Expect surprises during 2022 NFL Draft

[docc]

Yahoo Sports Videos
Expect surprises during 2022 NFL Draft
Fri, April 1, 2022, 3:36 PM

Yahoo Sports’ Senior NFL Writer Charles Robinson and Yahoo Sports’ Lead NFL Draft Analyst Eric Edholm discuss the lack of high-end talent in the 2022 NFL Draft, and how some teams may draft a player much earlier than another team would have. Hear the full conversation on the You Pod to Win the Game podcast. Subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher or wherever you listen.
Video Transcript

[FANS CHEERING] CHARLES ROBINSON: First question I have for you, I was talking to an AFC GM, and we were kind of going through some of the combine interviews or whatever, things I'd heard. He said the top 60 picks, you're going to potentially see teams getting guys, even in the 50 to 60 range, that some teams had in their top 20, or 20 to 30. He's like there's that much variation. So you're not going to believe this, but there are-- and I'm paraphrasing what he was saying here, but he was basically saying like Aidan Hutchinson. He's like we think that there are some teams that think he's like 20 to 30 on their board. But then he said, you know, but then there are other teams that clearly really like him at the top. He brought up Kayvon Thibodeaux. He's like there are teams coming out of the combine that think he's not a top 10 pick, like had some less than ideal interviews. Some teams think he's a little arrogant. And then he said, but then there are other teams that really like him a lot, and and he thinks maybe one of those teams is in the top five, six range. Basically, what he was just saying is dude, this is going to be all over the place. But if you're a team that's sitting there with a bunch of picks in the top 60, you're feeling pretty good because you're like man, we're going to probably get some-- all these players were potentially going to get in the top 60 could all be very good contributing players for us. And that's how the talent is widened out this year. Do-- I mean, is that kind of what you're getting? ERIC EDHOLM: Yeah, absolutely, and I mean, I was trying to think. There was that year when Dallas got Sean Lee. It would have been about like 2010 or 11 or something like that. They got him in the second round. They had him as their number 13 or 14th overall player. It was the first one that popped into my head where it was like yeah, that happens, believe it or not. I think people feel like there's a lot more consensus than in a typical draft season from one club to the next. I've always told people no, you'd be surprised. When I make calls, you'll get second and third round grades for one guy, first round from another, fourth from another team. It really does vary. But this year in particular, I absolutely feel that if you stack-- Charles, you just put last year's, I don't know, first 12 picks, right, Ja'Marr Chase, Waddle, Davante Smith, Micah Parsons, all the non quarterbacks, right, it was a group of rock stars. This was an unbelievable group of high end talent. This year, Aidan Hutchinson, good player, nice player, right. Trevon Walker, five sacks last year, OK. Good, you know, ascending workout guy, whatever. You know, Evan Neal, did he, did you ever watch him and think wow, that is the next Jonathan Ogden? I never did. I liked, I like the player. So just start at the top, and I don't see those exceptional, blue chip, no questions asked prospects. CHARLES ROBINSON: I'm glad you brought up last year because he said when we were talking, in the course of talking, he said look, I don't know how you feel about a couple of the quarterbacks, obviously, taken last year. He said but if you go and look at the top 15 players taken last year-- he said he couldn't remember if it was like top 15, top 16. ERIC EDHOLM: Yeah. CHARLES ROBINSON: He said but basically, the top half of the first round last year, he's like it's looking like all those are going to be players. Like, they're all, they're all going to be really good players. He was like it's-- and he's, he's like I could see four years from now, we look back at the 2021 NFL draft and go holy shit, that draft was loaded. Like, it was completely loaded. And he said especially if you know Zach Wilson, Trevor Lawrence end up kind of getting themselves on the right track. Yeah, like, if they get themselves on the track that made them, you know, put them where they were in that draft, he was like that top 15 is going to look like, top 15, top 16, going look like a monster of a top end of a draft. And he compared it to this year, where he's just like no way. Like, I just don't see any guarantee that you're going to have that kind of an impact.

[The Marshall Plan]

Jacksonville should sell the #1 pick this year just like how they should've sold it last year.

Trevor Lawrence is nothing special.

With what QBs were going for (3 first rounders for Trey Lance?), they could've suckered somebody into a mega trade.

Between that and what they should do with this pick is how you build a team.

[Grizzled]

There are no overwhelming guys that teams are going to sell the farm to move up and draft although that won't keep teams at the top from trying to move their picks for additional ones. There is good depth at numerous positions, giving the Bears hope of striking gold in lower rounds at WR and OL.

[Ditka’s dictaphone]

Jacksonville should sell the #1 pick this year just like how they should've sold it last year.

Trevor Lawrence is nothing special.

With what QBs were going for (3 first rounders for Trey Lance?), they could've suckered somebody into a mega trade.

Between that and what they should do with this pick is how you build a team.

Shhhhh!

That suckered team would probably have been us

I agree though, I’m happy with Poles trading down. Try and get some extra picks as there’s talent in this draft.

So many good 1st choice WR
Quite a few good OT
A few decent CB
Some good late 2nd choice WR

[The Marshall Plan]

Jacksonville should sell the #1 pick this year just like how they should've sold it last year.

Trevor Lawrence is nothing special.

With what QBs were going for (3 first rounders for Trey Lance?), they could've suckered somebody into a mega trade.

Between that and what they should do with this pick is how you build a team.

Shhhhh!

That suckered team would probably have been us

I agree though, I’m happy with Poles trading down. Try and get some extra picks as there’s talent in this draft.

So many good 1st choice WR
Quite a few good OT
A few decent CB
Some good late 2nd choice WR

You just know that idiot Pace would've sold the farm to move up to #1 to take Zach Wilson.

But anyway....

Say Jacksonville took something like three firsts and a third to move down to the Giants pick where both Fields and Jones were available.

Or if they convince the Lions with a similar deal. Maybe they send Goff. IDK when that Goff trade happened.

Then this year you can find some sucker. Dumb ass team like us, the Jets or Raiders. Or other teams like the Seahawks. You can con somebody.

Now you've got either Goff, Fields or Jones and have like a dozen first round picks.

Even if they had to take Goff, they could still have taken Fields or Jones. Then work a Goff trade later.

But no. They were dumbasses and had to take Goldilocks.

[RichH55]

Id still have taken Lawrence - Jags weren't lacking for picks or cap space

[IE]

Id still have taken Lawrence - Jags weren't lacking for picks or cap space

Yeah - he IS special. Sometimes it just takes a year or two. IIRC he started showing some stuff later in the season, as we'd expect. Even if only in occasional spurts.

Especially with that disaster of a coaching situation (IMO similar to the debacle on the Bears), I think we should only look at Lawrence as having gotten some good experience, and discount the results.

[dplank]

Well, unlike the Bears the Jags did everything they could to help him this year. They didn’t just say “we dumped our shitty coach, we’re good”. I don’t agree with their spending per se, but he’s in a much better position to jump forward next year than Fields is.

[Grizzled]

Well, unlike the Bears the Jags did everything they could to help him this year. They didn’t just say “we dumped our shitty coach, we’re good”. I don’t agree with their spending per se, but he’s in a much better position to jump forward next year than Fields is.

We can say they overspent, especially with Christian Kirk, but their record at the end of the year will decide if their moves were decisive in helping Lawrence. The 'Fins are in the same boat, they signed a primo (but oft injured) OT and a very solid guard plus a couple of very fast RBs and the trade for Hill. The Bears appear to be in tear-down and rebuild mode with bargain basement guys signed so JF progress this year may not be as much as fans hope for.

[G08]

I can see us trading out of 39 if we have a bubble of 10 players that we really like.

On the other hand, if a player we absolutely love falls to 39 I think we make the pick there and potentially trade out of 48.

Poles is on record saying there is a lot of talent in the middle-parts of this draft.

[Moriarty]

Poles is on record saying there is a lot of talent in the middle-parts of this draft.

I'm not sure if it's a good idea to be saying that, but I would agree.

70-130 is really robust