The 2022 NFL draft is finally upon us.
No, this isn’t going to be the most accurate mock draft you’ve seen; anyone who nails more than a dozen first-rounders (right team, right player) should immediately be drafted into one of the NFL’s 32 scouting staffs.
This is about as challenging a year to project first-round picks, and it has a lot to do with a watered-down top half of the round, along with the uncertainty at quarterback. It’s always a crapshoot, but this year takes the cake.
To make up for the lack of clarity, we’re offering a few bonuses at the end:
Projections for the first picks of the eight (!) teams lacking first-rounders
Our picks for QB landing spots
Where the first punter goes (higher than you might think)
And a stab in the dark for Mr. Irrelevant, the final pick of the draft
The way this draft cycle has been, we might have better luck predicting the final pick than most of the first 32.
Eric Edholm’s final 2022 NFL mock draft. The real draft begins Thursday in Las Vegas. (Moe Haidar/Yahoo Sports)
Georgia DL Travon Walker
We’re prepared to be Trey Lance’d again this year (we had Mac Jones going third in our final mock a year ago), but we’ll go with Walker because that’s who we believe the general manager prefers. This would be as risky a non-QB No. 1 pick since … Eric Fisher? Courtney Brown?
Could the Jags’ Shad Khan (said to be an Aidan Hutchinson man) call an audible? Sure. He’s the owner. And in Jacksonville, of course, anything feels possible.
Michigan EDGE Aidan Hutchinson
We’d be fascinated to see where the Lions go if Hutchinson was the first pick. We don’t know that it would be Walker. But in this mock, the decision becomes that much easier. Hutchinson is like a juiced-up version of ex-Lion Kyle Vanden Bosch and should give Dan Campbell a glue guy, natural-born leader and quality defender to keep the roster rebuild flowing.
LSU CB Derek Stingley Jr.
Our first change-up. People we’ve spoken to feel that the Texans are very interested in a corner, which…