Ex-Georgia standout dreamed of playing for Seahawks, visited team at combine

A potential target at edge rusher for Seattle, perhaps?

The Seattle Seahawks have been pretty widely predicted to take Carter at 5th overall, even acknowledging his current legal trouble, but there’s another Georgia standout who might be on their radar.

Outside linebacker Nolan Smith revealed on The Crew podcast that he had visits with the Kansas City Chiefs, Pittsburgh Steelers, and Seahawks at the combine in Indianapolis. The tidbit of note is that he idolized the Legion of Boom growing up.

“I have to say the Seattle Seahawks and that 12th Man,” Smith said when asked which team he dreamed of playing for when growing up. “They had Bobby Wagner, they had the Legion of Boom, and I say ‘man, if you had the Legion of Boom I bet it’s easy to get a bunch of coverage sacks.’”

Smith started on both national championship Bulldogs teams and recorded 12.5 sacks over four seasons. His 2022 campaign was cut short midseason with a pec injury. At the combine he ran a blazing fast 4.39 seconds in the 40-yard dash, and based off his physical measurables and the drills he participated in, his Relative Athletic Score (RAS) is upper echelon.

At 6’2” and 238 lbs, it’s very obvious that he’s undersized as a pure edge rusher, but reading The Draft Network’s scouting report he has a quality to him that the Seahawks love.

“Smith has an explosive first step to threaten offensive tackles outside shoulders”

They’ve valued speed over power off the edge under Pete Carroll forever, so it’s possible that Smith is on the Seahawks radar given he’s also considered a good run defender as well. Most mock drafts projected Smith to go mid-to-late first round or early in the second.

Here are some highlights!