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Over the past few years, a trend has emerged in the NFL with certain teams showing a propensity for drafting players from the Georgia Bulldogs football program. While the Philadelphia Eagles have gained significant notoriety for this practice, the Detroit Lions also actively participated in selecting the most Bulldogs of any team in the 2025 NFL draft.
Following the selection of offensive lineman Tate Ratledge, safety Dan Jackson, and wide receiver Dominic Lovett in this year's NFL draft, Detroit Lions general manager Brad Holmes elaborated on the factors that influenced the team's decision to draft three former Georgia Bulldogs.
“Before I got this job, I was living in Atlanta, Georgia, for a long time, just scouting the Southeast,” Holmes said. “And then when the Rams moved out to L.A., just kind of stayed in Atlanta. But obviously, have been to Georgia practices a lot, and been around that program a lot. It’s unlike anything else that I’ve seen live in terms of college practice, in terms of just the intensity."
Brad Holmes continued his explanation by drawing parallels between the program-building philosophies of Georgia head coach Kirby Smart and the methods Nick Saban used during his successful tenure as head coach at Alabama, where Smart served as defensive coordinator from 2008 to 2015.
“(Nick) Saban at Alabama was very similar, but just the intensity, the physicality, the detail, the tempo, the whole thing, the energy," Holmes continued. "So when you can go through that kind of regimen and you practice like that, you know that they’re ready.”
The Georgia Bulldogs' impressive 13 selections in the 2025 NFL draft came close to matching their own NFL record of 15 draftees from 2022, a class that included five first-round picks. Coach Kirby Smart and his staff have cultivated a program at the University of Georgia renowned for consistently developing NFL-ready talent. The Detroit Lions are now aiming to integrate some of that Bulldog pedigree into their own roster this year.
This article originally appeared on UGA Wire: Lions GM explains what made him draft three Georgia players
Continue reading...
Following the selection of offensive lineman Tate Ratledge, safety Dan Jackson, and wide receiver Dominic Lovett in this year's NFL draft, Detroit Lions general manager Brad Holmes elaborated on the factors that influenced the team's decision to draft three former Georgia Bulldogs.
“Before I got this job, I was living in Atlanta, Georgia, for a long time, just scouting the Southeast,” Holmes said. “And then when the Rams moved out to L.A., just kind of stayed in Atlanta. But obviously, have been to Georgia practices a lot, and been around that program a lot. It’s unlike anything else that I’ve seen live in terms of college practice, in terms of just the intensity."
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Brad Holmes continued his explanation by drawing parallels between the program-building philosophies of Georgia head coach Kirby Smart and the methods Nick Saban used during his successful tenure as head coach at Alabama, where Smart served as defensive coordinator from 2008 to 2015.
“(Nick) Saban at Alabama was very similar, but just the intensity, the physicality, the detail, the tempo, the whole thing, the energy," Holmes continued. "So when you can go through that kind of regimen and you practice like that, you know that they’re ready.”
The Georgia Bulldogs' impressive 13 selections in the 2025 NFL draft came close to matching their own NFL record of 15 draftees from 2022, a class that included five first-round picks. Coach Kirby Smart and his staff have cultivated a program at the University of Georgia renowned for consistently developing NFL-ready talent. The Detroit Lions are now aiming to integrate some of that Bulldog pedigree into their own roster this year.
This article originally appeared on UGA Wire: Lions GM explains what made him draft three Georgia players
Continue reading...
