Tag: tampa bay buccaneers football

Two Bulldogs go in first round of NFL mock draft

Two Georgia Bulldogs are drafted in the first round of a 2020 NFL Mock Draft. Andrew Thomas ends up in Tampa. Isaiah Wilson is a 49er.

Two Georgia Bulldogs went in Bleacher Report’s first round NFL mock draft. The first round of the 2020 NFL Draft starts Thursday, April 23rd at 8:00 PM. The NFL Draft is anticipated to last until around midnight.

B/R has Georgia’s Andrew Thomas and Isaiah Wilson as first round picks.

Andrew Thomas lands with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, where he’s projected to block for former New England Patriots QB Tom Brady. Thomas is the fourth offensive tackle drafted in this mock. The 14th overall pick is too high for Thomas to still be on the board. He should be gone before then based on his on-field production, his consistency, and his well-defined technique.

Isaiah Wilson ends up as the sixth tackle drafted. He lands with the San Francisco 49ers at the 31st pick of the first round. Wilson has received recent buzz as a first round pick. The 49ers have a lot of talent and would be an excellent fit for Wilson. Their effective rushing attack helped them coast through the NFC to the Super Bowl last season.

Surprisingly, D’Andre Swift doesn’t go in the first round of this mock draft. LSU’s Clyde Edwards-Helaire is the only running back selected in the first round, but he barely sneaks into the first as 32nd pick (Kansas City Chiefs).

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How will Todd Monken’s air raid offense translate to Georgia football?

New Georgia football offensive coordinator Todd Monken takes over a talented UGA offense with air-raid scheme.

After a pedestrian year from the Georgia Bulldogs on offense in 2019, Kirby Smart wasted no time making scheme changes, bringing in Todd Monken from the Cleveland Browns to take over for James Coley as offensive coordinator and play caller.

Monken has coached all over the football landscape, including 23 years of college coaching experience and eight years coaching in the NFL.

Most recently, Monken spent a season as the offensive coordinator for the Cleveland Browns and before that, three seasons as the offensive coordinator and receivers coach for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

As offensive coordinator at Oklahoma State from 2011-2012, Monken coached Brandon Weeden, Justin Blackmon and the air-raid Cowboys offense to record breaking seasons, averaging well over 500 yards a game.

So, how does Monken’s air-rade scheme fit with a Georgia team built for defense and a power run game?

In 2019, the Bulldogs struggled with the deep passing game and the blame can’t be all on Coley, as Jake Fromm had issues with his deep ball and other than George Pickens, receivers either struggled with injuries, getting separation from defenders or dropped passes.

In 2020, there will be no shortage of depth or talent on the Georgia offense and in the light of recent off-season moves, it seems Kirby is planning to be more aggressive offensively.

The Bulldogs bring in a great arm in Wake Forest transfer quarterback Jamie Newman, paired with returning receivers George Pickens and Dominick Blaylock and added five receivers in the 2020 recruiting class.

Georgia will have the ability to stretch the field on anyone and that is exactly what Monken’s offenses do. Still, the traditional Georgia run game can only benefit from the space the air-raid creates.

As Cleveland Browns offensive coordinator in 2019, Monken led an offense that saw former Georgia great Nick Chubb run for nearly 1,500 yards, so we can expect that running backs Zamir White and James Cook will get their fair share of touches in 2020.

Bulldog fans should be excited to see what 2020 will bring for this young team. In Monken’s system, expect to see much more complex route trees than in previous years, as well as a more aggressive approach to offensive strategy because of the security blanket that is the Georgia defense.