Category: 2022 NFL draft

The Vikings 2022 draft class has not gone the way Minnesota’s then-rookie GM hoped

The Vikings 2022 draft class has not gone the way Minnesota’s then-rookie GM, Kwesi Adofo-Mensah hoped, with the top two picks gone already

The New York Jets announced they have signed Lewis Cine to the team’s practice squad. Cine jumps to the Jets after the team that drafted the Georgia safety in the first round of the 2022 NFL Draft, the Minnesota Vikings, pulled the plug on the Lewis Cine experiment.

It’s a frustrating ending to the draft marriage between Cine and the Vikings, one that was quite positively viewed back at in 2022. A devastating leg injury ruined Cine’s rookie season, and he’s never recovered enough for the liking of Vikings defensive coordinator Brian Flores. Cine played in 10 total games in Minnesota, logging exactly one snap per game on defense. No other team claimed Cine on waivers this week.

Cine was the first-ever pick for Vikings GM Kwesi Adofo-Mensah, then a rookie general manager running his initial draft. Obviously, the injury to Cine was unforeseeable, but that whole first draft class from Adofo-Mensah in Minnesota has not gone as planned back in 2022.

1st round, S Lewis Cine: Waived at the 2024 roster deadline.

2nd round, CB Andrew Booth: Traded to Dallas earlier this summer. Two starts in 23 games over two seasons, 20 total tackles and one PD.

2nd round, OG Ed Ingram: Started 32 games at right guard and will continue to start for Minnesota.

3rd round, LB Brian Asamoah: Zero starts, plays almost exclusively on special teams

4th round, CB Akayleb Evans: Started 32 games and coming off a season where he notched 65 tackles, 7 PDs and forced three fumbles.

5th round, DT Esezi Otomewo: Waived after playing 89 snaps on defense as a rookie,

5th round, RB Ty Chandler: Ran for 461 yards and 3 TDs in 2023 while also catching 21 passes. He’ll be the No. 2 RB behind Aaron Jones in 2024.

6th round, OL Vederian Lowe: Traded during the 2023 roster cutdowns to the Patriots for a 2024 6th-round pick.

6th round, WR Jalen Nailor: 12 catches for 208 yards and a TD in 15 games thus far, though Nailor is poised to see the field more in 2024.

7th round, TE Nick Muse: Two offensive snaps in 2023, caught one pass for 12 yards in two years.

Ingram, Evans and Chandler ease some of the sting of those top two picks not working out, but teams that miss on premium picks are always at a major disadvantage. That’s been the development for Adofo-Mensah’s first draft class.

Two 2022 3rd round picks drafted next to each other get traded on the same day

Malik Willis and Cameron Thomas were drafted back-to-back in the 3rd round in 2022. Now they’re traded on the same day in 2024 after not panning out initially.

Flashback to the 2022 NFL Draft. In the third round of that year’s draft, the Tennessee Titans selected Liberty QB Malik Willis with the No. 86 overall pick. With the very next pick, the Arizona Cardinals tabbed San Diego State OLB Cameron Thomas in the third round.

On Monday, a day before the 2024 roster cutdown deadline, both players were traded away.

The Titans sent Willis to the Green Bay Packers for a 2025 seventh-round pick. The dual-threat gunslinger started three games in two seasons, completing 53 percent of his passes and throwing three INTs with no TDs. Willis also ran for 123 yards and a touchdown, while also losing three fumbles.

Thomas is now a member of the Kansas City Chiefs. The undersized pass rusher played in 32 games for Arizona, staying on the field for over 35 percent of the Cardinals defensive reps in 15 games in 2023. Thomas racked up 40 total tackles, three sacks (all in 2022) and a scoop-and-score fumble recovery. He was dealt for a future seventh-round pick; the year was not immediately specified.

David Ojabo’s status remains a mysterious ahead of Ravens second preseason game

David Ojabo’s status remains a mysterious ahead of Ravens second preseason matchup

David Ojabo missed Friday night’s preseason loss to the Philadelphia Eagles, as coach John Harbaugh said the pass rusher has still not been medically cleared to play.

That’s the bad news. The good news is that he hasn’t missed any practice at training camp thus far. One would assume that his return isn’t far away, but then again, you just can’t make assumptions about Ojabo’s health status.

The Ravens took a major flier on the pass-rushing specialist when they selected him in the second round of the 2022 draft, despite his suffering an Achilles tear at Michigan’s Pro Day.

Baltimore knew that his rookie season would ultimately be a redshirt, but he was healthy enough to appear in the final two games that season.

More injury calamity struck in 2023 when he suffered an injury in week three that was later revealed to be a torn ACL. There was hope that he might be able to return at some point last season, but he never did.

There was talk that he would be fully healthy again this spring, but then Ojabo wasn’t ready for minicamp and missed out.

With this kind of track record, it’s easy to be skeptical of any stated timetable for his return. However, Ojabo is a massively talented player, and his NFL story has yet to be written.

Hopefully, after two years of luck against him, he’ll finally see fortune in his favor. When healthy, he has all the potential to be a significant contributor to the team.

Michael Pierce believes Travis Jones will have a huge season for Ravens

Michael Pierce has pegged the guy directly behind him on the depth chart, Travis Jones, to have a very big season. 

Michael Pierce has pegged the guy directly behind him on the depth chart, Travis Jones, to have a very big season.

When you play nose tackle, you have to be utterly huge (Pierce is 6’0″, 355, while Jones is 6’4″, 338), and when you’re that big, you’re probably going to have to rotate quite a bit to avoid fatigue.

Every team needs two solid NTs, and the 31-year-old Pierce believes that Jones, 24, is developing into his complement.

“There’s been a lot of growth in Trav,” Pierce said after practice this weekend.

“He’s been making a lot of plays. I don’t mind splitting reps with him as I get older. To see that growth, to see him make those strides. I believe he’s going to have an amazing year for sure.”

Pierce, entering his seventh season in the league, is on his second stint with the Ravens. Other than 2021, when he was with Minnesota, he’s played his entire career with Baltimore.

His time with the Ravens has seen him rack up 199 combined tackles, 4.5 sacks, and six fumble recoveries.

While he started all 17 games last season, Jones started three contests as a rookie in 2022.

In 32 career games, “Big Trav” has accrued 60 tackles (34 solo, 26 assisted) and three passes defended. Taken in the 3rd round, 76th overall out of UConn two years ago, he has yet to hit his stride and reach his full potential.

However, the expectations were very high for him for a reason. There is no time like the present to live up to them.

Ravens DB Kyle Hamilton could play multiple positions again this season

“At Notre Dame I did a little bit of everything, but coming into the league I really didn’t expect to,” Kyle Hamilton said.

Baltimore Ravens safety Kyle Hamilton redefines the concept of “versatility.” He is indeed the proverbial Swiss army knife for this defense, led by new coordinator Zach Orr.

The term “position-less basketball” is trendy right now in NBA and college hoops, but what about “position-less football”- is that a thing?

In terms of Hamilton and the back half of the Ravens’ defense, yes, it truly is. The third-year defensive back played multiple positions in college, but he was surprised to be given various roles during his first two years in the league.

“At Notre Dame, I did a little bit of everything, but coming into the league, I really didn’t expect to,” Hamilton said.

“I more expected to play both safety spots and that would be the extent of my flexibility. But it’s been awesome.

“Monday’s meetings, come in, whatever they need me to do, play deep, play half, play down in the box, cover. Whatever they need me to do, I’m here for it.”

Utilizing the former Golden Domer as a deep half safety (sometimes referred to as a defensive halfback in some coverage schemes), cover-centric safety, nickel cornerback, or blitzing safety, Hamilton is a player who is just as likely to end up in an opposing backfield as he is the last line of defense on a deep ball.

His abilities and skill sets make it very hard for opposing offensive coordinators to scheme against.

This is why Orr called him the “ultimate chess piece,” with “defensive player of the year potential” back in May.

Take a look at this tweet from Ravens.com Editor Ryan Mink:

So, if you’re counting at home- that’s six different positions, all within the secondary and the linebacking corps, played by Hamilton.

If Orr really wants to make things interesting, maybe he could even line him up at the three-technique!

But not at nose tackle, according to his good friend and position group mate Marlon Humphrey.

“Kyle, he’s a man of his own,” Humphrey said on Tuesday.

“How he can go from safety to nickel, to play wherever. I always tell people if it had to be, Kyle could play every position on the defense except nose guard because he just can’t put on as much weight as Michael Pierce.”

 

Ravens pass rusher David Ojabo faces a make-or-break season in 2024

Baltimore Ravens Coach John Harbaugh strongly believes in third year edge rusher David Ojabo.

Baltimore Ravens Coach John Harbaugh strongly believes in third-year edge rusher David Ojabo.

“I think David is just gonna break out,” he said to reporters back in March.

Ojabo played his college ball at the University of Michigan under Harbaugh’s brother Jim.

Selected in the second round of the 2022 draft, the Ravens reunited the pass-rushing specialist with Mike Macdonald, his defensive coordinator at Michigan, in 2021.

Unfortunately, we’ll never know if MacDonald and Ojabo can replicate in Baltimore the success they had together in Ann Arbor.

After serving as Baltimore’s defensive coordinator for 2022-23, MacDonald is now the head man in Seattle.

Due to two serious injuries, Ojabo played in only five games in his first two seasons in the NFL.

The first major setback came in the spring of 2022 at the Michigan Wolverines Pro Day. Ojabo suffered an Achilles injury that was serious enough to cost him almost his entire rookie season.

Last term, he suffered a partially torn anterior cruciate ligament, which brought his second campaign to an end on September 30.

Obviously, his health is the number one factor determining his success or failure. He has the potential to become a star one day in this league.

The Ravens would not have looked past his Achilles injury and drafted him that high unless MacDonald and both Harbaughs truly believe Ojabo is the real deal.

They are not the only ones. ESPN rated him the fifth-best pass-rushing prospect in the class of 2022, with a SackSEER rating of 79.3%.

Not to mention that the Nigeria native (whom the league granted an international roster exemption in early May) was a measurable monster at the 2022 scouting combine. At 265 pounds, the second-team All-American outside linebacker ran a 4.55 in the 40-yard dash. He also posted a 35-inch vertical leap and a 10-foot, 2-inch broad jump.

In 2024, he will be expected to stay healthy and finally live up to that potential. The Ravens need their project pick from two years ago to provide the depth they need at the position.

Tyler Linderbaum has arrived after making a top 100 NFL players of 2024 list

Tyler Linderbaum may be the most unsung hero of the Baltimore Ravens.

Tyler Linderbaum may be the most unsung hero of the Baltimore Ravens. These days, centers often go overlooked, but Linderbaum is one of the NFL’s best at the position.

The Iowa Hawkeyes product has picked up a preseason accolade from CBS Sports.

According to Pete Prisco, the Ravens have seven of the top 100 players in the NFL entering 2024.

Linderbaum, who checks in at exactly No. 100, made the Pro Bowl last season and the PFWA All-Rookie Team in 2022. His early success in the league was easily foreseeable, given his tremendous achievements in college.

The Solon, Iowa native won the Rimington Award, given to the nation’s best center, his senior year. After losing to Linderbaum and Iowa, former Northwestern coach Pat Fitzgerald raved about him.

“He’s not a good player, he’s a great player,” Fitzgerald said to The Sports Bank, “With freakish athleticism (on his ability to reach the 3-technique from the center position) and his tenacity to finish.”

Like most of Linderbaum’s opponents in college, Fitzgerald also noted the star O-lineman’s wrestling background and how those skills have translated well to football.

Linderbaum was the Ravens’ first-round pick in 2022, going 25th overall. Thus far, he’s certainly living up to the high expectations accompanying him to the league.

And the best is still likely to come.

Vikings 2022 1st-rounder already on the roster bubble

Vikings 2022 1st-rounder Lewis Cine is already on the roster bubble in Minnesota

It’s an unfortunate fact of NFL life that not every first-round draft pick works out. Most of them get more of an opportunity than just 10 snaps in two seasons before a team moves on, but that might not be the case with the Minnesota Vikings and Lewis Cine.

Cine was the No. 32 pick, the final selection of the first round of the 2022 NFL Draft. After a fantastic career playing safety at Georgia, capped off with a tour de force performance in the Bulldogs’ national championship victory, Cine was a popular choice for the pick.

A devastating knee injury suffered in Week 4 of his rookie season robbed Cine of most of his first year with the Vikings. But Cine’s struggles began before that. The rangy safety had played just two defensive snaps in the first four games and was a healthy scratch in Week 1 — not exactly what the Vikings or their fans expected from their first-round pick.

Cine was healthy for 2023 but played in just seven games. More tellingly, the 24-year-old appeared on defense for just eight snaps, all in the Week 17 blowout loss to the Packers.

After being a healthy scratch for 10 games in his second year, Cine might not get a third in Minnesota. A recent minicamp report from ESPN indicates that Cine faces an uphill battle to make the Vikings roster in 2024.

During the practices open to reporters, Cine appeared to be no better than the sixth safety on the roster, if you include all-purpose defender Josh Metellus. Reserves Theo Jackson and Jay Ward, not to mention starters Harrison Smith and Camryn Bynum, were all working ahead of him. 

Cine’s first-round status just two years ago will almost certainly get him another look with another team, but it’s still quite a disappointing beginning to what seemed like a promising NFL career for Cine.

The 2022 NFL Draft is cemented as one of the worst quarterback classes in history

The ’22 draft class at quarterback has proven to be one of the worst ever

Looking back on the 2022 NFL Draft, the narrative going in was the mixed bag of a quarterback class. It was headlined by Pittsburgh Panther Kenny Pickett, Cincinnati’s leader in Desmond Ridder and the explosive Liberty quarterback Malik Willis. Fast forward to just two drafts later, and none of the top quarterbacks from that class find themselves in a starting role, and most of them find themselves hanging on a thread for their NFL career.

In just the past week, three of the quarterbacks from that class who opened the last season as their team’s starter found themselves shipped off to another team. Sam Howell, Kenny Pickett, and Desmond Ridder were all moved off in favor of a veteran or a future rookie draft pick.

The only reason this class will likely not be considered a total bust is, ironically enough, the final pick in the entire draft with former Iowa State quarterback Brock Purdy, who is coming off a Super Bowl appearance. It goes to show that the quarterback draft process can, at times, be a bit of a crap shoot. With top projected talents falling out of the first round, others quickly failing at the next level, and the ones no one ever expected becoming heroes of their franchise.

Kyle Hamilton: The road to becoming a consensus NFL All-Pro

When the Baltimore Ravens drafted Kyle Hamilton 14th overall, out of Notre Dame, in the 2022 NFL Draft, it was the perfect fit.

When the Baltimore Ravens drafted Kyle Hamilton 14th overall, out of the University of Notre Dame, in the 2022 NFL Draft, it was the perfect fit.

Hamilton, the best defensive back in college football that season, was heading to a franchise synonymous with defense.

Having previously boasted all-time elite defenders like Ed Reed, Ray Lewis, Eric Weddle, Lardarius Webb, and Terrell Suggs, Hamilton looked to be the next in line. After all, many considered the safety, who skipped his final year at Notre Dame to enter the draft, the best overall prospect, regardless of position, in that year’s draft class.

“Kyle Hamilton is an eraser,” said then-Notre Dame coach Brian Kelly.

“It’s hard to get (All-American candidate at Tight End) Mike Mayer the football when we go against him because we’re bracketing the inside backer with Kyle Hamilton and Kyle’s got him over the top, then we got him inside-out, so when you have that kind of player, who can take a player like Mike Mayer away, imagine what he can do to others.”

A consensus five-star recruit when he came to South Bend, he left having been a consensus All-America selection in 2021 despite being limited to seven games because of a knee injury.

Hamilton racked up 138 tackles and eight interceptions during his three years on the Fighting Irish roster. His Fighting Irish career saw him go from freshman All-American nickel back to starter and All-ACC to team captain and best overall player.

We’re seeing that same fast learning curve here in the pros. Hamilton played in 16 games his rookie season, starting four. He finished the 2022 season with 62 total tackles (46 solo), two sacks and five pass breakups. His exploits landed him on the PFWA All-Rookie team.

This past season, the son of a pro basketball player with a distinguished career in the European leagues took over as a full-time starter. In week three against the Indianapolis Colts, he tied the NFL and broke the franchise record for sacks in the first half of a game with three.

His stellar campaign landed him in the Pro Bowl, and he earned first-team All-Pro honors from numerous publications. So, with this kind of trajectory, where does he go from here?

We’ll cover that in part two of this post.