass-rushing snap.

Gary had 38 pressures in 204 pass-rushing snaps. Enagbare (25 in 255), Hollins (nine in 83), Garvin (seven in 83) and LaDarius Hamilton (one in 10) combined for 42 pressures in 431 opportunities.

Gary will be back, though perhaps not for Week 1 and perhaps not up to his usual standard until later in the season. Enter Smith, who had 12.5 sacks in four seasons. As a junior in 2021, he had 4.5 sacks, eight tackles for losses, three forced fumbles and one interception. In eight games last season, he had three sacks and seven tackles for losses. He missed the end of the season with a torn pectoral. At the time of the injury, he led the team in sacks.

“Nolan is a natural leader,” Bulldogs coach Kirby Smart said. “He's been that way since I met him when he was in eighth grade and he came up here to camp. He's been a natural leader. His leadership is more important than his ability, and his ability is pretty strong. He creates a toughness and holds people to a standard of the way you strike blocks, the way you close on counters, the way you rush with effort, special teams, I mean, he plays on all special teams. He's just a core guy.”

That continued after the injury when he essentially joined the Bulldogs’ coaching staff.

“With what he’s done for us, he has energy every day,” co-defensive coordinator Glenn Schumann told Dawg Nation. “It’s hard to do when your role is diminished because of the inability to be on the field. We go out to flex, he’s yelling, he’s energy, he’s trying to lead despite not being able to be on the field with them actively.”

At IMG Academy, he was one of four finalists for the Anthony Muñoz Lineman of the Year Award, given to the nation’s top senior offensive and defensive linemen.

100 Days of Mocks

Starting Jan. 17, when there were 100 days until the start of the NFL Draft, we started our mock-worthy goal of 100 mock drafts in 100 days. Here’s the series.

100 days: First-round quarterback?

99 days: Trading for outside linebacker

98 days: Stud tight end

97 days: This pick would break a long drought