2022 NFL mock draft: Combine, QB trades shake up latest 3-round projections

See how the NFL Scouting Combine, as well as recent blockbuster QB trades, impact the early rounds of the 2022 NFL draft

It’s that time of year in the NFL world, where the entire landscape can change at a moment’s notice.

And we haven’t even reached free agency yet.

Russell Wilson and Carson Wentz are headed to new teams, while Aaron Rodgers is sticking with his old one. Franchise tags have been applied, and more rumors continue to swirl throughout the league.

After multiple trades that saw plenty of early picks change hands, here’s an updated look at how the first three rounds of the 2022 NFL draft could shake out:

Rookie Power Rankings: Cade Cunningham showing out for red-hot Pistons

Rookie Wire takes a look at the top first-year players over the last two weeks of the 2021-22 season.

With just over one month to go in the NBA season, teams around the league are looking to finalize preparations for the playoffs or look ahead to their offseason plans.

The league has seen several remarkable performances as of late with some rookie players joining in on the action. From Cade Cunningham to Moses Moody, the rookie class is reminding everyone that they could be perhaps the best in recent memory.

To make sense of it all, we took a look at the best recent performances of these first-year players and ranked them in the latest edition of the Rookie Wire Power Rankings. The rankings are not for Rookie of the Year purposes but, rather, to illustrate the best players week to week.

2022 NFL mock draft: How the Russell Wilson trade impacts the 1st round

See how the blockbuster trade for Russell Wilson could impact the first round of the 2022 NFL draft

The Seattle Seahawks have agreed to a blockbuster deal with the Denver Broncos, sending superstar quarterback Russell Wilson to the AFC West in return for a massive haul of both players and draft picks.

Assuming the deal includes Denver’s No. 9 overall selection, how could this impact the first round of the 2022 NFL draft?

Here are our updated projections:

NBA Power Rankings: Jayson Tatum leads surging Celtics up the standings

Rookie Wire took a look at the NBA through games played on Thursday and ranked each team from worst to first.

With the NBA well past All-Star Weekend, the playoff races have heated up with several teams jockeying for position in the standings during the final stretch run of the season.

The best players in the league have each stepped up for their respective teams. From Ja Morant to Jayson Tatum, with LeBron James also flashing a vintage performance over the weekend, fans have seen some extraordinary outings as of late.

To make further sense of it all, Rookie Wire took a look at the NBA and ranked each team from worst to first. We come back each week and provide our latest assessment on the best teams and those that are rising.

Biggest winners from the 2022 NFL Scouting Combine

Which prospects made the most of their trip to Indianapolis for this year’s NFL Scouting Combine?

The 2022 NFL Scouting Combine is officially in the books, and this year’s draft class showed off an incredible combination of speed and athleticism.

While there may have been a handful of players who didn’t quite live up to the hype this week in Indianapolis, the vast majority of the surprises were pleasant, as top prospects and sleepers alike made a positive impression on league scouts and decision-makers.

Who made the most of their trip to Lucas Oil Stadium this week?

Here are our picks for the biggest winners from this year’s event:

Who are the top former UNC players in NBA history?

The UNC men’s basketball program has produced an incredible number of iconic names. Who are the top former UNC players in NBA history?

Few programs have been more successful or produced more NBA players than the University of Carolina men’s basketball team. With seven National Championships and twenty Final Four appearances, the Tar Heels are a true collegiate powerhouse.

At the NBA level, UNC players have gone on to enjoyed immense success. Michael Jordan, of course, is the first and last word in Tar Heel greatness, but there are plenty of other players who made a splash in the Association after a stint on Chapel Hill.

The UNC men’s basketball team played its first season way back in 1910-11. Before both World Wars and a generation before the NBA came to be. In fact, they started playing hoops at UNC only twenty years after the sport was invented. Tobacco Road has long been a bastion for basketball.

Unsurprisingly, the list of former Tar Heels who went on to have successful professional careers is long and storied. Let’s jump and and assess who are the top former UNC players in NBA history.

Who are the top former Duke players in NBA history?

The best Duke Blue Devils in the NBA.

Duke men’s basketball has long been synonymous with greatness. It’s no surprise that some of the most prominent NBA stars were once proud Blue Devils before they turned pro. The Duke University men’s basketball program has produced some of the top players in the Association, past and present.

Former Dukies have gone on to become Olympians, NBA Champions, and perennial All-Stars. Head coach Mike Krzyzewski, who has been at the helm since 1980, deserves immense credit for the program’s success.

Dukies come in all shapes and sizes, but they almost always make an impact. In no particular order, who are the top former Duke Blue Devils in NBA history?

Jordan Davis sets Twitter ablaze with a 4.78 40-yard dash — at 341 pounds

Georgia defensive tackle Jordan Davis blew up the scouting combine with a 4.78 40-yard dash at 341 pounds. Twitter responses were just as quick.

Legendary coach Bill Parcells came up with the “Planet Theory,” in which Parcells posited that there are so few men both large enough and athletic enough to be NFL linemen that they are intrinsically valuable just standing there. During Saturday’s scouting combine drills at Indianapolis’ Lucas Oil Stadium, Georgia defensive tackle Jordan Davis extended the Planet Theory to its illogical limits when he lined up at 6-foot-6 and 341 pounds, and somehow ran an official 4.78-second 40-yard dash, with a 1.68-second 10-yard split.

To put that into perspective, at his scouting combine in 2017, Patrick Mahomes ran a 4.8 40-yard dash. People as large as Davis is should not be able to scoot at this level. People were flipping out at the unofficial 4.82 40-yard dash, and as it turned out, Davis got cheated a bit by the stopwatch.

The thing about Davis is that the speed and quickness shows up on tape.

Davis was also looking super-agile in the position drills.

As you’d expect, Draft Twitter had quite a bit to say about it.

NFL combine stats for Mahomes, Manziel, Tebow, other notable QBs

How did Patrick Mahomes and other notable QBs perform at the NFL scouting combine? We revisit the statistics.

The NFL Scouting Combine has become a key component of the draft process over the past few decades.

Hundreds of top college football prospects participate in the annual talent showcase each year in hopes of winning the attention of NFL scouts and talent evaluators by excelling in the 40-yard dash, bench press (225-pound repetitions), vertical jump, broad jump, three-cone drill, 20-yard shuttle run and 60-yard shuttle run.

Patrick Mahomes, Johnny Manziel, Baker Mayfield, Cam Newton and Tim Tebow are a few prominent quarterbacks that performed at the combine in recent years, although a handful of prospects skip the combine each year.

With that in mind, Draft Wire revisits the combine statistics of 17 notable quarterback prospects in recent years. Did their efforts help or hurt their draft stock? You be the judge.

[Source: NFL.com archived scouting reports]

Also see:
NFL combine: Top historical marks in each drill

NFL combine: Top 10 marks of all time in every drill

Who are the NFL’s ultimate workout warriors? Touchdown Wire compiles the best performances in NFL scouting combine history.

The NFL Scouting Combine has developed into the ultimate pro football talent showcase over the past several decades.

Prospects travel to Indianapolis looking to boost their stock for the NFL draft by performing in seven events: 40-yard dash, bench press (225-pound repetitions), vertical jump, broad jump, three-cone drill, 20-yard shuttle run and 60-yard shuttle run.

This year, 324 draft-eligible participants and top prospects are slated to participate in the combine as they hope to catch the eyes of talent evaluators from around the league. John Ross, Brandin Cooks and Byron Jones are just a few of the athletes who have dazzled scouts and raised their profiles at the combine in recent years.

With all that in mind, Touchdown Wire compiles the top 10 marks in each event in the history of the NFL combine below: