Jets Select Georgia WR Arian Smith with the 110th Overall Selection in the 2025 NFL Draft
The Jets, with that always significant first selection of day three of the draft after resetting their board following Round 3, on Saturday afternoon selected Georgia wide receiver Arian Smith with their fourth-round choice, No. 110 overall in the 2025 NFL Draft.
“They asked me, am I ready to be a Jet?” Smith said on a teleconference call with reporters. “I just told them, yeah, I’m ready, man. I just appreciate them and I’m honored and blessed that they called me and have just given me an opportunity. And I’m just ready.”
He described himself as having mental and physical toughness and packing it in a 6-0, 179-pound frame: “I’m a slim body type of player, you know, not that big, just fast.:
Smith, as a redshirt senior last season, sped to the Bulldogs’ team leadership with 817 receiving yards, on 48 catches for a 17.0 yards/catch average and 4 touchdowns. In his four seasons at UGa, he played 47 games and totaled 68 catches, 1,356 yards (19.9 yards/catch) and 10 TDs.
His combine results underscore the athleticism he’ll be bringing to the Green & White. He notched a 4.36-second 40, a 38-inch vertical jump, a 10-7 broad jump, a 6.82-second 3-cone drill and a 4.19-second short shuttle at the February NFL Combine workouts.
Smith’s speed is also in keeping with his international track and field background. Running out of Mulberry (FL) HS, He set the longest long jump in the country in 2018 at 25-3. Then in 2019 as a junior, he claimed a Florida state title in the 200 meters, took a silver medal in the 100, then in July 2019 he anchored the U.S. 4×100 relay team to a World Under-20 record of 36.62 seconds at the Pan American Championships in Costa Rica.
He transferred to Lakeland HS as a senior, playing WR and setting the stage for his rapid rise at Georgia.
NFL.com draft analyst Lance Zierlein states that Smith “is the fastest player on the field. If a cornerback presses him and misses, he’d better have safety help because Smith averaged 36.5 yards on his 10 career touchdown receptions.”
The Jets took Smith with their own selection in Round 4. This draft marks the first time since 2016 that they have used their own first four picks of a draft to take players rather than trading one or more of those picks.
Smith is the 13th Georgia player taken by the Jets and the first since LB Jordan Jenkins (Round 3, No. 83) in 2016. Probably the most famous Bulldog selected by the Jets is LB Mo Lewis (1991, Round 3), who went on to start 199 games and make 3 Pro Bowls. Other Bulldogs tabbed by the Jets include QB Matt Robinson (1977, Round 9) and DT Jason Ferguson (1997, Round 7).
The Jets have had good results with fourth-round selections in the recent past. Since 2000 in that round they have selected WR Jerricho Cotchery (2004), S Kerry Rhodes (2005), WR Brad Smith and RB Leon Washington (2006), Joe McKnight (2010) and Bilal Powell (2011). DL Micheal Clemons (’22) and RB Braelon Allen (’24) are among the Round 4 players on the current roster.
The Jets have used the No. 110 pick in a draft only once, to take Oklahoma LB Gary Baccus in 1974. Baccus never played a game as a pro.