The quarterbacks are always the hot names to watch and North Carolina’s Sam Howell is the one who goes first in this 2022 NFL Mock Draft
With the 2021 NFL Draft in the rearview mirror, there’s only one thing left to do — look ahead to the next crop of college football prospects who will make up the 2022 NFL Draft.
Of course, a lot will change between now and next spring but that doesn’t mean we can’t come up with an aggressively early 2022 NFL Mock Draft, which we do here.
As for the order, we use our most recent 2021 NFL Power Rankings, which means we have the Houston Texans kicking things off at No. 1.
1. Houston Texans: Kayvon Thibodeaux, EDGE, Oregon
It was really tempting to go quarterback with this pick for the Houston Texans since it seems as though Deshaun Watson was done playing for them. The only reason we go a different direction, however, is the fact that Houston did just use their first pick on Davis Mills from Stanford.
That pick came in Round 3 but they still seem as though they will give him time behind Tyrod Taylor to see what he can do. And because of that, they go a different direction and take Oregon’s Kayvon Thibodeaux here.
Houston needs someone who can get after the quarterback to replace Whitney Mercilus who has been in a decline as of late and J.J. Watt who is now in Arizona. Thibodeaux who had nine sacks as a freshman in 2019 should be able to provide that for them.
2. Detroit Lions: Sam Howell, QB, North Carolina
Chances are, a quarterback will go first overall but with Houston going first, that means the Detroit Lions end up being the team to grab a signal-caller at No. 2 ‚— since we aren’t predicting trades just yet.
With that pick, the Lions turn to North Carolina’s Sam Howell who has been great so far in his career. He has 7,227 yards with a 68-to-14 touchdown-to-interception ratio in two seasons. One more year with that kind of success should lead to him being the top quarterback in the 2022 NFL Draft.