While the Philadelphia Eagles have been the team to publicly acknowledge their tendency to draft Georgia players in the NFL Draft, it has seemingly led to other teams getting in on the action.
Possibly in hopes of replicating the Eagles' Super Bowl-winning formula of taking as many Bulldogs as possible, the Detroit Lions picked three Georgia players in this year's draft: Tate Ratledge, Dan Jackson, and Dominic Lovett.
However, despite three of his seven picks coming from one school, Lions general manager Brad Holmes said he didn't plan on it working out that way. But did admit that, knowing what he knows about the Georgia program, it isn't a concern.
"[I] Have been to Georgia practices a lot, and have been around that program a lot, and it's unlike anything else that I've seen live in terms of a college practice, in terms of just the intensity – Saban at Alabama was very similar," Holmes said.
"But just the intensity, the physicality, the detail, the tempo, the whole thing, the energy, I mean, it's just — so when you can go through that kind of regimen and you practice like that, that they're ready. But I think everything that Smart's done with that program, I think everything speaks for itself."
Holmes isn't the first NFL general manager to publicly praise the way Georgia head coach Kirby Smart runs his program. Eagles general manager Howie Roseman, who added to his collection of Bulldogs with the fifth-round selection of Smael Mondon Saturday, gave a similar appraisal back at the NFL Scouting Combine.
“You know incredibly detailed program,” Roseman said. “Obviously they have a history of winning. You know when you look at it when you add new players and you add this many new players from one place, they also know how to play off each other."
Roseman went as far as to say that having so many Georgia players on his defense gives them a "head start" in terms of building chemistry that usually takes years of practice.
But Holmes would love to experience success similar to that of the Eagles with these Bulldogs and win a Super Bowl. Jackson and Lovett's selections were also based on merit.
"We've always had a liking for Dan Jackson," Holmes said. "In terms of being a heady safety, and he's gotten his hands on the football, and a lot of it is above the neck. But he's faster than what a lot of people think. ...
"Dominic Lovett is another one that I've been a fan of for a long time, we all have. One thing about him is, yes, he has speed, he can do a lot of stuff in the slot, but he's been a really good special-teams player, so we're fired to get him."
