Going into the 2022 NFL draft weekend, many pundits expected at least three quarterbacks to be selected in the first round. More than a few believed the Detroit Lions would take Liberty QB Malik Willis with the No. 2 overall pick.
Yet when the dust settled on the first two days, Kenny Pickett from Pittsburgh wound up being the first QB selected at No. 20 overall. No other QBs came off the board until Atlanta chose Desmond Ridder with the 10th pick of the third round. The Cincinnati Bearcats QB was the No. 74 overall choice.
Willis had to wait even longer. He wound up being picked by the Tennessee Titans at No. 86 overall. Several QB-needy teams passed on Willis, Ridder and Matt Corral (No. 94 overall to the Panthers) multiple times.
It led to considerable consternation from fans and those in the draft media, specifically those who believed Willis was a top-10 overall lock. The NFL clearly saw things differently. Lions GM Brad Holmes spoke about the discrepancy between how Detroit and other NFL teams felt about the QBs and the pre-draft perception of media and fans.
“I think the quarterbacks were evaluated and graded as what they were evaluated and graded as,” Holmes said after Friday night’s third round concluded. “Look, in personnel, we can’t control how the media grades and evaluates and the outside people grade and evaluates. When quarterbacks are being tabbed as this, this, that, that and that by the outside narrative – and I’m not saying – often, the media, they have contacts in scouting and they’re talking to people in personnel, and if it is, it is.
I looked at the quarterbacks and I thought that they were taken where we thought they should have been taken, at least from our standpoint. I didn’t see it as they were being mistreated or not being taken fairly. I think they were evaluated properly.”
That’s a pretty blunt assessment. The Lions just didn’t feel like the quarterbacks, be it Willis or Ridder or Sam Howell, were talented enough to merit being drafted anywhere close to where fans and media largely expected them to be. It’s an affirmation of the near-universal consensus that this was not a good QB class. That narrative dates back a full year, so it shouldn’t be a surprise. Maybe we shouldn’t be surprised when the NFL buys into the narrative and doesn’t reach to destroy it.
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