Nolan
Smith.
Nolan
Smith.
Georgia· 6'2"· 238 lb· 4.39s 40
"The No. 1 recruit in America turned into the fastest edge rusher at the Combine, and the pick at 30 was a bet that elite get-off would eventually outrun a light frame and a thin sack ledger."Pre-draft read
Smith was Georgia's designated speed rusher on the edge, a stand-up Jack in Kirby Smart's multiple front who was moved around the formation to hunt one-on-ones rather than parked on the right tackle. His trait is get-off. He fires out of a two-point stance with an elite first step, flattens the corner without gearing down, and forces tackles to overset before countering back inside.
The secondary trait is effort as a scheme device: he closes from the backside and turns hustle into strip attempts. Against the run he sets a firm edge with hands and leverage but gets displaced by tight ends on down blocks. The signature is a body that tests near the top of the position at 238 pounds, so the athletic ceiling and the mass floor arrive together.
Attacking 4-3 / wide-9 or a multiple front that lets a stand-up Jack rush the edge on obvious passing downs
Year 1: designated sub-package speed rusher on 30-40% of snaps with core special-teams value. Ceiling: full-time starting edge who wins the arc opposite a power rusher and lives around 8-10 sacks on a front with an elite interior.
A two-gap 3-4 defensive end asked to hold the point against down blocks and read guards — at 238 pounds with short arms he gets displaced and his get-off is neutralized.
His value rises sharply when the defense can pick his matchups; it falls when he has to play all three downs on the strong side.
Georgia LB Nolan Smith Highlights
Full college reel showing the get-off, the flat corner and the backside pursuit that defined his Georgia tape.
Georgia LB Nolan Smith 2021 Highlights
His best season: 56 tackles, 10.0 TFL and three forced fumbles on the 2021 national title defense.
Nolan Smith Runs a 4.39 Official 40 Yard Dash
The Combine run at 238 pounds that pushed him back into the first round.
Smith arrived in Athens as the No. 1 overall recruit in the 2019 class and left as a leader on the best defense in college football, which is both the appeal and the complication. He is a compact, explosive edge player with rare speed, a relentless motor and the locker-room gravity that shows up in every report out of Georgia.
The production never matched the profile. He rotated behind an NFL-caliber front for two years, then broke out in 2021 with 56 tackles, 10.0 TFL and three forced fumbles. In 2022 he was on pace for his best season — 7.0 TFL through eight games — before a torn right pectoral against Florida ended it in late October. Career totals of 11.5 sacks over 46 games read light for a first-round edge, and the medical file was fresh.
Then the Combine reframed the conversation. A 4.39 at 6-2, 238 with a 41.5-inch vertical and a 10-8 broad jump put him in rare percentile air and pushed him back toward the first round. Boards split him between rotational rusher and designated speed weapon with starter upside; the size and sack ledger kept him out of the top 20. Philadelphia, deep enough up front to develop him slowly and already holding his Georgia teammate Jalen Carter, took the traits at 30.
- 01
Elite get-off
his first step out of a two-point stance is top of the class, and it forces tackles into panicked oversets before contact is ever made.
- 02
Bend and corner speed
he flattens the arc without losing speed, turning the edge tight enough to reach the quarterback's back hip instead of running past the pocket.
- 03
Motor and pursuit
he chases plays sideline to sideline and finishes from the backside, converting effort into strip attempts and cleanup tackles.
- 04
Ball disruption
three forced fumbles in 2021 came from swiping at the ball on contact rather than settling for the tackle, a repeatable habit.
- 05
Leadership and makeup
a team captain on a two-time national champion whose practice standard and accountability were cited by coaches and teammates alike.
- 01
Play strength
at 238 pounds with 32 5/8-inch arms, he gets moved off his spot by NFL tackles and stalls when a rush turns into a leverage battle.
- 02
Rush plan
he wins on the first step or he does not win; the counter package behind the speed rush is thin and predictable on second efforts.
- 03
Run defense on the strong side
tight-end down blocks and duo can wash him inside, which limits how often he can stay on the field on early downs.
- 04
Production history
11.5 sacks across 46 college games is thin output for the athletic profile, and the 2022 pectoral tear cut short the proving year.
— — — positional median (p50)
- 40 yd
- 4.39sp50
- Vertical
- 41.5inp50
- Broad jump
- 128inp50
- Three-cone
- —s
- Shuttle
- —s
- Bench
- —rep
| Yr | Team | G | Tkl | Sk | Int | PD | FF |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2019 | Georgia | 14 | 18 | 2.5 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| 2020 | Georgia | 10 | 22 | 2.5 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 2021 | Georgia | 14 | 56 | 3.5 | 1 | 1 | 3 |
| 2022 | Georgia | 8 | 18 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| Career | — | 46 | 114 | 11.5 | 1 | 3 | 3 |
Season totals verified against cfbstats.com official box-score archive (2019-2022) and cross-checked with CFBTrack career aggregates; seasons sum to career. Fumble recoveries not verifiable by season and left null.
A dash means the figure is not published by a source we trust — never a zero we invented.
Undersized, high-motor sub-package rusher who grows into a starter on a deep front and hovers in the 6-8 sack range.
The version where the speed rush unlocks a counter package and he clears double-digit sacks as a stand-up edge.
Elite testing that never turns into a sustainable rush plan, leaving a rotational player whose production swings with scheme help.
Everything above is the pre-draft evaluation. This section is what actually happened — updated year over year.
Nolan Smith played his rookie season for the Philadelphia Eagles, contributing as a linebacker and pass rusher in a limited role.
Philadelphia brought him along slowly. As a rookie in 2023 he was a core special-teamer and situational rusher, finishing with 18 tackles and one sack in 17 games. The second year was the leap: with Sweat opposite him, Smith started full-time in 2024, posted 42 tackles, eight tackles for loss and 6.5 sacks, and played his best football in January, capping the run with a Super Bowl LIX win over Kansas City. Year three went sideways. He tore his triceps against the Rams in Week 3 of 2025, landed on injured reserve, returned around the November bye and finished with 3.0 sacks in 12 games. The Eagles still exercised his fully guaranteed fifth-year option in April 2026, tying him to the roster through 2027.
The pick has largely worked, with an asterisk. The 2024 tape validated the projection — a speed rusher who wins the edge and lets an elite interior do the rest — and the size concerns proved manageable inside a deep front rather than fatal. What has not changed is the ceiling question: he has never been the guy an offense builds a protection plan around, and the two lost stretches (2022 pectoral, 2025 triceps) mean the sample keeps getting interrupted right when it should be compounding. Entering 2026 healthy on an option year, he is a good starter on a great defense who still has one double-digit-sack season to prove.
Data note: Season totals verified against cfbstats.com official box-score archive (2019-2022) and cross-checked with CFBTrack career aggregates; seasons sum to career. Fumble recoveries not verifiable by season and left null.