UGA Football: ’Virtual’ Draft To Include Numerous Bulldogs

04/21/2020

It is NFL Draft week and once against numerous Georgia Bulldogs are expected to hear their names called. That’s about it for what will be normal with this draft, however.

Instead of the glamorous and extravagant event that was slated to be held in Las Vegas this Thursday-Saturday, the NFL announced earlier this month that due to the coronavirus pandemic it will hold a “fully virtual” draft. Teams, prospects and the league will all be in their respective locations, and 58 of those prospects will “virtually participate,” including Georgia offensive tackle Andrew Thomas, running back D’Andre Swift and quarterback Jake Fromm.

Where they go in the draft, nobody knows. One ESPN.com ranking of the top 100 prospects in the draft features four Bulldogs: Thomas at No. 14, Swift at No. 20, offensive tackle Isaiah Wilson at No. 55 and Fromm at No. 76.

The record for Georgia Bulldogs selected in a seven-round draft is eight, which happened in both 2002 and 2013. The draft has had seven rounds since 1994; it was 12 rounds in 1992 and 32 back in the 1940s. The very first pro football draft was in 1936, when a total of 81 players were selected over nine rounds, but there wasn’t a Bulldog in the bunch.

Georgia has had seven players picked in a seven-round draft on four occasions, including in 2019. Cornerback Deandre Baker went in the first round to the New York Giants and wide receiver/returner Mecole Hardman went in the second round to the Kansas City Chiefs — and Hardman and the Chiefs went on to win the Super last season.

According to NFL.com and Georgia’s records, the first Georgia player ever drafted was Bill Hartman in 1938, by Washington. Though the NFL.com list doesn’t include it, Georgia’s records and those on Wikipedia and Pro Football Reference’s websites also have Pete Tinsley being selected by the Green Bay Packers in that same draft.

The last time Georgia didn’t have a player selected in the NFL Draft was in 1992 and the last time only one Bulldog was picked was in 2017, when receiver/returner Isaiah McKenzie was picked by Denver in the fifth round. But that 2017 draft would have looked a lot different if juniors like Nick Chubb, Sony Michel and Lorenzo Carter hadn’t decided to return for their senior seasons.

It’s quite a safe guess that there will be more than one Bulldog picked this week. Thomas, the All-American left tackle and winner of the SEC’s 2019 Jacobs Blocking Trophy, is projected by many to be selected among the first 20 picks. After that — for Swift, Wilson, Fromm, offensive lineman Solomon Kindley, kicker Rodrigo Blankenship, safety J.R. Reed and several others — who knows?

The teams perhaps most likely to select a Bulldog, based purely on previous selections, would be the Bears, Eagles or Cardinals. In their long histories as franchises, Chicago and Philadelphia have both selected 21 Georgia players over the years, the most of any teams in the NFL. The Cardinals, whose location has bounced from Chicago to St. Louis to Phoenix/Arizona, have drafted 20 Bulldogs.

The Bears drafted wide receiver Riley Ridley last year and in 2018 picked linebacker Roquan Smith (eighth overall) and receiver Javon Wims. The Eagles last picked a Bulldog in 2012, when they selected cornerback Brandon Boykin. The Cardinals drafted center Lamont Gaillard in 2019.

According to ESPN.com, 36 former Bulldogs that were either drafted or signed as free agents are currently on NFL rosters or practice squads.
John Frierson is the staff writer for the UGA Athletic Association and curator of the ITA Men’s Tennis Hall of Fame. You can find his work at: Frierson Files. He’s also on Twitter: @FriersonFiles and @ITAHallofFame.