Georgia football: 4 players who have helped their draft stock (and 2 who haven’t)
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Are two games out of a potential 15 this season enough to make new assessments on a players’ NFL Draft prospects? Can I really make assumptions on 20- to 22-year-old athletes off a couple blowout victories against teams we now know to be far inferior to their own?
Or, to ask it a different way, is the small bite of buffalo chicken dip I got at the very beginning of the tailgate before the rest of the attendees horded the thing really enough to satisfy my appetite?
The answers to these questions are no, no, and hell no. I’m still bitter about the third.
Look, of course we can’t make assumptions about the draft status of Georgia’s players – save for maybe Jalen Carter as a top-10 talent – but that’s never stopped the Todd McShays and Mel Kipers of the world from posting their way-way-way-too-early big boards all the way back in April. So, why should it stop us?
And, besides, there’s precious little else to debate two weeks into the season. So, for today, your meal consists of barely-informed prognostication – a dish I have become increasingly adept at preparing.
Here are four players I think have improved their draft stock in Georgia’s first two games, as well as two who either haven’t answered questions or have regressed. To be clear: Of course there are others not on this list who will be elite or intriguing prospects come the 2023 NFL Draft. This is simply a temperature check on a few.
Let’s dive in.
Four players who have helped their draft stock:
QB Stetson Bennett
I can’t think of a player who has done more to adjust the narrative on his abilities but who also still seems like a long shot to get a call on draft day.
Bennett entered the season as a feel-good story many hoped would close the book on his time with the Bulldogs and move on to his next chapter. Instead, he’s entered the season with a bang.
To be clear, it isn’t just that he’s put up numbers. He did that last season. What has made him more intriguing this year is that he clearly has added zip to his passing, his accuracy on the higher-skilled throws has improved and his understanding and command of the offense has continued to progress. He puts in film-study time and he makes the effort in the weight room. He’s become an interesting, if not elite, draft prospect.
Still, his size limits him. No matter how much work he puts in, he can’t grow by 3 inches. Height is less of a concern in today’s NFL, but it’s still a concern.
That said, he’s gone from no chance of being drafted to at least on scouts’ radars.
RB Kenny McIntosh
McIntosh likely was going to get drafted based on film from his first 3 years with Georgia. There wasn’t a lot to go off of, but any time he touches the ball McIntosh has been a threat to do something with it.
His work so far this season makes him a perfect candidate to sneak his way up to the 2nd round (or higher) by the spring.
McIntosh’s rushing numbers aren’t staggering but he is the team’s leading receiver. He has caught passes on screens, on quick outs to the flats, across the middle and more. Each time he has picked up yardage after the catch. He’s been an absolute nuisance for opposing defenses.
The senior from Fort Lauderdale, Fla., fits perfectly into the mold of many of today’s professional backs. How many had him as a potential first- or second-day pick coming into the season? Not sure. But that number is probably higher today.
S Christopher Smith
Smith was a good player a year ago and probably would have earned a decent draft slot earlier this year. He returned to Georgia to improve his prospects, and I think he has.
He was overshadowed by an immensely talented defense last year and was maybe less consistent than he’s shown in the first two weeks. So far, he’s kept the ball in front of him, has an interception and was named SEC co-defensive player of the week after the opener.
At 5-foot-11, the Atlanta product doesn’t have the elite size of some of his contemporaries. That might drive him down some draft boards. But he has good speed, strong instincts and doesn’t make a ton of mistakes.
Georgia’s secondary has developed into a strength in the early season and his leadership is a factor.
TE Darnell Washington
Washington has always been a fun prospect. With just a glance, the assumption is that he’ll find his way onto an NFL roster. He’s 6-foot-7, 270 pounds, and he conjures an image of an edge rusher more than he does a tight end.
Yet here in Year 3 he still plays the position. It’s because he does a little of everything pretty well. He can block, he can catch, he can run, he can be a gigantic diversion. In the red zone, he can develop into a serious weapon. In the ground game, he can help set the edge for runners.
His numbers have never jumped off the page, but in both games so far he has caught a pass, bowled over a defender and then hurdled another. Men his size should not be able to move like he can move.
Regardless of whether Georgia ever uses him as a primary pass-game weapon, professional offensive coordinators should love to work with those physical abilities and develop him at the next level.
Now, who has work left to do?
TE Arik Gilbert
I hate to pile on the guy. I think it’s great that he took a year off to work on himself personally and has come back to the team to help it get another championship.
But we’re talking draft stock today, and his is going the wrong direction.
Before the season Gilbert was listed as high as the top 15 on some analysts’ draft boards. Right now, he’s barely seeing the field. His physical talent is undeniable but there’s a reason a player gets passed over in favor of a true freshman on the depth chart. We may not see it every day at practice, but something is missing from Gilbert’s progress right now.
It may be a lack of effort, a lack of comfort with the offense or lack of a rapport with Bennett. It may just be that the other tight ends are better.
Whatever the case, the needle is pointing down for Gilbert, and he’s got work to do to get it back where some thought it may be.
DB Tykee Smith
Smith has seen work for Georgia this year. He is even the team’s fifth leading tackler. Still, it seems his draft status is a bit of an unknown at this point.
Before the season, Pro Football Focus ranked Smith as the No. 8 safety prospect. And yet he hasn’t broken into the top tier of Georgia’s depth chart, still serving as a reserve, and he’s seen most of his work later in contests.
At West Virginia, he was an All-American. At Georgia, he’s just trying to earn playing time. That’s partly a testament to the Bulldogs’ talent, but also raises questions about his draft prospects.
