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.
Biggest winners of 2022 NFL Draft
2. Baltimore Ravens
What a stellar draft from the Baltimore Ravens. They were able to secure a ton of quality talent with their first several picks, including stud Kyle Hamilton, Tyler Linderbaum, who is likely to be their starting center, David Ojabo, who was seen as a steal in the second round, Travis Jones, who is likely a starter at 76 overall, and big Daniel Faalele, a 6’8″, 380-pound right tackle who fits perfectly with the Ravens.
They were able to get solid contributors on both sides of the ball and even managed to trade Hollywood Brown for a first-round pick.
Sure, they have a need at wide receiver now, but this run-first team has an incredible stable of running backs, a few quality pass-catchers, and now what seems like a bruising offensive line after free agency addition Morgan Moses and draft additions Tyler Linderbaum and Daniel Faalele.
It’s clear the Ravens are trying to regain their 2019 form, where they were deadly on offense with a lethal rushing attack while playing elite defense.
The secondary has been rebuilt with the additions of Kyle Hamilton and free agency signing Marcus Williams, and the defensive line has been re-worked with the additions of Travis Jones and Michael Pierce.
The Ravens simply added uber-talented players to the positions they needed to improve the most.
They had a stellar offseason.
Biggest winners of 2022 NFL Draft
3. Kenny Pickett
Was there a bigger winner of draft weekend than Kenny Pickett? It was no secret that the Steelers surely had an interest in him.
But they also apparently had interest in both Desmond Ridder and Malik Willis, too. I did think they would somehow end up with Willis and seeing as both players were there for them to take at 20, I was ready to hear Willis’ name.
Not only did they take Pickett, the hometown kid, but no other quarterback got drafted until the third round.
Pickett was the first quarterback to be taken and ended up being the first taken, for a while.
This might indicate that Pickett was wildly overdrafted, which could be true, but why would Pickett himself think that?
He just got drafted to his hometown team after enjoying a Heisman-caliber season at the University of Pittsburgh.
The Steelers drafting Kenny Pickett was a very Steelers thing to do. Honestly, it doesn’t even feel like Pickett won’t be successful either. The Steelers are seemingly always good, and they somehow managed to win 9 games in 2021.
Now with Mitchell Trubisky and Kenny Pickett in the mix, the Steelers have given themselves a viable NFL quarterback room soon after the end of the Ben Roethlisberger era.