One year isn’t enough time to reach a verdict on a rising NFL player’s career. It can tell us who’s probably going to be pretty good, however.
2022 was the backdrop to some breathtaking rookie campaigns. Ahmad “Sauce” Gardner took the defense that helped push Cincinnati to a College Football Playoff and immediately became a shutdown cornerback for the New York Jets. Aidan Hutchinson and Kayvon Thibodeaux each looked like the kind of edge rushers who’ll torment opposing tackles for the next decade. Kenny Pickett avoided catastrophe long enough for the Pittsburgh Steelers to win games around him.
We also had some high profile picks pepper an inauspicious start with moments of brilliance. Some vaunted Day 1 picks might not find their NFL gear until 2023, 2024 or later. Others might not get there at all.
It’s far too early to declare anyone a bust, but it’s never too soon for a theoretical re-draft. If we were re-selecting every player from the 2022 rookie class based on a combination of their NFL performance and their collegiate potential, what would that look like? Who’d climb up the draft board? Who’d be in danger of dropping out of the first round entirely?
Let’s take that first round the way it looked before the night-of trades that shaped its outcome and apply some hindsight. It’s great news for Texans and Lions — and less so for the now-dispersed draft hauls of the Jets, Seahawks and Patriots. Here’s how a year-after redraft shook out.