The Jets have signed WR Arian Smith, their first of two fourth-round picks, to his rookie contract.
Smith (6-0, 179) led Georgia with 817 receiving yards last season as a redshirt senior on 48 catches and 4 touchdowns. In his four seasons with the Bulldogs, he played 47 games and totaled 68 catches, 1,356 yards (19.9 yards/catch) and 10 TDs.
“My mental and physical toughness,” he said of his best traits. “They have me as like a slim body type of player, not that big, just fast. I feel like I bring a lot of things to the table whether it’s my speed, whether it’s my toughness or whether it’s my versatility. I feel like I’m a good blocker. I’m a great deep threat down the field. I feel like a handful of things, not just speed. It’s hard for me to explain what kind of player I am, it’s better to see it.”
Smith’s 4.36 40-yard dash at the NFL Combine in February was the fifth-fastest time among wideouts. He also notched a 38-inch vertical jump, a 10-7 broad jump, a 6.82-second 3-cone drill and a 4.19-second short shuttle. He ran track and played football at UGA before he decided to focus on football following the 2022 season.
Running for Mulberry (FL) High School, Smith posted 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 has an explosive element,” Jets GM Darren Mougey said of Smith, who was drafted No. 110 overall. “When you have a piece like that on offense it allows you to do more, whether you’re taking the top [off a defense] or you’re taking shots, whether you’re getting him on speed sweeps, quick smokes, I mean just elite speed.”
While Smith does not have NFL experience, he’s familiar with his new quarterback, Justin Fields, who played one season at Georgia before finishing his college career at Ohio State.
“It’s crazy because it’s like a full circle for me,” Smith said of teaming with Fields. “I remember him on one of my recruit visits when I went to Georgia and I remember being around him and they introduced me like this is Justin Fields. It’s just crazy now I’m going to go to an organization like the Jets and play with a player like him, a leader and a dynamic player when he can run and throw the ball, so I’m very excited to have a quarterback like that that’s going to be able to dish the ball around.”
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 was LB Mo Lewis (1991, Round 3), who went on to start 199 games and make 3 Pro Bowls.
The Green & White has 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.