This new section highlights which players have improved or worsened their 2022 NFL Draft stock as the draft approaches.
By Charlie Campbell.
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2022 NFL Draft Stock Up
Ahmad Gardner, CB, Cincinnati Gardner has put together a phenomenal 2021 season and is in the running to be the top cornerback prospect. While Gardner has been blanketing receivers and shutting them down on a weekly basis, LSU’s Derek Stingley has been out with an injury and barely played in 2021. Stingley also missed time in 2020 and essentially is a 1-year wonder living off his tremendous freshman season two years ago. Gardner has size, speed, athleticism, and ball skills. A good game against Alabama on Friday could help put Gardner over the top as a top-16 pick in the 2022 NFL Draft.
Aidan Hutchinson, DE, Michigan Momentum is a definite factor in the draft stock, so prospects and players can trend up and down at different points of the process. Hutchinson is definitely trending upward and some in the media are calling him the best player in the 2022 NFL Draft. According to NFL team sources, there is the feeling among some evaluators that Hutchinson could be a safer pick than Oregon’s Kayvon Thibodeaux even if Thibodeaux has more upside for the NFL. Regardless, Hutchinson will probably be one of the first players selected during the 2022 NFL Draft.
Daxton Hill, DB, Michigan Hill has impressed team evaluators this season, showing excellent cover skills as a nickel cornerback. Team evaluators say Hill’s tape is better at nickel than at safety, but they believe Hill will probably be a second-round pick next April in the 2022 NFL Draft. It would help Hill to show well in his safety snaps in the playoff game versus Georgia. Given the Bulldogs’ rushing offense, it will be a good opportunity for Hill to help himself while taking on elite competition.
Kenny Pickett, QB, Pittsburgh Pickett made some wise decisions to close out 2021. Playing in Pittsburgh’s bowl game offered him no upside and would only create an injury risk in a meaningless game. While Pickett won’t play in the bowl, he did accept his Senior Bowl invitation, and that was a wise move. Pickett could end up spending a week with the Lions or Texans coaching staff and help convince them to take him high in the first round.
NFL team sources say Pickett has excellent character, so the Senior Bowl interviews will give him an other opportunity to make that impression on everyone in the league. If he skipped the Senior Bowl, it would have been one less round of interviews to impress evaluators. After his dominant season, Pickett is the favorite to the first quarterback drafted, and his wise decisions has helped to improve those chances.
Calvin Austin III, WR, Memphis There was a stretch where the NFL was obsessed with big receivers, but in recent years, smaller speed receivers have become en vogue, with teams looking for big-play wideouts who can help rip off yards in chunks, and players with a quick burst eho can get open quickly for easy short completions. As a result, smaller and shifty wide receivers like Austin are getting drafted higher. The 5-foot-9, 162-pounder is a fast and elusive wideout. In 2021, he had 74 receptions for 1,149 yards and eight touchdowns. In the shortened 2020 season, Austin caught 63 passes for 1,053 yards and 11 touchdowns. Austin could end up getting second-day consideration for the 2022 NFL Draft.
Akayleb Evans, CB, Missouri After playing at Tulsa from 2017-2020, Evans showed that he could handle tougher competition during the 2021 season by playing well in the SEC. Evans totaled 28 tackles, an interception, six passes broken up and two forced fumbles in 2021. The 6-foot-2, 198-pounder has good size for the NFL, and he showed enough speed and athleticism to cover. Evans is a sleeper prospect who could end up being a nice value pick after the first round of the 2022 NFL Draft.
2022 NFL Draft Stock Down
Derek Stingley, CB, LSU Some team evaluators think Stingley is a boom-or-bust prospect for the NFL. They love some of the cover skills he showed in 2019, but Stingley had some streakiness and allowed some plays that he should not have. Stingley has dealt with injuries over the past two years and will enter the NFL as essentially a 1-year wonder. Stingley could end up being a mid-first-round pick rather than a top-10 choice given the boom-or-bust concerns.
Alontae Taylor, CB, Tennessee Taylor is a tough defender, but for the NFL, he could be short on speed and athleticism to play cornerback. In speaking with some team sources, they feel Taylor may need to move to safety. They like how he is gritty and physical defender, so they feel he could potentially make that move given his lack of speed and twitch. The pre-draft workouts will be important opportunities for Taylor to display speed and fluidity.
Kyle Hamilton, S, Notre Dame As we reported in the Hot Press, a director of player personnel told WalterFootball.com their team believes Notre Dame safety Kyle Hamilton should play linebacker in the NFL.
“I like Hamilton. He’s big, fast, and has ball skills,” said that director of player personnel. “I just don’t think his best position is safety. He is a little straight line and really doesn’t have safety instincts. All of his struggles are in space, which makes it a little difficult to be a great safety. He misses a lot of open-field tackles, and he isn’t great in man-to-man coverage.”
Hamilton is listed at 6-foot-4, 220 pounds, so many evaluators would consider Hamilton too tall for safety in the NFL. Taller defenders can lack twitch and have issues in coverage.
“He’s a tweener, sort of like Jeremy Chinn,” said the director. “Hamilton is probably best suited for linebacker, truthfully. He could play Sam linebacker in a 4-3, and Sam typically has more coverage responsibilities.”
At Hamilton’s size, more teams and coaches could project him to playing linebacker in the NFL. Hamilton’s position ambiguity will make him an even more interesting prospect for the 2022 NFL Draft, but being viewed as a tweener is harmful designation that could hurt how high he goes in the first round.
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