2022 NFL Draft

Combine Jadeveon Clowney and Khalil Mack into one package and you get Thibodeaux, a pass rusher with great pure strength, heavy hands, some wicked moves and an ability to out-position his blocker in the first three steps. Some offensive linemen (the Cal game comes to mind) essentially surrendered to Thibodeaux and plopped into “make a pile” mode. Other teams just double-teamed him for dear life. UCLA tried the latter tactic, and Thibodeaux still came away with two sacks and 4.5 tackles for a loss. 

Thibodeaux dropped into coverage frequently, as Mack did when he was in college, and he is terrible at it. That’s his only real weakness. No NFL coach is going to ask Thibodeaux to cover any receivers. Instead, he will line up on the edge, perhaps slide to three-tech in NASCAR packages, and bring instant double-digit sack potential to one of the teams at the top of the draft board. 

For more, check out Derrik Klassen’s deep dive on Thibodeaux in Draft Film Room.

Watch Hutchinson’s best games – his 2.5-sack effort against Washington or his 3-sack takeover in the sleet against Ohio State, for example – and you will want to shut the tape off after two minutes and trade your next three draft classes to move up for him. Hutchinson can beat a left tackle with a swim move inside for a pressure, wheelbarrow a poor tight end into his quarterback, toss a blocking back out of the television screen, nearly decapitate the quarterback in the pocket or chase him down for a clean-up sack after he scrambles away from David Ojabo. Sometimes, Hutchinson does all of these things in the same quarter. In between the highlights, he sets the edge well on runs toward him and hustles in pursuit of runs away from him.

Hutchinson answered some of our questions about his lateral fluidity by leading all edge rushers with a 6.73 second 3-cone drill at the combine. Still, that agility isn't always apparent on film, as Hutchinson relies on his raw power, heavy hands and some rudimentary moves to beat most blockers. He’s also a pass rusher without a plan at times who can disappear for stretches. Oregon’s Keyvon Thibodeaux, on the other hand, has both dominant game film and elite edge-rusher attributes.

Hutchinson ranks below the Myles Garrett/Chase Young tier of edge rushers, but that lands him squarely in the Bradley Chubb/Ziggy Ansah tier. Size, brute force, tenacity and still-untapped athleticism make him a worthy Top 5 pick and future double-digit sack producer.

Ekwonu is a bugbear. He fits the ideal left tackle height/weight/athleticism prototype, finishes many of his blocks like a WWE superstar tossing a jobber out of the ring and performs acts of extreme violence on the second level. A three-year starter for the Wolfpack, Ekwonu is also deft at picking up blitzers and adjusting to stunts, and he can stop a defender in his tracks with his initial punch. 

Ekwonu sometimes suffers from a case of Smash Puny Human technical sloppiness: he’ll duck his head on some reps and let the defender into his body on others, But those are easily fixable flaws, and Ekwonu's technique is excellent on other reps. 

Ekwonu could well be the #1 pick in the 2022 draft: he makes a lot of sense as Trevor Lawrence’s blindside protector. Other teams that need to keep their young or veteran quarterbacks upright should also give him a long look.

A 360-pound dancing bear at the snap, an angry cuss at the whistle. 

Neal was a three-year starter at both tackle positions and guard for the Tide. He looks like a right tackle but plays like a left tackle, with nimble feet and technically-sound pass protection sets to go with his mammoth size and ornery finishes. Consistency in pass protection – he is sometimes flummoxed by quick-footed edge rushers – and a tendency to swing and miss when blocking on the second level are Neal’s biggest weaknesses. 

Neal has All-Pro left tackle talent if his overall game develops. He could start at either tackle position as a rookie without recklessly endangering his quarterback.

Hamilton is built like an action figure, plays the ball in the air like a wide receiver, shoots gaps and makes open-field tackles like a linebacker and diagnoses plays in front of him like the second coming of Ed Reed. He’s the type of all-purpose defensive back that every team wants but few have the opportunity to get: someone who can cover Travis Kelce, tackle Deebo Samuel, take away the deep middle of the field or blow up a wide receiver screen. 

The knee injury which ended Hamilton’s final college season is a minor concern, though he should be ready for his first NFL minicamp. The larger question is whether all of his skills will translate to the next level – tall safeties can sometimes be out-quicked by nifty slot guys and running backs in the NFL, making them situational defenders instead of stars – and whether any team will prioritize the safety position at the very top of the first round. 

It’s hard to find a comparable player to Hamilton in the NFL right now: think Budda Baker but seven inches taller, or New England’s Kyle Duggar, but entering the league with three years of major-program starting experience

Cross is a quick-footed, fundamentally-sound left tackle with ideal quickness. He’s smooth in pass protection, delivers a nasty jab to stun his defender and operates well when moving laterally or blocking on the second level. Cross is no piledriver in the running game, but he’s big and strong enough to get the job done. 

Cross isn’t as massive or WWE-flashy as the other top linemen in this class, but he’s a plug ‘n’ play starter at a high-leverage position who will be in the NFL for a long time.
 

Playmaker Score: 706 Yards/Season, second among 2022 WRs (Projected)

There are a lot of Michael Thomas elements to Wilson’s game. Like the former Buckeyes and erstwhile Saints superstar, Wilson excels at gaining position on his defender in his first few steps off the line of scrimmage, snapping off the tops of his routes and feasting on comebacks and other short-breaking patterns. He possesses an extra open-field gear, sure hands and the ability to both make catches in traffic and bounce off tacklers for YAC. His primary weaknesses? Wilson's releases and stems can get a little too exaggerated, disrupting the timing of his routes. He also lacks pure explosiveness off the line and will be a liability as a blocker, even on bubble screens to his teammates.

Wilson came on strong late in 2021, with 27-371-6 (plus a 51-yard rushing touchdown) in his final three collegiate games. Playmaker Score loves Wilson’s big-play capability as a rusher and the fact that he earned such a high percentage of targets in an offense which also featured Chris Olave and Jaxon Smith-Njigba. 

The Michael Thomas comp may be too optimistic (and carry a bit of baggage), but Wilson could become a Stefon Diggs-type, capable of either turbocharging an offense or acting as a 12-target-per-game security blanket for a developing quarterback.

For more on Wilson, check out Derrik Klassen's Draft Film room feature.

Karlaftis was born in Athens and was a member of Greece’s national youth water polo team when he was 13. He began his American prep sports career in track-and-field before moving to football. Karlaftis cross-trains in MMA fighting to improve his hand technique, and it shows with a nasty swat he can use to disengage from blocks. Karlaftis also anticipates the snap count well and can beat his blocker to the turn on the first two or three steps. Karlaftis looked most effective as a standup LEO-type outside the tackle box, but his hand-fighting skills make him a capable defender when he shifts inside. 

The fact that he had a greater statistical impact as a true freshman in 2019 (7.5 sacks, 17 TFL) than last season (4.5 sacks, 10 TFL) is a legit concern: Karlaftis lacks elite pass rushing agility and brute strength, so he needs further refinement to be an impact player in the NFL. But size, hand technique, anticipation and tenacity will make Karlaftis a first-round pick.

Davis was one of the biggest stars of the scouting combine, where he did things that no 341-pound human outside of the Marvel Cinematic Universe should be able to do, including run a 4.78 second 40-yard dash and broad jump 123 inches. Davis is a mountain of a dude with the body of a 0-tech run stuffer but the skills of a nimble 3-tech. He has a tremendous initial punch that knocks blockers off the line of scrimmage, as well as excellent initial quickness and the ability to swim his shoulder and knife into the backfield. Davis’ athleticism makes him useful on stunts and blitzes, and he can disengage to make the tackle.

Davis can look ordinary when that first punch does not land, and he may always need to rotate out of the game for a few series per game due to his size and play style. He also played for a dominant Bulldogs line that has evaluators sifting among him, Devonte Wyatt and Trayvon Walker to determine who they like best. But Davis' nearly metahuman workout results, combined with impressive film, making him an old Bill Parcells "Planet Theory" type of player: there are only a few people on earth quite like him, so you better go out and get one when you find one.
 

Willis has the strongest arm in the quarterback class – Carson Strong is not even in the same category – and impressed at the Senior Bowl with his presence and poise on and off the field. Willis suffered through a three-interception performance against Ole Miss in November and had other rough late-season outings, but a strong Senior Bowl week should put to bed any lingering concerns that his skills would not translate to the NFL level.

Willis has the highest upside of any quarterback in the 2022 class but will need far more polish than Kenny Pickett and some of the others. His footwork and accuracy are both spotty, and he has the small-program scrambler’s habit of thinking the pocket is his living room to shuffle about as he pleases (Willis will drift straight into some sacks). But Willis can throw the deep out, sees the field well, finds secondary targets and adds value as a burly/shifty option runner and scrambler. 

A team with a Matt Ryan or Jared Goff to soak up 2022 starts would be wise to invest a first-round pick in Willis and slow-cook him into a quality dual-threat starter.

Discover much more about Willis in Derrik Klassen's Film Room.

The 2021 Remington Trophy winner, Linderbaum is the best center prospect since Maurkice Pouncey and the best prospect at his position ever to emerge from Kirk Ferentz’s Offensive Lineman Factory in Iowa City. Linderbaum possesses exceptional agility and flexibility for the position, reacts and adjusts quickly to blitzes and stunts and is outstanding on the second level. He’s also a mauling finisher. 

Dave Gettleman would have traded a kidney for Linderbaum, and though Gettleman has retired, the Giants still have two picks in the middle of the first round and a need to upgrade from Billy Price. Linderbaum would also look great in Arizona, where Rodney Hudson faded fast last season and every shotgun snap became an adventure, or in Miami, where Mike McDaniel will be rebuilding the entire offensive line. Wherever he goes, Linderbaum will have a Creed Humphrey-level instant impact on his new offensive line.

Dean was all over both the field and the stat sheet for the national champions in 2021: six sacks, 10.5 tackles for a loss, two interceptions, five passes defensed and two forced fumbles to go with 72 combined tackles. 

Dean’s best attribute is his vision: he reads and reactions quickly to plays and recognizes pass patterns and positions himself properly in zone coverage. He also times blitzes well and explodes through the line as a pass rusher. He’s an excellent run defender who will stick his nose in the hole and wrap up the ballcarrier.

Evaluating an in-space linebacker playing behind a line full of top NFL prospects can be tricky. Dean rarely had to tangle with offensive linemen with Jordan Davis and Devonte Wyatt (among others) in front of him; when a blocker did make it to the second level, Dean sometimes got pushed around. Quicker running backs can beat Dean in man coverage, limiting his value in dime packages. 

A lot was asked of Dean in the Bulldogs defense, and he mostly delivered. Dean will be a solid high-end NFL starter, but not a Micah Parsons-like instant-impact DPOY candidate.
 

Gardner is a feisty, high-energy 6-foot-3 beanpole of a cornerback who famously did not allow a touchdown in three seasons as a starter for the Bearcats. He can flip his hips and run with most receivers when he chooses to. He also reacts quickly to plays in front of him and attacks downhill on screens, runs and underneath routes, and he’s dangerous when blitzing off the edge.

Gardner is a dive-stick tackler who needs to do a better job staying away from lead blockers: he’s better at getting into position to make the play than actually making the play. He also likes to maintain contact with his receiver down the field while keeping his eyes in the backfield: acceptable in college, 50 yards of penalties per week waiting to happen in the NFL. 

Gardner has the tools and temperament of an elite cornerback, plus a catchy nickname that will make him popular on midday talk shows and in barroom arguments (think Greedy Williams, another long, lean cornerback who has been slow to develop). But he must make several adjustments to his game at the NFL level. The upside is undeniable, but fans and coaches must brace for some rookie lumps, flags and toastings.
 

Playmaker Score: 514 Yards/Season, fifth among 2022 WRs.

London is the best pure route runner in this class. He combines crafty releases, changing speeds, head fakes and tight cuts at the end of his stem to both gain separation from cornerbacks and set them up on shorter routes. London is also tall, well built, useful in the screen-YAC game and one of the youngest prospects in the 2022 draft class: he doesn’t turn 21 until July.

Like many king-sized receivers, London lacks initial explosion, and he’s more of a gather-up runner than a pure burner. His blocking technique and tenacity are inconsistent, which could be a problem for a receiver who looks best suited to a McVay-Shanahan type offense. Playmaker Score is skeptical that USC's pass-heavy scheme inflated London's raw stats in 2021. 

If his route running translates to the NFL level, London could develop into a Tyler Boyd-type. London likely fell behind the Ohio State receivers on draft boards, at least temporarily when he did not work out at the combine.(Chris Olave and Garrett Wilson both performed very well). Where London gets drafted may hinge on how he performs at his personal Pro Day in early April.
 

Playmaker Score: 691 Yards/Season, third among 2022 WRs 

Williams transferred to Alabama in 2021 from Ohio State, where he was in danger of getting lost in the crowd among Garrett Wilson and Chris Olave. He exploded for 79-1572-19.9-15 last season, with some mammoth games against tough competition (7-182-2 in the SEC Championship versus Alabama, for example). Williams then suffered an ACL tear in the national championship game, which will obviously limit his 2022 value and hurt his draft stock, though he remains a likely first round pick. 

Williams looked a little like Jaylen Waddle in the Tide offense: blurry open-field speed, double-move capability in space, the explosiveness to beat defenders to the corner on jet sweeps. Two kickoff return touchdowns and an eagerness to throw his body around as a punt gunner add value. His “weaknesses:” a somewhat lean frame and unrefined contested-catch capability.

Had he remained in Columbus, Williams may have earned Terry McLaurin comparisons as a speedy tough-guy #3 receiver and special teamer. McLaurin turned out to be a versatile go-to receiver in disguise. Williams isn’t wearing any disguise. 
 

Stingley has elite cornerback traits but a nagging foot injury which is likely to scare many teams away from drafting him. 

Stingley recorded 6 interceptions as a freshman in 2019 but has played just 10 games in the past two seasons and underwent a procedure on his left foot in October. When healthy, Stingley drew comparisons to former LSU cornerbacks Morris Claiborne and Patrick Peterson due to his size, speed, fluid change-of-direction quickness and ball-hawking tendencies. But teams at the top of the draft board may simply be wary of drafting potential vaporware. 

We’ll know more after the Combine medicals and interviews: Stingley’s FO40 ranking could climb a few spots or drop way, way down.
 

Booth is a former 5-star recruit who dogged a big play/big mistake reputation early in his college career before becoming more reliable in his final season for the Tigers. 

Booth is well built and has talent to burn. He reads plays in front of him well and can blow up screens, reverses and passes in front of the sticks. He appears to be most comfortable in off coverage and underneath zones, though he can also body up bigger receivers in man coverage. His feet can get sticky when it’s time to turn and run downfield, however, and he could do a better job taking on blockers and laying off the dive stick against the run.

Booth is a prospect on the rise best suited for a team that allows its corners to work close to the line of scrimmage. He’ll see the field early in a nickel or dime role as a rookie but should develop into a solid NFL starter whose ball-hawking style will result in some turnovers.
 

Playmaker Score: 737 yards/season, 1st among WRs  

The Deebo Samuel comparisons are inevitable: Burks is a heavy-duty slot receiver who also sometimes lined up in the Razorbacks backfield. He’s a rumbling runner with the ball in his hands who can also sprint away from defenders in the open field. He also excels at making contested catches and can out-leap defenders along the sideline. On the downside, Burks lacks sudden quickness and rarely gets separation against SEC-caliber defenders in man coverage. Playmaker Score loves Burks’ production in the running game and the fact that he produced such a high percentage of the Razorbacks' receiving yardage.

Despite the high projected Playmaker Score and all the buzz, Burks has high boom-bust potential. His upside is a cross between a Deebo-like slot weapon and Mike Evans-like big boundary target. His downside could be a second-tier gadget specialist who needs to be schemed open. But that sweet upside makes Burks a likely first-round pick.
 

It’s unfair to compare Lloyd, or any other collegiate defender, to Micah Parsons. But boy howdy is it tempting! On the edge, Lloyd is explosive and bendy. At linebacker, he diagnoses plays immediately, possesses sideline-to-sideline range and is a capable open-field tackler. Lloyd can also handle standard linebacker coverage assignments, which should not be surprising for a converted wide receiver. 

Lloyd is too lean to be an every-down edge rusher and will take a beating if forced to tussle with interior offensive linemen too often in the running game, so the team that drafts him must scheme him up properly. In the wrong system, Lloyd could end up just another run-around athlete or undersized blitzer. But a team that can put him in space behind some burly defensive tackles on early downs and slide him to the edge on passing downs could end up with the best all-around defensive playmaker in the 2022 draft.
 

The safest cornerback prospect in this class: a three-year starter who racked up few stats (just two career interceptions, eight passes defensed) because he was rarely challenged. 

McDuffie flips his hips smoothly and can turn and run with any receiver. He’s effective in zone coverage and in “bail” technique (dropping toward the sideline with safety help over the middle) in man coverage. He diagnoses plays well and makes clean tackles when he allows short receptions in front of him. 

McDuffie isn’t as toolsy as Derek Stingley or Sauce Gardner, and he’s not Mr. Physicality in press coverage, but he’s NFL ready and should develop quickly into a solid starter.
 

An ornery bouncer of a lineman wide enough to wear a three-digit uniform number, Green played every position but center on the Aggies line in 2021. Guard may be his natural position: he’s quick-footed enough to drop the hammer on outside defenders when pulling or molly blocking, and pass rushers need two bus transfers to get around him. But Green could also play left tackle in a pinch. A safe pick for any team looking for a versatile road grader with good-enough athleticism and a nasty finish.

Playmaker Score: 617 Yards/Season fourth among 2022 WRs 

Olave was a vertical threat in a Buckeyes offense that also featured Garrett Wilson and top underclassman Jaxon Smith-Njiba in 2021. There were only so many footballs to go around, but Olave scored 13 touchdowns, often by getting open deep against defenses on their heels. 

Olave is an open-field glider who can eat up a cornerback’s cushion in off coverage and catches defenders flat-footed in deep coverage. He tracks over-the-shoulder catches well. Everything else is a mixed bag: Olave isn’t as effective on comeback routes as a speedster should be, won’t produce much YAC unless he’s already behind the defense and gets tossed around as a blocker. Olave's 4.39 second 40-yard dash at the combine didn't hurt his stock by any means, but it did not help as much as it could have: teammate Garrett Wilson outran Olave by one one-hundredth of a second.  

Olave has stratospheric upside but is a vexing prospect. Daniel Jeremiah compares him to Will Fuller, which fits: Fuller has spent five years scattering big games among long stretches of waiting for big games (plus injuries).

Olave fits best in the NFL as a vertical lid-lifter for a team that already has a big-armed quarterback and a 12-target-per-game go-to guy. Given ideal circumstances, he could have a DeVonta Smith-like impact as a rookie.
 

There are shades of the young Andy Dalton in Pickett’s game. Don’t snicker: Dalton threw 20 touchdown passes, led the Bengals to the playoffs and made the Pro Bowl as a rookie in 2011. 

Like Dalton, Pickett throws with great anticipation and touch, knows where to find his secondary receiver and runs well enough to escape danger and make the occasional positive play. As a four-year starter and “super senior,” Pickett is about as experienced and NFL ready as a college quarterback can be. 

Also like Dalton, Pickett is a low-upside prospect who lacks A+ arm strength or mobility. He also sometimes runs himself into trouble. Most troublingly, Pickett's hands measured just 8.5 inches at the combine, a historically low figure. Don't let DraftTwitter browbeat you into believing that it does not matter that Pickett's hands are at least a full half inch smaller than the traditional minimal threshold: it's one more suboptimal attribute for a prospect who isn't dazzling enough to afford very many of them. But there is plenty to like about him on film, and our QBASE projections are sure to love his four-plus years of experience and his 9.7 adjusted yards per attempt in 2021. 

Given an immediate starting opportunity for a team like the Panthers or Saints, Pickett could win a starting job in camp and quickly establish himself as a capable system quarterback. Malik Willis has the higher upside, but Pickett is more likely to be making headlines in September.
 

An FCS-level back-alley brawler with unrefined technique and some stiffness when changing direction, Penning truly shined at the Senior Bowl, where he provided soft-spoken soundbytes about building a gym in his family garage off the field but tried to start a few steel cage matches in pit drills on the field. 

Penning will never be the prototypical Pro Bowl left tackle, but he will be given a chance to develop into an effective starter somewhere on the offensive line, because coaches love a mauling finisher and will forgive the rest. 

Hall is a toolsy, yoked-up-but-undersized prospect who projects as either a 3-tech tackle or a 5-tech in a two-gap scheme. The Cougars stuck him over center a little too often, and the 260-pound Hall didn’t stand a chance against double teams. Given one-on-one blocks or a gap to penetrate, Hall demonstrated great quickness, the ability to disengage and a relentless style, generating many of his 6 sacks and 13.0 TFL in 2021 by careening from blocker to blocker until he reached his target.

Hall may need to beef up by about 15 pounds to be anything more than a rotation tackle at the NFL level. If he can add weight without losing quickness, his athleticism and tenacity will make him a dangerous interior disruptor. 
 

Travis Rating: 1794, 1st among 2022 TEs 

McBride checks all the proverbial boxes. He can make over-the-shoulder catches like a playmaking wide receiver, has the footwork of a crafty possession receiver off the line, and blocks slightly better than the average tight end prospect (in other words: not all that well but not disastrously). 

There’s no Kyle Pitts-like A+ quality to McBride’s game, but he caught 90 passes and ended up the focal point of the Colorado State passing game in his final season. McBride could be capable of Zach Ertz-level production down the line. As a rookie, he does everything well enough to see the field right away.
 

Ojabo was born in Nigeria, moved to Scotland with his family in 2007, came to America for high school, did not play football until his junior year and barely saw the field for the Wolverines until 2021, when he exploded with 11 sacks and five forced fumbles.

If you read that last sentence and thought, “ah, a raw, inexperienced defender with a tremendous athletic ceiling” then you could write the rest of this capsule. Ojabo has better burst and bend than lauded teammate Aidan Hutchinson, though he’s not as big, strong, experienced or refined.

Ojabo tore an Achilles tendon during Michigan's Pro Day in mid-March. It's obviously a blow to Ojabo's draft stock, but not a crushing one. Before the injury, he projected as a pure edge rusher who could play on 3rd-and-15 right away but needed a long onramp to become an NFL starter. Some team will draft Ojabo for his athletic upside and redshirt him. Before the injury, that team might have selected in the mid-teens. That team is now more likely to select in the late 20s. 
 

Brace yourself for Jamal Adams 2.0!

Pitre, who recorded 28.5 tackles for a loss in the last two seasons and forced three fumbles in 2021, blitzes off the edge like a blowdart and is sudden and explosive when blowing up plays in front of him. Pitre’s open-field acceleration is remarkable, allowing him to come from nowhere to break up passes underneath or make a tackle immediately after the catch.

Oh, but where to play him? Pitre is 200 pounds after a buffet breakfast, making him too lean for a traditional box safety or linebacker role, while playing him deep will negate his best attributes. “Positionless defender” or “Swiss Army Knife” sounds great until a defense is tying itself in knots to blitz a safety off the edge 15 times per game, the way the Seahawks do with Adams. Tyrann Matthieu is marvelous, but there is only one of him, and two teams moved on from him because of the difficulty of tailoring a role for him.

Draft Twitter is gonna love Pitre because of his athleticism and sizzle reel, and Pitre will be drafted in the first round. But a team needs to play lots of “heavy nickel” to make the most of him. In the wrong system, Pitre could be just another speedy-but-ordinary guy in the secondary. But in the right environment: watch out.
 

Winfrey was the biggest star of Senior Bowl week. He looked like Aaron Donald in Mobile, where he was unblockable in drills and an amped-up presence in between them. That’s not an Aaron Donald comparison, mind you: just a statement of how impressive he looked.

Winfrey slid all over the Sooners line but is a natural 3-tech at the NFL level. He’s lean and a little high-cut for the interior line but wins with a sudden first step, outstanding play strength and the ability to get skinny and knife into the backfield. He also hustles in pursuit and will log a few clean-up sacks.

Winfrey is a prospect on the rise who may have been overlooked somewhat pre-Mobile because he didn’t play for one of the SEC defensive powerhouses. Given a chance to settle into one role with a strong supporting cast, Winfrey could grow into a special player.
 

Johnson played left guard and left tackle for Boston College but has been working on snapping in the offseason (famously taking reps in a downpour after Senior Bowl practices), so his future may be at center. Excellent short-area quickness will make Johnson an ideal interior lineman in schemes that either emphasize zone blocking or pull-trap concepts. He’s strong enough at the point of attack to play anywhere along the offensive line, and he’s a fiery finisher. 

Johnson absolutely destroyed the combine: great workouts (including a position-high 32 benchpress reps and a 7.38-second 3-cone drill) and tremendous interviews. No player did more to help himself during the pre-draft process than Johnson. We originally thought that Johnson would fall to a center-hungry team like the Cardinals or Bengals. It's no longer clear that he will remain on the board that long. 
 

Wyatt was part of the best, deepest defensive line rotation in the nation, one which also featured Jordan Davis, Trayvon Walker, top underclassman Jalen Carter and a revolving cast of edge rushers. Wyatt was often the quickest defender off the ball among that group, which says a lot. 

Size and an explosive first three steps will make Wyatt a likely first round pick, but the rest of his game is unrefined: his top pass rush move is “be stronger and quicker than blocker,” and he’s neither a UFC-worthy hand fighter nor an ideal anchor against double teams. 

Pencil Wyatt in as a rotation tackle to start his career, but he has the traits of a Pro Bowl caliber 3-tech or as a down lineman in a two-gap scheme.

Walker has outstanding supplemental skills for a defensive lineman. He can play 3-tech or the edge. He sets the edge well as a run defender, often rocking tight ends backward with a jolt, and locates the ball quickly on play fakes and options. He drops into coverage effectively (and frequently) and hustles in pursuit. Walker is the guy who will blow up screen passes, sacrifice himself on stunts and deliver cleanup sacks when the quarterback is spilled from the pocket.

Walker is not the guy who will lead an NFL team in sacks. He lacks blue-chip edge-rushing athleticism, size and brute strength, and his pass rushing moves are rudimentary. He can line up inside in a NASCAR package at the NFL level, but he’s not big enough for every-down use as a 3-tech.

Walker has Day Two film but is getting first-round buzz: some coaches and evaluators just love a lineman who hustles and does the little things well. We’ve heard Rashan Gary comparisons, and we can see it. Just remember that it took two full seasons on the Packers bench for Gary to blossom into the 9.5-sack standout we saw in 2021.
 

Playmaker Score: 425 Yards/Season, seventh among 2022 WRs.

Dotson is a lean, slippery receiver who produced some mammoth games in 2021: 11-127 with a rushing touchdown against Ohio State, 11-242-3 against Maryland, and so on. He works well in traffic, finds holes in zones, can adjust to haul in bad balls and provides some YAC ability. But lots of Dotson’s production came from slip screens, sometimes from quads formations: he’s not a precise route-runner or size-speed marvel. He’s also entering the draft after his senior season, and Playmaker Score is wary of an over-aged prospect from a high-volume dink-and-dunk system.

Anyone looking for (oh boy, here it comes) the Next Deebo Samuel will be disappointed in Dotson. Teams looking for a more traditional safety valve who can hoover up short underneath routes – think Jameson Crowder, but with greater big-play ability – would be happy to land Dotson in the late first or early second round.
 

Few prospects helped themselves as much as Muma at the scouting combine. He won the bench press among linebackers with 27 reps and finished among the top five at his position in both jumps, the 3-cone drill and the 20-yard shuttle. As a WAC prospect who shined against midmajor competition, Muma needed outstanding workout results to confirm his tape.

Muma, a converted safety, has effortless open-field speed for a 239-pounder and great burst off the edge. He’s quick-footed in coverage and uses his hands well to disengage from blockers and sift through traffic versus the run. His pure athleticism shows up all over the stat sheet, from pick-6’s to blocked kicks. The only true negative on his tape is that he’s stiff-hipped: he’s not an ideal wide-open-space Will linebacker at the NFL level, and Christian McCaffrey-types will jitterbug past him in coverage or after the catch. 

Limitations aside, don’t be surprised if Muma gets drafted early in day two and has a Nick Bolton-like impact as a box defender as a rookie.
 

Hill, a slot corner/safety hybrid, was a rock star at the scouting combine: a 4.38 second 40-yard dash; position-high results (for safeties) of 6.57-second 3-cone drill and 4.06 seconds on the 20-yard shuttle. The numbers suggest an outstanding closing burst, and it’s obvious on film: slot receivers and tight ends gain a step on him in coverage only to lose that step when the ball is in flight, and Hill reacts and closes quickly on the ball in underneath coverage. He’s alert, speedy and physical when dealing with bubble screens and other trips-formation chicanery.

Hill is long-armed but lean, and he can get out-positioned and out-jumped by taller receivers. He sticks his nose in the hole as a run defender but can get pummeled by bigger blockers. He’s a drag-down tackler. Hill will have to be schemed at the NFL level as a more-or-less full-time slot cornerback who plays outside in a pinch. But that sort of “specialist” ends up on the field for 75% of snaps these days, and Hill has a combination of athleticism and instincts which should keep him in the NFL for a long time.
 

Mafe was one of the biggest winners of the pre-draft process. He entered Senior Bowl week as a toolsy late bloomer with Day Three buzz. He impressed during the week with both his one-on-one pit drills and his high-energy demeanor between reps, then recorded two sacks in the game itself. He kept up the momentum going with impressive scouting combine and Pro Day workout results.

Mafe's length, quick get-off and pure speed made him an effective pass rusher from a two-point stance in his senior season. He was also active in pursuit down the line of scrimmage and down the field, and he began to demonstrate some creativity when using his hands and multiple moves to defeat blockers. Mafe's point-of-attack run defense was lacking, however, and he needs to work on anchoring and disengaging from blocks. He was a sacks-in-bunches type who had quiet games against the Ohio State and Iowa offensive lines.

Mafe is a late bloomer with yet-to-be-tapped athletic upside and an outstanding off-field character reputation. He projects as a high-effort complementary edge rusher at the NFL level. but he could be much more if he continues to demonstrate the growth we saw from the 2020 season through the 2022 pre-draft cycle. 

Brisker was a three-year regular and two-year starter for the Nittany Lions after making the jump from juco. He’s a versatile multi-purpose safety who plays the run well, can handle most tight ends in man coverage and has the instincts and range to play deep. Run defense may be his best attribute, making him a likely fit as a strong safety at the NFL level: Brisker reacts quickly to action in front of him, sheds blockers effectively and can deliver a thud. 

Brisker isn’t an all-around marvel like Kyle Hamilton and his film isn’t as flashy as Jalen Pitre’s, but he’s a natural safety with experience and physicality who should quickly step into an NFL starting role.
 

Johnson was not highly recruited out of high school but landed with Georgia after bulking up at the juco level. He got lost in the crowd in a very deep defensive line rotation with the Bulldogs (See: the rest of the FO 40) and transferred to Florida State in 2021, where he exploded for 11.5 sacks and 17.5 tackles for a loss.

Johnson possesses a quick inside move and has the upper-body strength to swat blocks away. He’s good at locating the ball, shuffles his feet in run defense and pursues plays down the line of scrimmage in run defense. Jackson isn’t explosive off the line and can look almost sluggish in his first two steps, but he generates his share of Working Man sacks by hustling after scramblers or winning with sheer persistence if the quarterback holds the ball too long.

Johnson is one healthy notch below the top edge rushers in the 2022 class based on pure athletic upside, but he projects as a solid complementary pass rusher and max-effort run defender.
 

Cine was one of the top performers at the combine, with a 4.37-second 40-yard dash and a position-high 133 inch broad jump. The workout results confirmed the film: Cine is a safety with a cornerback’s speed and agility, and the Bulldogs often trusted him in man coverage against SEC wide receivers. Cine has quick hips when turning to run in coverage, great vision when playing deep and can stop a running back in his tracks if he delivers a clean hit. 

Safeties for outstanding defenses can be tricky to evaluate. Cine spent a lot of time watching the rest of the Bulldogs defense mop up plays in front of him, and he rarely had to cover receivers for very long. He also rarely produced game-changing plays, but that may simply be because few were left for him to make. 

Overall, Cine will be a safe draft selection, whether late in the first round or in the second. At worst, he’ll be a sturdy free safety who can match up against taller slot receivers and tight ends.
 

One of the standouts of Senior Bowl week, Jones is a king-sized 1-tech earth mover and run stomper. There’s nuttin’ fancy about his game except a sneaky swim move that he sometimes uses to toss pass protectors aside. Otherwise, it’s widen the base, lock the arms, drive the blocker backwards and disengage if the ballcarrier enters his phone booth. 

Jones was a mastodon in Senior Bowl pit drills, rocking major-program blockers backward, and he ate up double teams at the AAC level. Jones will slide until the middle of Day Two because run stuffers aren’t in high demand, but he’ll start in the NFL for a long time.