Swift slides…

Georgia had two players selected in the first round of the 2020 NFL Draft on Thursday night, offensive tackles Andrew Thomas and Isaiah Wilson.

Georgia is happy to have two players go in the first round, but running back D’Andre Swift slipping into the second round was a move that shocked Bulldog fans and quite frankly most NFL fans as well.

The Philadelphia native was long considered the best ball carrier in the draft, and likely still is despite the Kansas City Chiefs selecting LSU’s Clyde Edwards-Helaire over him.

We kept waiting and waiting to hear Swift’s name called, but that did not happen on the first night. Most expected the Dolphins, Chiefs or Bucs to take Swift.

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Instead, Miami traded down from  No. 26 to No. 30 and took Auburn cornerback Noah Igbinoghene. But the real shocker came with the final pick of the first round when the Kansas City Chiefs took Edwards-Helaire, making him the only ball carrier taken in the first round.

Most football fans in general could not understand why the Chiefs went with Edwards-Helaire over Swift, who was the second highest player on Mel Kiper’s Big Board at the time of the selection.

But here’s why…

According to ChiefsWire, the reason has been revealed.

Apparently, Chiefs Super Bowl winning quarterback Patrick Mahomes made the decision.

From ChiefsWire:

The Chiefs called up Edwards-Helaire with Clark Hunt, Andy Reid, Brett Veach, Eric Bieniemy, and Deland McCullough to congratulate him on joining Kansas City. In the call, they let him, and the rest of Chiefs Kingdom in on a little piece of information. Both Reid and Veach revealed that Chiefs QB Patrick Mahomes had hand-picked Edwards-Helaire as the player that he wanted for the Chiefs. And so, they made it happen.

Here’s a snippet from head coach Andy Reid’s phone call with Edwards-Helaire:

“Hey, listen we’re fired up for you, man,” Andy Reid began. “We asked Pat Mahomes, ‘Who do you want?’ And he picked you. How great is that?”

“I’m ready to work coach you know that,” Edwards-Helaire responded.

“… Coach and I were thinking your way,” Veach said. “Then when we texted Pat [Mahomes] and I said, ‘Give me a name and don’t think about it.’ And he said, ‘Clyde [Edwards-Helaire] and I said, ‘We’re good.’”

Edwards-Helaire is a great player, but he’s no Swift. Either way, Swift is going to make one team very happy when he hears his name called early on in the second round. He is the second-best available player on Mel Kiper’s Big Board.

Remember the last Georgia running back taken in the second round? He just finished second in the NFL in rushing yards last season. I’m talking about Nick Chubb, by the way, who was taken #35 overall by there Browns in the 2018 NFL Draft.

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