Pros and Cons of Las Vegas Raiders taking Georgia football's Chris Smith in 2023 NFL draft

Georgia football’s Chris Smith was selected by the Las Vegas Raiders in the fifth round of the 2023 NFL Draft Saturday.

Smith started 31 games from 2020 to 2022 and was an underrated piece on a defense that had five first-round picks last year and is projected to have at least two more this year. He was the 170th overall pick.

Here’s what Smith can bring to the NFL:

Georgia football safety Chris Smith: The positives

Smith is a savvy player who made game-changing plays on big stages. He had a pick six in the 2021 season opener against Clemson for the game’s only touchdown. He waited before picking up a blocked field in the 2022 SEC championship game and raced 96 yards down field for a touchdown with most thinking the play was dead.

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He had three interceptions each of his final two seasons and became an All-American as a fifth-year senior with 61 tackles, a forced fumble and 5 tackles for loss. He had an 85.9 run defense grade, according to Pro Football Focus which wrote that “there's no uncertainty to his game so when he sees something he attacks it.”

The concerns

Smith doesn’t have great size at 5-foot-10½, 192 pounds and his 4.62 40 didn’t help his stock. But the former high school cornerback is not afraid to be physical. He had 11 missed tackles in 2022, 15.1 percent of the time, according to PFF.

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“He is a little undersized there,” said NFL Network draft analyst Daniel Jeremiah. “You want your safeties to be a little bigger than that. He is a playmaker. He plays fast. He has range from the middle of the field. He has no wasted movement, plays with confidence. Quick to read and drive. He sits there flat-footed and then drives on the ball.”

Final thoughts

Smith was a willing special teams player at Georgia and that may be the way he contributes on a roster early in his career, but he has a chance to earn playing time on the back end, too. He will be a good locker room guy who can make plays just like he did on back-to-back national championship teams.

This article originally appeared on Athens Banner-Herald: Raiders pick Georgia football's Chris Smith in 2023 NFL Draft.