Next morning thoughts … Probably a lot of groggy folks – if they are awake at all – out in Las Vegas after the opening night of the 2022 draft. If there is a word to describe this year’s first round it might be ‘interesting’. The expected fireworks, at least early on, never happened. In fact, the big story of last night’s first round was that, in the end, the QBs didn’t go. Kenny Pickett was the only QB chosen in the first round and he went to home-town Pittsburgh with the 20th pick. At the same time, the other top QBs, including Liberty’s Malik Willis, are still on the board, which will everyone wondering if this will be the day that teams like Seattle, Atlanta, Indianapolis and New Orleans try and move up to get their young QB. Or do they sit and grab one if he’s there or do they wait for 2023. In fact, if anything was hanging over this year’s first-round it was next year’s which is expected significantly more talented especially at QB. In that vein, it was interesting that in the flood of trades later in the opening round, not one 2023 pick was moved. At the same time, people will be watching for possible trades involving veteran QBs Baker Mayfield and/or Jimmy Garoppolo not that the first round is over. Carolina, which ultimately chose an OT with the 6th pick and doesn’t have a second day selection, for example, said after the draft that they’ll be looking at ‘every opportunity’ at the position
It was also interesting that Tampa Bay acquired the first pick on both the second and third days from Jacksonville in kind of a shrewd move. The first picks on the second and third night as that’s the first place any team is going to call if they have designs on moving up to get a particular on that day.
No big surprise, but the SEC again was the dominant conference in last night’s opening with 12 picks overall including 5 from defending national champion Georgia. In fact, all 5 were from the Dawgs tenacious defense, the most ever from any one defense. Alabama also had a couple of players selected, although that represents something of a down year for the Tide who had 6 chosen last year and 4 the previous draft. However, its still the 14th straight year Alabama has had at least one player taken in the opening round and 6th consecutive year with multiple picks. In fact, the 2022 first-round will go down as one of the most ‘equitable’ on record as only two other programs – Ohio State and Michigan – had as many as two picks per school. Overall, the Big ten was second to the SEC with 7 picks followed by the ACC and Pac-12 with 4 each and the AAC with two. And for the second year in a row the Big XII was shut out. There were also a couple of first round picks from outside the FBS ranks as Northern Iowa OT Trevor Penning went to New Orleans with the 19th pick, while in the ‘strangest’ pick of the opening round, New England chose Chattanooga OG Cole Strange.
And no we are not going to do a second day mock draft. We’ll wait until tonight to find out who goes where for sure in the second and third rounds, but we will have a column on which teams got our thumbs up in the opening round and who got the thumbs down a little later this morning.
