Though Nolan Smith was considered a likely top-25 pick in the pre-draft process, it was through his impressive performance at the NFL Combine that raised his draft stock. Additionally, the Philadelphia Eagles, who were the NFC Champions last season, hold the 10th pick in this year’s NFL Draft. Now that the draft is finally here, rumors are running wild that Philadelphia will likely choose Georgia Bulldogs OL.
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In the midst of conflicting rumors over Philadelphia’s plans for the pick, there is fresh speculation regarding the player the team may be eyeing.
Eagles are looking to draft Georgia’s Nolan Smith
According to an NFL general manager, the Eagles admire Georgia’s edge rusher, Smith. Peter King of NBC Sports then chose the 22-year-old as the best prospect for Philadelphia in his final NFL mock draft.
𝗗𝗥𝗔𝗙𝗧 𝗟𝗘𝗔𝗞#Georgia DL Nolan Smith when asked “which team do you think drafts you?”
“I’m feel like it will be the #Eagles or #Bears” pic.twitter.com/SVYbrTzE6Z
— NFL Notifications (@NFLNotify) April 27, 2023
The former No. 1 overall recruit in the 2019 class was a rotational player over his first two seasons with the Bulldogs. He totaled 39 tackles, with 2.5 saves in every one of them. Then he took over the starting spot in 2021 for his team’s defense. 52 total stops, including eight for loss, 4.5 sacks, three forced fumbles, and an interception, were amassed by him. But in October, a ruptured pectoral muscle put an end to his senior year. Before the injury, he had three sacks in eight games.
Pros and cons of drafting Smith
Following are the pros and cons of drafting him:
He demonstrates a selfless attitude and toughness that earns him respect from his teammates. When left unblocked on certain plays, he can use his speed to potentially disrupt passes. He’s willing to take on larger players and can often come out on top in collisions. Additionally, he has excellent quickness off the line of scrimmage and can anticipate snaps well in passing situations. Despite having a smaller sample size, Smith performed exceptionally well with a pressure-per-rush rate of 18.6%, which was the best of his career (19 out of 102 pass-rush attempts). PFF recognized him with a pass-rush win rate of 25.5%.
Seriously though, just from the small glimpses of these prospects personalities we get through interviews, there wasn’t a player that screamed “HITS” more to me than Nolan Smith. Ik the coaching staff must love him
— RIGHT TACKLES MATTER (@TommyK_NFLDraft) April 26, 2023
He has below-average physical measurements, with all of his size-related traits falling in the lowest 17th percentile. He plays at a weight of only 235 pounds, particularly thin in his core and hips, and his arms are shorter than 33 inches with small hands measuring only nine inches.
Nolan Smith lacks the strength to fully capitalize on tackles who are caught off-balance and leaning backward, which prevents him from converting his speed into force. In general, his repertoire of pass-rushing techniques could benefit from further development as he mainly relies on his speed to win around the edge, and he has yet to consistently demonstrate effective counter moves.
