NFL Draft

The consensus of the 2022 NFL draft is that it's loaded with offensive and defensive linemen, and NFL Network's Daniel Jeremiah thinks Michigan's Aidan Hutchinson is the best of the class.

The draft analyst's first big board released Tuesday lists Hutchinson as the No. 1 prospect after he had a dominant senior season as a pass-rusher for the Wolverines.

The defensive end totaled 14 sacks in 14 games in 2021 and finished second in voting for the Heisman Trophy, helping to put the 6'6", 265-pound athlete in the running for the first overall pick in April.

Here is the top of Jeremiah's big board heading into draft season.

1. Aidan Hutchinson, Edge, Michigan

2. Ikem Ekwonu, OT, N.C. State

3. Evan Neal, OT, Alabama

4. Kyle Hamilton, S, Notre Dame

5. Ahmad Gardner, CB, Cincinnati

6. Kayvon Thibodeaux, Edge, Oregon

7. Nakobe Dean, LB, Georgia

8. Devin Lloyd, LB, Utah

9. Garrett Wilson, WR, Ohio State

10. Drake London, WR, USC

Someone who could cause debate in the coming months is Oregon pass-rusher Kayvon Thibodeaux, whom Bleacher Report's NFL Scouting Department lists as the No. 1 player in the class.

Jeremiah instead has Thibodeaux at No. 6, noting he "doesn't have ideal flexibility," while his effort against the run is "spotty."

There are also differing opinions regarding the top offensive lineman on the board. Jeremiah lists Ikem Ekwonu over Evan Neal, noting the former can become an Pro Bowl-caliber guard if he doesn't stick at tackle.

This draft is notably light on sure things at quarterback, with Jeremiah listing Pittsburgh's Kenny Pickett as the top player at the position at No. 18 overall.

No other quarterbacks were projected inside the top 32, although Mississippi's Matt Corral (34), Liberty's Malik Willis (35) and North Carolina's Sam Howell (36) are all close enough to give them first-round potential.

Pickett had the best 2021 season of the group, with 42 passing touchdowns and just seven interceptions in 13 games and a third-place finish in Heisman voting, but teams must determine if he can continue his production at the next level, including amid potential concerns about his hand size.   

Kenny Pickett knows he will eventually have his hands measured ahead of the 2022 NFL draft, but he chose not to go through the process during the Senior Bowl weigh-in and will instead focus on mobility stretches leading up to the NFL Scouting Combine next month at Lucas Oil Stadium.

He also believes that playing his collegiate football at Pittsburgh proved his hand size shouldn't be a significant concern.

"I think that's like the No. 1 thing for quarterbacks in the draft process every year is hand size," Pickett said Tuesday, per Eric Woodyard of ESPN. "The good news is that I play in Pittsburgh. Anyone that's been to Pittsburgh knows it's not the nicest place to play in October, November.

"So I've had experience playing in tough weather, and I didn't measure in this week. I just want to give the most measurement I can. I'm working on mobility things."

NFL Network's Tom Pelissero added more context to the quarterback's decision:

Few players improved their draft stock more during the 2021 season than Pickett, who was a Heisman Trophy finalist and completed 67.2 percent of his passes for 4,319 yards, 42 touchdowns and seven interceptions.

He led the Panthers to their first ACC championship by throwing for 253 yards and two touchdowns in the conference title game win over Wake Forest.

Pittsburgh finished with 11 wins and reached the mark for the first time since the 1981 campaign.

Pickett also timed his breakout campaign well considering this year's quarterback class is considered relatively weaker than those in years past. That means he could hear his name called fairly early in the first round if he impresses during the predraft process.

B/R's NFL Scouting Department listed the Pittsburgh product as the second-best quarterback in the class behind Cincinnati's Desmond Ridder on its big board on Jan. 7, while ESPN's Mel Kiper Jr. has Pickett as the No. 16 overall player in this draft.

Nobody has truly separated themselves in a quarterback class that includes Ridder, Pickett, Ole Miss' Matt Corral, Liberty's Malik Willis and North Carolina's Sam Howell, meaning every detail will be scrutinized ahead of April's draft in Paradise, Nevada.

Hand size is a major detail for quarterbacks, as NFL teams look for players who will not have fumble issues in poor weather, and Pickett's measurements will be firmly under the spotlight after he opted out of the process at the Senior Bowl.                

One of the talking points regarding Pittsburgh quarterback Kenny Pickett prior to the 2022 NFL draft is going to be his hand size after he skipped those measurements in Mobile, Alabama, at the Senior Bowl.  

But not everyone is reportedly concerned with Pickett potentially having hands on the smaller side for a quarterback. 

"I've talked to people in the league, and they don't seem that concerned about it," Mel Kiper Jr. said during an episode of ESPN's First Draft on Monday (7:48 mark). "Maybe some [have concerns], but the ones I've talked to didn't. But that will be much discussed."

On the field, Pickett flashed some fantastic tape in 2021, throwing for 4,319 yards, 42 touchdowns and just seven interceptions in 13 games, completing 67.2 percent of his passes. He also rushed for 233 yards and five scores. 

He led the Panthers to an 11-3 record and was a Heisman Trophy finalist. 

In what appears to be a weaker quarterback class, Pickett could emerge as the first quarterback off the board. The counterargument is that some teams might be put off by his reported hand size, the fact that he'll be 24 in June and his mediocre production before this past season. 

As Todd McShay noted Monday, Pickett "could have some of the smaller hands we've seen for an early-round QB prospect in quite a while. That matters for ball security, especially in bad weather."

McShay added, however, that the young quarterback "has pretty good velocity on this throws and a smooth delivery—and his foot agility in the pocket. Pocket mobility is one of Pickett's best traits."

In Kiper's latest mock draft Jan. 19, he projected Pickett to be the second quarterback off the board to the New Orleans Saints' No. 18 overall selection (he had Liberty quarterback Malik Willis going No. 11 overall to the Washington Football Team).

A number of teams in the first round surely will be scouting Pickett extensively. How they fall on the issue of his hand size will help determine where he comes off the board. 

And then there were two.

A single victory is all that stands in the way of the Lombardi Trophy for the Cincinnati Bengals and Los Angeles Rams after they defeated, respectively, the Kansas City Chiefs and San Francisco 49ers in the AFC and NFC Championship Games.

While Sunday's winners turn their attention toward the Super Bowl, the losers will join the rest of the league in draft preparation with April's event approaching.

Here is a look at the current order of selections, per Tankathon.

1. Jacksonville Jaguars

2. Detroit Lions

3. Houston Texans

4. New York Jets

5. New York Giants

6. Carolina Panthers

7. New York Giants (via Chicago Bears)

8. Atlanta Falcons

9. Denver Broncos

10. New York Jets (via Seattle Seahawks)

11. Washington Football Team

12. Minnesota Vikings

13. Cleveland Browns

14. Baltimore Ravens

15. Philadelphia Eagles (via Miami Dolphins)

16. Philadelphia Eagles (via Indianapolis Colts)

17. Los Angeles Chargers

18. New Orleans Saints

19. Philadelphia Eagles

20. Pittsburgh Steelers

21. New England Patriots

22. Las Vegas Raiders

23. Arizona Cardinals

24. Dallas Cowboys

25. Buffalo Bills

26. Tennessee Titans

27. Tampa Bay Buccaneers

28. Green Bay Packers

29. Miami Dolphins (via San Francisco 49ers)

30. Kansas City Chiefs

31. Cincinnati Bengals

32. Detroit Lions (via Los Angeles Rams)

Much of the analysis leading up to the draft will be about who goes No. 1. Unlike in recent years, the top pick is not a surefire thing with contenders such as Alabama's Evan Neal, Oregon's Kayvon Thibodeaux and Michigan's Aidan Hutchinson emerging at different times during the college football season.

There will also be plenty of breakdowns when it comes to the quarterback class given the overall importance of the position and its presumed weakness compared to the past couple of years.

However, the teams that were in the playoffs won't have the chance to draft Neal, Thibodeaux or Hutchinson, and many of them will not be in the market for quarterbacks such as Cincinnati's Desmond Ridder or Pittsburgh's Kenny Pickett.

Fortunately for the best teams in the league, there will be plenty of talented options near the end of the first round this year.

Mock drafts from B/R's NFL Scouting Department, NFL.com's Bucky Brooks and CBS Sports' Ryan Wilson have a number of noteworthy players going 25th or lower, including game-changing wide receivers such as Chris Olave, Jahan Dotson, David Bell and Garrett Wilson or impact defenders such as Nakobe Dean, Daxton Hill and Devin Lloyd.

The second half of the first round could belong to wide receivers even if some of those specific names may go earlier than the 25th pick (and do in some instances in those mocks).

There is no shortage of first-round talent between Treylon Burks, Olave, Dotson, Bell, Wilson, Jameson Williams and Drake London, which should leave at least a couple of pass-catchers remaining for the playoff teams looking for the extra piece that will make the difference between an early exit and the Lombardi Trophy.

Don't overlook the defenders either, as Dean helped lead Georgia to the national championship by flying around all over the field as someone who can stuff the running game, tackle in space and pressure the quarterback.

Hill also matched up with many of those top receivers such as Olave, Wilson, Dotson and Bell in the Big Ten, and the Michigan defensive back helped lead the Wolverines to a conference title and a College Football Playoff berth.

Don't be surprised when some of the NFL's best teams from this past season add starting-caliber playmakers near the end of the first round.

HEIGHT: 6'0 3/4"

WEIGHT: 206

HAND: 8 1/2"

ARM: 31 7/8"

WINGSPAN: 6'6"

40-YARD DASH: DNP

3-CONE: DNP

SHUTTLE: DNP

VERTICAL: DNP

BROAD: DNP

POSITIVES

— Smart player who plays with very good overall awareness and vision. Shows anticipation and quick reaction to get a good jump on the balls thrown.

— Good athletic ability and speed to run in coverage. Has the top-end speed to run with most receivers, along with recovery speed to get back in phase.

— Physical player who throws his body around. Delivers a blow on contact and sticks ball carriers for limited extra yards.

— Very good in run support. Fills running lanes quickly and with good angles, while also showing patience to allow plays to develop.

NEGATIVES

— Average ball skills, can get lost with the ball in the air at times.

— Average man-coverage skills. Struggles downfield at times and can get turned around and moved from his leverage.

— Shows stiffness and below-average movement when breaking down to tackle in space, which can lead to missed tackles.

2021 STATISTICS

14 Games, 96 Tackles, 5 TFL, 1 Sack, 2 INT, 9 PBU

OVERALL

Bryan Cook is an athletic safety who has the ability to play at all three levels. He shows to play with a high football IQ, and he has awareness in both the run and pass game. He has a smooth pedal with the ability to flip his hips to turn and run with receivers downfield. When playing in the short-to-medium range, he does a very good job of getting his head around to locate and play the ball. When in man coverage, he shows quick feet to get out of his breaks, though with above-average bursts, he may need a couple steps to get going. When playing the ball, he has good timing and ball skills to play through the reception point. When playing through the reception point, he has shown the ability to properly slip routes and make a play on the ball. Cook also shows the vision to see routes develop; along with the awareness and feel to play in underneath coverage. Although he has good speed, he can struggle at times when downfield. He tends to guess on deeper developing routes, leading to him getting turned around and out of position to play the ball.

When playing the run, Cook shows the best part of his game. He's a physical and active player against the run; he has shown the ability to play from deep, as well as in the box and close to the line of scrimmage. He has good quickness to beat blocks with speed, along with the physicality and strength to shock and disengage from ball carriers. Cook does a great job tracking the ball carrier with very good leverage, while also arriving with bad intentions on the tackles. A downfall for Cook in the run game is his open-field tackling. He can be rigid when coming to balance, allowing twitchier ball carriers to make a move on him and causing missed tackles. Ultimately, Cook is a very good safety with the ability to play in multiple schemes. A good, not great, player, he can definitely add depth to a room, with the ability to be a high-level backup down the road.

GRADE: 7.2 (High-Level Backup/Potential Starter — 3rd-4th Round)

OVERALL RANK: 91

POSITION RANK: S7

PRO COMPARISON: Jaylinn Hawkins

Written by B/R NFL Scout Cory Giddings

Notre Dame's Kyle Hamilton is unlike any other prospect in this year's NFL draft class.

Eric Berry is the last safety prospect to hear his name called among the first five draft selections. Eric Turner is the only safety to be selected in the top three since 1990. The position isn't usually held in such high regard. A special talent is necessary to enter such lofty territory. 

Hamilton has an excellent chance to reset both of those counters despite his positional value. In that regard, he'll join names like Quenton Nelson and Kyle Pitts, whose value as prospects superseded traditional norms. These talents are unicorns. They're so gifted and unique relative to their position that their abilities can't be overlooked when teams consider other top prospects at premium positions. 

Nelson, who dominates at left guard, has been named to the first- or second-team All-Pro squad in each of his four seasons. Kyle Pitts fell just short of the rookie record for receiving yardage by a tight end with 1,026 yards.

Some talent is simply too good to pass up, even when others make more sense from a conventional standpoint. 

Everything starts with the defensive back's imposing frame. At 6'4" and 220 pounds, very few safeties look like Hamilton. For comparison, Kam Chancellor, who served as the game's premier strong safety for years during the Seattle Seahawks' heyday, came into the league at 6'3" and 231 pounds. 

The 6'4", 238-pound Isaiah Simmons converted to linebacker after becoming the No. 8 pick in the 2019 draft class. The Carolina Panthers also had Jeremy Chinn (6'3", 220 pounds) start his professional career at linebacker before bumping him back to safety. The Los Angeles Chargers' Derwin James is a do-it-all defender at 6'2" and 215 pounds. The Minnesota Vikings' Harrison Smith has a similar build. These examples should be considered outliers as the upper percentile in size for the position. 

What separates those mentioned from other big safeties who are basically old-school, in-the-box types is their athleticism and versatility to be used as a defensive chess piece instead of being boxed into one specific position. 

In Hamilton's case, his range is absurd for a player his size thanks to impressive closing speed and lower-body explosivity.  

"His top-end GPS speed has improved from last year to 21 miles per hour," The Athletic's Bruce Feldman noted when ranking last year's top collegiate athletes for the 2021 season, where Hamilton came in third overall. "His vertical is 41-7 and his broad jump is 10-8." 

Like other big defensive backs, the consensus All-American can struggle slightly when covering smaller, quicker receivers out of their breaks. However, his current skill set translates well to the next level, as Bleacher Report scout Cory Giddings detailed: 

"[Hamilton] has the man-coverage ability to defend all types of threats—from the bigger tight ends, to the shorter traditional slot receivers. Although he can play in all schemes and coverages, he does some of his best work when he drops in underneath coverage. There, he does a great job of reacting to what he sees. He anticipates routes and uses his length and short-area quickness to get his hands on passes.

"Hamilton is a great blitzer who uses his hands well to take on and control blockers. On top of his physical stature, he is a hard-nosed tackler who throws his body around, delivering massive blows to ball-carriers all over the field.

"He will continue to fill out his frame, which might eventually look even more like a linebacker than a defensive back. Notre Dame employed him very similarly to how Clemson used Isaiah Simmons. It's logical that's how he will be used as a pro."

Hamilton is the complete package as a hybrid defender capable of playing in the box, blitzing quarterbacks, covering the slot and switching between both safety spots. Prior to a knee injury Hamilton suffered on Oct. 23, he allowed the lowest passer rating in coverage of any safety since the start of the 2019 campaign, per Pro Football Focus. His value based on a multifaceted skill set should allow him to skyrocket up draft boards and into the top-three conversation, particularly in this class. 

The 2022 draft will be defined primarily by the defensive talent found near the top because of a weak incoming quarterback crop. Yes, the Jacksonville Jaguars are likely to select an offensive tackle with the No. 1 selection as a premium bodyguard to protect last year's top pick, quarterback Trevor Lawrence. From there, Hamilton will be in play. 

The Detroit Lions may lean toward a defensive lineman such as Michigan's Aidan Hutchinson—a home-state product—Oregon's Kayvon Thibodeaux or Purdue's Georgia Karlaftis. However, the edge class is counted among the draft's deepest and the team already features the Okwara brothers as a pass-rushing tandem. Besides, one of the team's starting safeties, Tracy Walker III, is a pending free agent. Hamilton can immediately become a defensive centerpiece capable of contributing at all three levels. 

If the Lions pass, the Houston Texans could be waiting. General manager Nick Caserio basically stripped his roster down to the studs this past season. Safety Justin Reid is set to enter free agency, while the team can release Eric Murray this offseason and save $5.2 million. 

The New England Patriots and those who have spun out of that organization—like Caserio—have routinely placed a heavy emphasis on the safety position in the modern game, because a multifaceted defensive back allows coordinators to match up with offenses better without substitutions. Hamilton can immediately step in as an instant impact defender and leader on that side of the ball. 

At No. 4, the New York Jets' secondary still isn't right since the organization traded away Jamal Adams. Marcus Maye is set to leave now, as well. The idea of trading away a high-end safety prospect just to draft another may seem counterintuitive, but the Jets own the league's 30th-ranked pass defense and severely lack talent on their back end. 

Maybe the New York Giants get lucky and Hamilton tumbles all the way to the fifth spot. New general manager Joe Schoen has the luxury of having a pair of top-10 picks at his disposal. He could easily select a high-end defender like Hamilton, which would allow him to replace Jabrill Peppers, who is a pending free agent. Schoen could then use the 20-year old in a rotation with Xavier McKinney and Logan Ryan until the latter's contract ends after the 2023 campaign. 

In Hamilton's case, his standing is further buoyed by the fact that the rest of the safety class lacks quality depth. Aside from Penn State's Jaquan Brisker, who B/R has ranked as a fringe first-round prospect, the position group doesn't feature many quality prospects—only eight counted among the site's end-of-season Top 150. 

Financially, such a move makes sense for all of these teams. 

Last year's contracts between the second and fifth overall selection ranged from $30.8-35.2 million (fully guaranteed) in total value. Before any moves are made this offseason, Hamilton would barely crack the top-10 highest-paid safeties even if he went No. 2, though a full guarantee would place him among the top three. Expectations are for him to become one of the NFL's best safeties in short order. Those amounts aren't too much to pay.

As for the previously mentioned injury, it shouldn't be considered a long-term issue when weighing such an investment. 

"The injury itself is generally a six-week injury, so there was some meniscus involvement, but that is no longer an issue," previous Notre Dame head coach Brian Kelly told reporters in November. " ... This is much more about the healing around the knee itself, and there’s no structural damage at all."

According to Kelly's timeline, Hamilton should already be fully recovered and ready for the predraft process, which should include workouts at the NFL combine and Notre Dame's pro day. 

Considering Hamilton will be only 21 years old throughout his entire rookie season, his growth potential—both physically and mentally—is immense. 

Positional value is important when all things are considered equal. That said, Hamilton has no equal in this class, at least among his position. His traits are certainly rare and well worth a significant investment near the very top of the 2022 NFL draft. 

Brent Sobleski covers the NFL for Bleacher Report. Follow him on Twitter, @brentsobleski.