Trade decline: Bulldogs head coach Kirby Smart turn down $478.6 million offer just to remain…

With Nick Saban retiring, Kirby Smart took over the role as the next top head coach in college football. Smart has lived up to expectations, but cracks are starting to show. With that in mind, a move to the NFL may be on the horizon, and the perfect team will be the Philadelphia Eagles.

Smart has been the head coach of Georgia since 2016, and over that span has put together a 97-17 record while also winning back-to-back National Championships in 2021 and 2022. That may have been the peak of Smart’s career with the Bulldogs, though. In 2023, they went 13-1, and in 2024 so far are 3-1 after losing to Alabama. Georgia is a talented team, but one thing that can’t be overlooked is the struggles against Alabama under Smart. Smart has a 1-6 record against the Crimson Tide, and that lone win was mainly to do with Alabama losing Jameson Williams. Smart is a great coach, but with Alabama finding their new coach in Kalen DeBoer, the dominant run Georgia was on looks to be coming to an end.

The Bulldogs as a program also need to consider the off-field issues under Smart and the ability to fully develop players under him. Over the last year, 24 Bulldogs have been arrested, at some point that falls back on Smart. Regardless of the championships, at some point in time Smart needs to be looked at, and could cause him to go to the NFL where this isn’t an aspect he needs to focus on.

That’s where the Eagles come into play. As it currently stands, Nick Sirianni is on a hot seat, an extremely hot seat. The Eagles are 2-2 with another brutal loss to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, the same team they lost to in the playoffs to end their 2023 season. To end 2023, the Eagles lost six of the last seven games, and with that, tensions started to arise in the locker room. At the root of them is Nick Sirianni, who has clearly lost the locker room, and his inability to get the most out of the talent is showing.

For a championship caliber team like the Eagles, there is no reason they should be having uncompetitive losses to the Buccaneers and the Atlanta Falcons. That’s where Smart comes in. Take the full development factor out, and Smart is a fantastic coach on the field. He’d be able to utilize the talent like Hurts, AJ Brown, DeVonta Smith, Saquon Barkley on offense correctly. And on defense would get the most out of Jalen Carter, Jordan Davis, Nakobe Dean, Nolan Smith, and Keele Ringo, as all have come from the Bulldogs program.

The Eagles have high expectations, and they need a championship caliber coach like Smart to turn the team around. For Smart, the NFL would create a new challenge for him to conquer and further elevate his legacy as a coach.