2022 NFL Draft | Winners & Losers on Day 1

Day 1 of the 2022 NFL Draft is officially in the books. An unconventional draft that started with eight teams holding multiple R1 picks--quickly turned into TRADE CENTRAL as multiple teams wheeled-and-dealed in a weak 2022 draft class.

In my YouTube pre-draft analysis, I revealed that I spoke with three executives, who all said this class was not strong. All three executives told me they only had 15-20 R1 grades and numerous trades should be expected, as teams scramble to find value in Day 1.

That wasn’t a lie.

Just an hour before festivities kicked off, I had 22 players with R1 grades and agreed with the execs that it was not only a weak draft class but the hardest to predict when predicting my mock…

Ryan Sakamoto @BEASTwriter

This 2022 NFL Draft has been the hardest for me to predict since 2015. This is a tough one this year. #BEASTwriter | #2022NFLDraft

Fast forward to today and I can proudly say, I once again beat all ESPN and NFL Network Mock Drafts for the second straight year (read article below).

2022 NFL Mock Draft: BEASTwriter beats ESPN & NFL Network Mock Drafts for 2nd consecutive year

But who were the winners & losers on Day 1? After all, this is what I’m known for as I always encourage you to save those BEAST receipts.

This is the first installment of a two-part series as we first address my top-3 winners on Day 1.

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• Winners | Detroit Lions, New York Jets, & Baltimore Ravens

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1. Detroit Lions | GRADE: A

Analysis:

The Lions struck gold early when the Jacksonville Jaguars opted for potential rather than production.

Something I predicted early on after knowing how GM Trent Baalke operates during my beat writer days covering him with the 49ers--no question in my mind that Baalke would roll with upside and versatility over a player with a higher floor.

Ryan Sakamoto @BEASTwriter

Travon Walker is a real possibility at No. 1. No surprise to many of us, if he indeed goes to JAX. Baalke favors his upside more than DE/OLB Aidan Hutchinson's high floor. If it was me--I would take Hutchinson. Cleaner prospect BUT covering Baalke during SF days, I can see TW.

The addition of DE/OLB Aidan Hutchinson instantly gives the Lions credibility from an EDGE presence. Everyone talks about his pass-rush arsenal but it’s his run-fit integrity that has me impressed.

I graded six games of Hutchinson in 2021 and this is my take on the Michigan product…

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BWF Scouting Report | 7.8

A fundamentally sound EDGE rusher, Hutchinson remains disciplined in his run-fit integrity while staying home. Rarely caught out of position, you can count on Hutchinson to be an asset vs the run. 

From a P/R perspective, Hutchinson displays rare get-off (timing) and has an arsenal of P/R moves in his tool box. He can convert speed-to-power, run the arch, rip, hand swipe, etc.

Ryan Sakamoto @BEASTwriter

My NFL comparison for EDGE Aidan Hutchinson is Ryan Kerrigan. That's not a knock on Hutchinson at all, Kerrigan was 4x Pro Bowler & led NFL in FF back in 2014. Both are not scheme-dependant but scheme-diverse & win leverage game. Rarely will you see outside shoulder covered up.

NFL comparison: Ryan Kerrigan

Grade: Top 10-15 pick in any given draft

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Lions trade up for WR Jameson Williams

The Lions weren’t done in R1. After securing Hutchinson--GM Brad Holmes doubled down on those gains by trading up to No. 12 with the Minnesota Vikings. The parameters of the trade are outlined below:

Lions Get:

• 1st-round pick (No. 12) | WR Jameson Williams

  2nd-round pick (No. 46)

Vikings Get:

• 1st-round pick (No. 32) | SS Lewis Cine

• 2nd-round pick (No. 34) | TRADED with GB for R2 picks (No. 53) & (No. 59)

• 3rd-round pick (No. 66) | ILB Brian Asamoah

The Lions clearly got the better end of this deal. While the Vikings played the ratio game--this is not the draft to do it (see Lewis Cine pick).

Detroit on the other hand, moved up 20 spots in the first-round to get my top-rated WR in this entire draft class while swapping second-round draft picks which yielded 12 spots of draft position.

Ryan Sakamoto @BEASTwriter

No one is talking about WR Jameson Williams because of his torn ACL but make no mistake, he’s arguably the best WR in this year’s draft and No. 1 on my Big Board out of WRs. #BEASTwriter | #RollTide 🐘

They also gave up a third-round pick but who cares in this weak draft class.

I understand the Vikings had needs:

• WR, TE, OG, OC, DE, CB, FS

BUT based on my mock draft and many others--the value to trade back in a depleted draft class for the sake of adding one additional pick in the third-round just doesn’t make sense.

Furthermore, realistically who would be a likely target at No. 32? Based on their needs above and my pre-draft mock, we knew all tier-1 WRs, tier-1 OG, tier-1 OC, and tier-1 CBs would be off the board.

The only remaining position of need worthy of a tier-2 selection is FS. Which ended up being FS Lewis Cine--go figure. We call this a NEEDS based pick. Proof is in the pudding.

The Vikings would’ve been better served to stay pat--select WR Jameson Williams, SS Kyle Hamilton, or even OG Zion Johnson. The value was far better than trading back.

One team came out winners (DET) and the other team came out losers (MIN).

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2. New York Jets | GRADE: A

Analysis:

GM Joe Douglas understands value coming from Baltimore Ravens GM Ozzie Newsome tree. He came out of day 1 as arguably the biggest winner of all 32 NFL teams.