ATHENS, Ga. — "How you beat Pat Mahomes?" posed Warren Brinson before offering a solution in the same breath, "Get some Georgia players."

Brinson is a Georgia product and defensive lineman prospect in the upcoming draft, so he might be slightly biased and feeding his cause, but it's hard to argue with him. In the past three drafts alone, the Bulldogs have had six guys from their front seven drafted in the first round. Three of those six were taken by the Philadelphia Eagles. Together, Nolan Smith, Jalen Carter, and Jordan Davis combined for a sack and four quarterback hurries during the Eagles' shellacking of Mahomes and the Chiefs in Super Bowl LIX.

As general manager Dan Morgan famously quipped at the NFL combine last month, the Panthers and the rest of the league didn't need the Eagles to show them how important pressure from the front is in this game.

"I think on both sides of the ball, you have to win the line of scrimmage," Morgan went on to add in Indianapolis. "You have to be bigger, you have to be tougher, you have to be more physical, and that's what we're looking to do around here."

But something the Eagles did show—and a point driven home by Brinson on Wednesday at UGA's pro day—is maybe one of the best ways to find those bigger, tougher, more physical pressure pushers is to scour the Bulldogs roster.

"I mean, every guy we have is flourishing in the NFL right now," continued Brinson. "That's the best thing to see."

There are currently 51 former Georgia players with active contracts in the NFL, so whether or not all are flourishing is somewhat subjective. Still, it's impossible to scoff at the sheer output.

"It definitely opens more conversations," admitted defensive lineman Nakir Stackhouse of the reputation of Georgia defensive prospects entering the NFL. "It's common now, and it's almost expected. I've talked with a lot of scouts, and they say, you know like we expect a lot with y'all coming out.

"And for you to play at Georgia, the standard is already set here. You just have to reach it."

Why is that, though? What is it about Georgia and Kirby Smart's program that had representatives from all 32 teams—including a handful of head coaches —flocking to the hard-to-get-to Athens for the Bulldogs pro day on Wednesday.

There have already been entire books written about Smart's program, what goes into winning back-to-back National Championships, multiple SEC championships, and producing top-notch NFL players. But Williams thinks it can be boiled down to something fairly innocuous.

"By walking around with that mic how he do," stated Williams.

Smart notoriously stays on a hot mic at practice, so loud that students at different parts of campus can hear the coach yelling. He nudges guys along, which he can do even from across the field, thanks to the mic.

"You hear a lot of things on that mic," said linebacker Jalon Walker. "The commentary, the love, the disapproval. Those things like that block you out from the outside noise. So I just learned to hear the message and not the tone."

That hunger to do a little more, knowing someone is always watching, is what Bulldog players believe carried into games and, subsequently, the league.

"Don't forget the standard that you had from Georgia," Walker said of the message. "Your hard work and perseverance should not change just because you're on a different level. That should just drive you even more to do it independently on your own and keep going within yourself."

While the standard may be the same in nearly all products out of Georgia, the Bulldogs and Smart are also becoming known for putting a certain kind of player in the league year after year. In much the same way, Wisconsin is known for offensive linemen, Ohio State is known for receivers, and LSU is known for defensive backs, etc. Georgia has become known for incredibly versatile front-seven players.

And none are more versatile this year—or perhaps in many years—than Jalon Walker.

Despite not being able to work out at the NFL combine or at Wednesday's pro day while he continues to recover from a right quad injury (he and Mykel Williams will host a private workout for teams on April 17), it was clear he was the guy most teams wanted to speak to at least for a moment.

He can, and has, play inside linebacker, outside, at the star (big nickel) position, in the run, against the pass, and frankly wherever he needs to to negate an offensive look. He's slightly more lithe than Micah Parsons, instinctual and highly confident in each decision he's making on a field.

"See, a lot of people are versatile, but a lot of people can't do it well," Walker stated, no cockiness in his voice because he was that sure of what he was saying. "I feel like I'd have the range and the confidence in myself to do each position at a great deal…if I play inside backer, I'd be a great inside backer. If I play outside backer, just outside backer, I'd be a great outside backer, but together, there's a lot of people that just can't be good at both."

In the 2024 season, Walker had 61 tackles, 6.5 sacks, and two passes defended.

Some teams are locked into players staying within certain positions. Maybe Walker ends up somewhere that is the case. But he has the capability and desire to be a hybrid, shifting defenses from a 3-4 to a 4-3 or vice versa, depending on where he lines up because it's all he's ever known.

"I feel like my role here has always been diversified just because I came in as an outside backer and played a little nickel and star in high school and came into being inside backer," Walker said. "That was just the sprout of everything so going there and especially growing towards the end of my freshman year. I mean, I was playing inside and outside backer, so I enjoyed my time doing it.

"A lot of these teams want me to be a Swiss Army knife for their team."

An interesting conundrum that inevitably plagues draftniks every year around this time is what to make of Georgia products' statistical production in college versus what their athletic prowess indicates their ceiling could be. Mykel Williams finds himself in that spot right now, with scouts even telling him they want to see the promise of more sacks.

"They really like my position versatility and how I'm able to get jobs done from different alignments, and they also like how physical I am at the point of attack," Williams explained before continuing, "(but) things I can work on, my pass rush ability. I get pressure, but want to see more sacks."

When comparing the Bulldogs' box scores versus products' NFL box scores, though, one has to acknowledge that maybe the problem is the solution that Georgia's defense is stacked, meaning production is spread around, and while that may mean fewer numbers in college, it sends fresher products to the league.

"It probably helps with a durability standpoint because you're not putting all that wear and tear on your body," Brinson said. "I hope people do realize that a lot of our first-round guys, you got to look, Jordan Davis only had like 2.0 sacks, Jalen Carter had 3.0 sacks senior year."

Carter now has 12.5 sacks in his first two years in the league.

As teams head into the home stretch of NFL draft prep, it's a good reminder that part and parcel with the standard Georgia products have set in the NFL is trusting their process to reach it. And if you're going to beat Mahomes or any other quarterback that lines up on Sundays, there is a deep well from which to draw.

"It's not really the numbers," concluded Brinson. "It's the defense we're playing on, and we're winning, so that's what people should draft: winning players because once you build a culture of winning, it just translates to the NFL very well."