Tag: jalen carter

2023 NFL mock draft: Happy (post)-Thanksgiving!

It’s Thanksgiving mock draft time, so Doug Farrar is ready to round out the NFL’s best teams, and to give hope to the hopeless.

It’s Black Friday, so it’s time to get in line online and in person to get all those crazy deals. If you’re in personnel for an NFL team, it’s also time to get serious about the 2023 NFL draft. Whether you’re a Super Bowl contender or playing out the string in a hopeless season, area scouts are reporting to head scouts and directors of player personnel, and general managers and coaching staffs are getting their voices in, as well. So, it’s time to get ready for some (hopefully) crazy deals in that realm, as well.

With this mock draft, and given the holiday theme, it’s time to round out the NFL’s better teams, and to give hope to the hopeless.

Note: The Miami Dolphins, who would have picked 24th were the 2023 draft to start today, forfeited their first-round pick as punishment for tampering.

(All advanced metrics courtesy of Pro Football Focus and Sports Info Solutions unless otherwise indicated). 

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5 Georgia Bulldogs selected in top 40 of NFL mock draft

How many Georgia Bulldogs will go in the first round of the 2023 NFL draft?

Kirby Smart and the Georgia Bulldogs keep churning out NFL talent. Georgia is a contender to make the College Football Playoff, once again, thanks to an immense amount of talent.

Georgia is coming off a record-breaking 2022 NFL draft. The Dawgs will look to put more talent in the NFL after the 2022 college football season.

What five Georgia Bulldogs does The Draft Wire think will be selected in the first two rounds of the 2023 NFL draft?

Who are the top defensive tackles for Browns to target in the 2023 NFL Draft?

The Browns are in need of interior help, so who are the best defensive tackles in the 2023 NFL Draft? Cory Kinnan gives his top-10 at this point in the season.

The Cleveland Browns are in desperate need of defensive tackle help. They will need to overhaul their defensive tackle room with the real possibility that none of the current bodies return in 2023. This can happen via trade or free agency, but more than likely young guys will be added to the room by way of the 2023 NFL Draft.

Luckily for the Browns, this looks like a deep class of defensive tackles as last year’s crop was not. Who are the best defensive tackles in the 2023 NFL Draft? Here are my top ten guys who look to make the jump to the NFL this Spring.

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2023 NFL mock draft: First-round pre-Thanksgiving projections

With bowl season around the corner, and more NFL teams on the outside looking in, Doug Farrar unleashes his newest first-round mock draft.

With Thanksgiving right around the corner, and bowl games not too far away, it’s time for NFL personnel teams to ramp up their studies of college prospects for the 2023 NFL draft. It’s a year-round process, but especially for teams that unfortunately have no worries about extended seasons (i.e., playoffs), it’s really time to look at what went wrong, and how things can be fixed in the person of this or that draft prospect.

So, this is where we get a bit busier with our own draft projections and analyses.

I’ll get more into real scouting summaries in mocks as they go along, but a few notes from what I’ve studied extensively to date:

  • Georgia DI Jalen Carter is the best player in this draft class. A truly transformative player in any defensive line.
  • After a rough start to the season, LSU WR Kayshon Boutte is starting to come around.
  • I do not project Kentucky QB Will Levis to be a first-round talent. I’d grade him more in the mid-to-late second round. But teams are going to overlook his mechanical and procedural flaws in search of the next Josh Allen. We’ll just have to see how that goes. Eek.
  • I do see Tennessee QB Hendon Hooker as a first-round talent. The age issue? Not too worried about that. And I think the knocks on him about running a “pro-style offense” misrepresent what a “pro-style offense” can be these days.
  • Notre Dame TE Michael Mayer is Mini-Gronk. Prepare accordingly.
  • If you’re a pass-heavy team in need of quarterback protection, Penn State’s Olumuyiwa Fashanu and Oklahoma’s Anton Harrison are two left tackles worth more than a cursory look.
  • If there are five NCAA cornerbacks who close on the ball with more quickness and authority than Utah’s Clark Phillips III, I’d love to see that list.
  • Noah Sewell projects well as a heady, chase-and-catch defender. This effort TFL against Arizona just cracked me up. No. 1 was not going to be denied.

Now, onto this week’s mock projections!

2023 NFL Mock Draft: Teams out of hope in 2022 look forward to next year

It’s the halfway point of the season, which means it’s time to take a look at the first round of the 2023 draft with Doug Farrar’s first-round mock.

As we head into Week 10 of the 2022 NFL season — which starts with Thursday night’s game between the Atlanta Falcons and the Carolina Panthers — there are 15 teams with winning percentages of .500 or better, and 17 with winning percentages on the down side of the good stuff. The 4-5 Falcons and 2-7 Panthers are two of those teams, and while Atlanta is looking to maintain a serious presence at the top of the seriously weird NFC South, the Panthers are basically looking to do their best in the current season, but they’re really playing for 2023.

If you’re past the trade deadline (which the NFL is, but shouldn’t yet be), and you have no real shot in the playoff picture, it’s time to get those area scouts gathered in with their best prospects, turn on that college tape, and get rolling to the future. If you’re on the bubble, there’s still a focus on 2023 prospects already, and even if you’re nearly assured of a playoff spot in 2022, you’re still thinking about the draft to a greater or lesser degree.

But especially for the NFL teams with more 2023 first-round juice than 2022 in-season hope, here’s one first-round mock draft for next year.

Three Georgia Bulldogs earn SEC player of the week honors

Three Georgia Bulldogs have earned SEC player of the week honors for their outstanding performances against Tennessee.

Three Georgia Bulldogs have earned SEC player of the week honors for their performances against the Tennessee Volunteers.

Georgia quarterback Stetson Bennett was named co-offensive player of the week with LSU quarterback Jayden Daniels. Bennett scored three touchdowns and threw for 257 passing yards in Georgia’s 27-13 win over No. 1 Tennessee (CFP ranking).

Georgia freshman standout Malaki Starks continues to impress. Starks was named the conference’s co-freshman of the week with LSU’s hero against Alabama, Mason Taylor.

Starks recorded 10 tackles against Tennessee. He was frequently forced to make one-on-one tackles and dominated in man coverage. Starks may be the top freshman in the country. He is constantly around the football.

Lastly, Georgia defensive tackle Jalen Carter was named the SEC’s defensive lineman of the week. Carter frequently pressured Tennessee quarterback Hendon Hooker from the interior. Carter finished with a sack and two forced fumbles.

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Jalen Carter dominates (again) as Georgia topples Tennessee

One of this year’s top draft prospects helped set the tone for a dominant win, as the Bulldogs handed the Vols their first loss of the year

The magical, undefeated run is over for Tennessee.

A dominant Georgia defense, led by top prospect Jalen Carter, was too much for the Volunteers to overcome, as a late touchdown made an otherwise one-sided game into a 27-13 victory for the Bulldogs.

Carter set the tone for a Bulldogs defense that held the Vols out of the end zone until the final minutes, limiting one of the nation’s most explosive offenses to just 289 total yards.

Georgia remains undefeated themselves after yet another big win, likely vaulting them back into the No. 1 spot in next week’s updated College Football Playoff rankings. The Vols will remain in the CFP conversation, but might need a loss from another top team to sneak in by the end of the season, especially if they miss the SEC title game.

Carter remains one of the top prospects in the 2023 NFL draft class, with a strong case to be the first non-quarterback off the board.

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Tracking the Lions 2023 NFL draft slots after Week 5 plus a quick projection

Tracking the Lions 2023 NFL draft slots after Week 5 plus a quick mock draft projection of the first round picks

With the Detroit Lions on a much-needed bye week and buried in last place in the NFC North with a 1-4 record, it’s time to take a look at the 2023 NFL draft.

If the season ended today, the Lions would hold the No. 4 overall pick. There’s a lot of volatility at the top, but after Week 5 this is the cluster of teams with 1-4 records and how they sort via tiebreakers to this point.

1. Carolina Panthers

2. Las Vegas Raiders

3. Pittsburgh Steelers

4. Detroit Lions

5. Washington Commanders

The Houston Texans, who won their first game of the season in Week 5, would pick sixth with their 1-3-1 record.

Detroit also holds the pick from the Los Angeles Rams acquired in the Matthew Stafford-Jared Goff trade in 2021. The Rams are 2-3 and their pick is currently the No. 13 overall slot.

Spontaneous mock draft, with projections of players I personally would select as of today:

No. 4 – Jalen Carter, DL, Georgia

No. 13 – Cam Smith, CB, South Carolina

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Seahawks double up on Georgia defensive linemen in this 2023 NFL mock draft

There are several personnel issues to address, but boosting the pass rush should be high on the list.

The Seattle Seahawks are supposed to be one of the teams looking for a new franchise quarterback going into the 2023 NFL draft. The unlikely ascension of Geno Smith opens that idea up for debate, though. Smith is only one a one-year deal and he will turn 32 in a couple of days. That said, if he keeps performing the way he has through four games Seattle will be hard-pressed not to bring him back and start him again next season.

We still think picking a QB early is a good idea, even if the plan is to keep Geno as the guy. However, if they choose that route it would free the Seahawks up to use their considerable draft capital on improving their defense – the worst in the league outside Detroit. There are several personnel issues to address, but boosting the pass rush should be high on the list and the best place to find disruptive linemen right now is Georgia.

In a new 2023 mock draft from Luke Easterling at Draft Wire, Seattle doubled down on the Bulldogs defense, picking two DL thanks to the extra first-rounder they got from the Denver Broncos in the Russell Wilson trade. Here’s who they got in the mock.

Pick No. 5 overall: Georgia DL Jalen Carter (6-foot-3, 310 pounds)

“If the Seahawks end up picking this high, they should be targeting overall talent more than any particular positional need. Lucky for them, in this scenario, they get a huge bargain with one of the most dominant defensive prospects in the entire draft. Even with last year’s loaded class of Bulldogs, Carter might have been the best of the bunch.”

Pick No. 11 overall: Georgia EDGE Nolan Smith (6-foot-3, 235 pounds)

“After landing one stud Bulldog for the interior of their defensive front, the Seahawks land another one here, this time for the edge. Smith’s skill set would be a perfect fit in this defense, and he could have easily been yet another first-round pick from this defense in this year’s draft.”

Hopefully Seattle is on the clock later than No. 5 with their own pick, but given the way their defense has performed so far it’s difficult to rule that scenario out, even as good as Smith looks.

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Georgia’s Jalen Carter to miss the Deep South’s Oldest Rivalry game

It appears that UGA will be without Jalen Carter for Saturday’s game with Auburn.

When the Auburn Tigers and Georgia Bulldogs meet on Saturday in Athens, the defending national champions will be without star defensive tackle Jalen Carter.

Carter was injured on Saturday in the game against Missouri when an opposing offensive lineman went low on the defender. Head coach Kirby Smart updated his status for the Auburn game on Monday when he met with reporters for his weekly media availability.

“He’s going to be a week or two,” Smart said. “We don’t know how long it’s going to be but it’s not going to look good for this week.”

When asked for comments on the block being dirty, Smart refused to speak his mind on the matter. Against Missouri, reserve defensive tackle Warren Brinson played a majority of the snaps according to UGA Wire. Carter finished with 2 tackles and 0.5 sacks last year against Auburn.

Against the Missouri Tigers, the Bulldogs only generated 12 total quarterback pressures. It remains to be seen if they will have more success against the Auburn offensive line on Saturday. LSU was able to create 17 pressures on Saturday night at Jordan-Hare Stadium.