Nolan Smith arrested Friday in Twiggs County, Georgia for going 135 mph in a 70 mph zone

Eagles linebacker Nolan Smith was arrested Friday in Twiggs County, Georgia for going 135 mph in a 70 mph zone on the interstate at 10:41 at night. He was charged with speeding and reckless driving, made bond, and was released shortly after. A court date has been issued.

Nolan Smith Jr. was arrested Friday and accused of speeding and reckless driving

View this post on Instagram

Quick Math: 135 in a 70 is 65 mph over the speed limit.

I mean come on, brother. Can’t be doing that. That’s nearly double the posted limit on a highway in rural Georgia at night. I don’t know what Nolan was driving but whatever it was, he was pushing it to the absolute limit on a stretch of interstate where a deer, a blown tire, or one wrong move ends his career and possibly his life.

At 135 mph you don’t have reaction time. You don’t have margin for error. You have nothing between you and catastrophe except luck.

This Is Stupid and He Knows It

I’m not going to bury the guy over a speeding arrest but there’s no denying how stupid you have to be to be driving like that. Thankfully, Nolan Smith didn’t hurt anyone and he wasn’t impaired as far as the reports indicate. He got pulled over, arrested, bonded out, and went home.

Again, no collision, injuries, or innocent victims, which is pretty lucky n the grand scheme of NFL arrests. That’s the good part for sure but getting arrested for driving 135 mph is beyond stupid. That’s not going 85 in a 70 and getting tagged by a state trooper having a bad night. That’s reckless.

At that speed on a highway at night, one mistake kills you and potentially kills someone else. Nolan Smith is 25 years old, just had 6.5 sacks and four more in the playoffs during a Super Bowl run, and has his entire career and life ahead of him. He’s about to start OTAs on Tuesday. Everything is going right for him professionally.

You don’t risk all of that to go 135 on a highway in Twiggs County, Georgia. I don’t care how fast the car goes or how empty the road looked. It’s not worth it. It will never be worth it. Every year some professional athlete with millions of dollars and unlimited potential does something reckless in a car and either ends up in jail, in a hospital, or in a casket. Nolan needs to be smarter than this.

Get it together Nolan Smith

On the field, Smith has been everything the Eagles wanted since the 2023 first-round pick. He’s reunited with the Georgia defensive pipeline of Jalen Carter, Nakobe Dean, and Jordan Davis.

He posted 6.5 regular-season sacks in 2024 with four more in the playoffs during the Super Bowl run. Ten and a half career sacks, 25 quarterback hits, and 10 tackles for loss over three seasons. He’s a key piece of this defense heading into 2026.

None of that matters if you wrap a car around a guardrail at 135 mph on a Friday night in May. The football career, the money, the Super Bowl ring, all of it disappears in a second at that speed.

I’m not trying to be dramatic. I’m being realistic. Athletes die in car accidents every year because they think the rules of physics don’t apply to them. They do.

Just Be Smart

OTAs start Tuesday. Smith is entering a contract year where his performance will determine whether he gets a massive second deal or becomes a cautionary tale. Everything is lined up for him. All he has to do is show up healthy, play well, and avoid doing anything monumentally stupid off the field.

Going 135 in a 70 qualifies as monumentally stupid. Nolan Smith got lucky. The cop clocked him, pulled him over, and the worst thing that happened was a night in a Georgia county jail and a court date. That’s the best possible outcome of driving 135 mph on a highway. Every other outcome is worse. Most of them are significantly worse.

Join The Chase