The NFL Draft

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The NFL Draft

Max MersmannJones

As senior prank lay siege to St. John’s college, the National Football League conducted its 87th annual draft. The draft is a monstrous product to consume as an outsider to the football world, and it hinges around a strange dichotomy. It is a spectacle, a three-day affair packed with legions of raucous fans, this year held on the Vegas Strip. It’s easy to get lost in the show, the multimillion-dollar broadcast in front of a Ferris wheel that changes color for each team pick and forget just how much of the draft is a display of our limited capacity for understanding. This is the reality: more hall of famers went undrafted than with the first overall pick. Altogether, NFL teams have sunk some millions of hours into finding the right players, desperately searching for some signal in a sea of noise. This is a powerful industry backed by billionaire owners and refined by the hard work of a hundred years of passionate minds. And yet, not a soul watching the draft knows the fates of the young men that make up a talented and deep 2022 rookie class. Some players seem like they can’t fail, like the gritty pass rusher Aidan Hutchinson, a defensive end out of Michigan who will stay put in Detroit after being selected second overall by the Lions. But the first pick of the draft, new Jacksonville DE Travon Walker, while an undeniably unique athlete with speed, strength, and size, has relatively little actual production despite playing on a historically talented Georgia defense. He is unproven despite his attributes. And what do you make of a generational talent like Kyle Hamilton playing a less valuable position at Safety? Hamilton is widely credited as one of the best players in this year’s class, but he fell to the Baltimore Ravens at 14 because talent and value don’t always align. Perhaps the best example of that divide was the historic fall of this year’s quarterback class. Quarterback is one of the most complex and difficult positions in all of sports, and modern football relies on the pass more than ever before. Still, this draft saw only one quarterback drafted in the first 74 picks due to a striking lack of reliable top end production from any of the eligible throwers. That slide allowed the Washington Commanders to pick up Sam Howell, a toolsy if inconsistent three-year starter out of North Carolina, in the 5th round. Yes, the NFL draft is a gaudy celebration of potentially generational talents, but it is also a subtle celebration of the unknown; a rare chance to revel in the mystery of the future without rushing right along to the final reveal.

We won’t see these rookies take the field until preseason in early August but the time for them to begin proving themselves starts now as they prepare themselves for the season. For the hometown Baltimore Ravens, there are 10 of these young men eagerly awaiting the season. In addition to Hamilton, Ravens General Manager Eric DeCosta selected Iowa center Tyler Linderbaum near the end of the first round. Linderbaum looks to be about as sure of a bet as the draft could bring, with an extremely high projected floor. While the young center is a solid addition to the team, QB Lamar Jackson vented frustration on twitter at the Ravens’ decision to trade away WR Marquise “Hollywood” Brown to the Cardinals, the trade that gave DeCosta the pick to select Linderbaum. The Ravens again found value in the second round, selecting an injured David Ojabo, a pass rusher projected to go in the early first round before suffering a torn Achilles in a workout before the draft. Filling out their board the Ravens found athletic defensive tackle Travis Jones, and a monster of an offensive tackle in the 6’8’’ 384-pound Daniel Faalele. The Ravens doubled up in later rounds, taking two cornerbacks and two tight ends, as well as a punter and a running back. Over their four-year rookie contracts, these players will weave their fates on the field at M&T Bank stadium — and their individual feats will determine the fate of the Ravens franchise to come.

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