ATHENS — The second day of the 2024 NFL Draft figures to be a very busy one for the Georgia football program.
After seeing Brock Bowers and Amarius Mims go in the first round of the 2024 NFL Draft, the Bulldogs could have another five players come off the board in the second and third rounds of this year’s draft.
Georgia wide receiver Ladd McConkey is likely to be the first Bulldog to come off the board. There was a late run on wide receivers at the end of the first round, with Xavier Worthy going to the Chiefs with pick No. 28 and Xavier Legette landing with the Carolina Panthers at pick No. 32.
The Buffalo Bills, New England Patriots, Los Angeles Chargers and Carolina Panthers are all teams picking at the top of the second round that could use wide receiver help.
After a stellar Senior Bowl, combine and pro day, McConkey has positioned himself well to hear his name early on Friday. Should he go before pick No. 51, he would become the highest-drafted wide receiver of the Kirby Smart era.
“His ability to separate is probably one of his key things. In the NFL, there’s less touching,” Georgia coach Kirby Smart said of McConkey. “You’re able to run routes. That’s going to be advantageous for Ladd. He can come in and out of breaks. I think when they watch him on third down, he’s pretty elite on third down at getting open. That keeps the chains moving.”
McConkey did battle injuries during his college career, so it is worth watching where he ends up. Nakobe Dean and Darnell Washington are recent examples of Georgia players sliding in the draft.
The second Bulldog off the board is still up for debate. For much of the draft process, Kamari Lassiter has been seen as a player who could well go in the second round.
But after running a sub-standard 40-yard dash and a number of cornerbacks sliding in the first round — Quinyon Mitchell was the first corner off the board at pick No. 22 — he could have to wait a little while longer to hear his name called.
Cooper DeJean of Iowa and Kool-Aid McKinstry of Alabama are expected to be taken ahead of Lassiter. Still, Lassiter has his own merits. He was an All-SEC cornerback and ran the fastest 3-cone time of any player at the NFL combine.
“All these teams that go shopping, this dude right here wants to play football,” Smart said. “That’s all he cares about is playing football and his teammates. He ain’t worried about the next thing and all that. He said, ‘I want to play football, and he played football for the University of Georgia.’ He did it when he didn’t have to do it, and that’s what’s different at this place than a lot of other places.”
Conversely, Javon Bullard seems to be someone teams are higher on at this point in the process. He has been viewed as a late second-round pick, with the Philadelphia Eagles and Green Bay Packers emerging as popular landing spots.
There was not a safety taken in the first round, leaving open the possibility that Bullard is the first player off the board at the position.
Like McConkey, Bullard excelled during the pre-draft process.
“This game is physical, (and) this place is physical, and it’s always going to be like that,” Bullard said. “It’s not because of certain players. It’s just the standard we hold within this organization. It was physical before I got here, and it’s going to be physical after I leave. So just the physicality that we bring, I pride myself on that.”
Tykee Smith and Sedrick Van Pran could hear their names at the end of the third round, though it’s just as likely they end up having to wait until the start of day three of the NFL draft to be selected.
Georgia is one of six schools to have multiple first-round draft picks at this point. Washington, Alabama and LSU all had three players taken in the first round. No program has had more players taken in the previous three NFL drafts than Georgia’s 34.
The second round of the 2024 NFL Draft begins at 7 p.m. ET on Friday. The second and third rounds will take place on Friday evening, with the final four rounds of the draft concluding on Saturday.