georgia football ESPN source Rittenberg Kirby Smart Travon Walker Nakobe Dean

The Georgia football 2022 NFL Draft class was historically good, to the point it will be talked about for a long time.

One week after the 2022 NFL Draft got underway in Las Vegas, the Bulldogs’ record draft class is still being discussed by coaches and analysts.

UGA had a modern-era record 15 players selected last week including five first-round picks off its historically dominant defense.

Junior defensive end Travon Walker was the No. 1 overall pick in the draft, selected by the Jacksonville Jaguars.

Not everyone was impressed, per an ESPN pay-site article that quotes coaches and coordinators anonymously per reporter Adam Rittenberg.

“The kid that went first, I can’t believe that,” a Power 5 offensive coordinator being quoted anonymously said.

“A lot of really good GMs out there were probably laughing behind closed doors. The cardinal rule of drafting that early is you don’t ever project. That’s where every mistake has been made.”

The college football world took note of the collective dominance Coach Kirby Smart’s defense displayed.

“If Georgia didn’t win the national championship, the defensive staff should have been fired,” according to a Big Ten coach who was quoted anonymously by ESPN reporter Adam Rittenberg.

“You’ve got backups getting drafted.”

Indeed, linebacker Channing Tindall, who did not start a game during his career with the Bulldogs, was a third-round pick of the Miami Dolphins.

Not all of the ESPN anonymous quotes were snarky.

An SEC offensive coordinator was surprised Georgia team captain and Butkus Award winner Nakobe Dean slid all the way into the third round.

Teams had concerns with Dean’s height (5-foot-11) and recent injury history (labrum surgery, pectoral injury).

“He literally does not allow you to run the football in the SEC,” an SEC offensive coordinator said of Dean. “If you put Nakobe Dean on an edge, he would be more productive and better than [former Georgia player and first-round pick] Jermaine Johnson ever will be.

“That’s what’s so amazing to me about that league [the NFL]. They get so many resources and so much money, and you’re not going to take Nakobe Dean?”