Kenny Pickett leads top 3 winners of the 2022 NFL Draft
After the NFL Draft weekend, let’s take a look at the three biggest winners. Did any players or teams greatly benefit from the 2022 NFL Draft?
The 2022 NFL Draft is over. As with any draft, many teams hit it out of the park–they made sensational selections and objectively improved their team with quality picks.
Other teams did not. Some of their picks were average at best, and mediocre at worst.
In many instances, the NFL draft can often be an indictment on a player, whether good or bad.
Teams will often look for replacement players in the draft, while others may show unwavering faith in the players currently on a roster.
Take the Seattle Seahawks for example, who passed on selecting any quarterback in the draft. Perhaps they do believe in both Geno Smith and Drew Lock for 2022.
Look at the Tennessee Titans as well. They selected Malik Willis, perhaps showing a long-term lack of faith in Ryan Tannehill.
This happened with many teams across the entire league.
Obviously, players want to be on the favorable end of this. In other scenarios, general managers and coaches are perhaps fighting for their jobs, so having a strong draft could even help keep them employed.
Looking across the league at entire teams, individual players, coaches, and executives, who benefitted the most from the 2022 NFL Draft? Who were the biggest winners?
Biggest winners of the 2022 NFL Draft
1. Joe Douglas
Joe Douglas hit this draft out of the park in a crucial year for him, his quarterback, and his coach. Douglas is entering his fourth year with the team, wrapping up his fourth NFL Draft.
His 2019 and 2020 drafts weren’t that spectacular, either, so I’m sure it was nice to have a strong draft in 2022.
Obviously, we won’t know for sure how strong this draft is until a few years in the future, but it seems to be a safe bet that Sauce Gardner, Garrett Wilson, and Jermaine Johnson II can enjoy decent NFL careers.
Not only did he get his quarterback a legitimate WR1, but he got his head coach two cornerstones on defense at cornerback and edge, the two most important positions on that side of the ball.
The Jets roster is actually very solid. Douglas has done a very nice job the past few seasons turning over this roster from the last administration.
The success of the team this year is going to hinge on Zach Wilson ultimately, but Douglas’ strong draft makes him a big winner.