USA TODAY International Edition
15 Georgia players selected in NFL draft
Georgia set an NFL record Saturday for a seven- round draft when it had 15 players get selected, toppling the previous mark before the final round arrived.
It happened with back- to- back picks in the sixth round.
First, the Super Bowl champion Los Angeles Rams selected cornerback Derion Kendrick, the Clemson transfer at pick 212, and the Atlanta Falcons selected tight end John FitzPatrick at 213.
Travon Walker, ( first overall), Jordan Davis ( 13th), Quay Walker ( 22nd), Devonte Wyatt ( 28th) and Lewis Cine ( 32nd) all went in Thursday’s first round.
Georgia football coach Kirby Smart brought two of his defensive assistants with him to Las Vegas for the draft. Then the Bulldogs hit the jackpot when it came to seeing players from their national championship team get scooped up in the first round.
All were from the defensive side of the ball where the Bulldogs had a generational- type unit. Georgia set an NFL common- draft era record – since 1967 – with five defensive players to go in the first round and broke its program record with five total first- round picks as well, topping three from 2018.
George Pickens, James Cook, Nakobe Dean and Channing Tindall were Day 2 picks.
Zamir White, Jake Camarda, Justin Shaffer, Jamaree Salyer, Kendrick and FitzPatrick came off the board on Day 3.
The 15 selections tops that of LSU in 2020 and Ohio State in 2004 for the most picks since the draft went to seven rounds in 1994. Texas had 17 in 1984 when there were 12 rounds.
Back in February, Smart said it would be “unrealistic” to think Georgia would reach 15.
“Our job is to develop them and make sure they’re better people when they leave,” Smart said at the pro day in March. “I think each one of these kids will tell you they’re more successful because of the work ethic they were able to achieve here.
“We had some really good coaches to help coach them up and some really good players to help play. And I think it’s very unique to have this kind of collection of talent. You don’t have that every year.”
Georgia set its program record with 10 when White went in the fourth round
to the Las Vegas Raiders.