NFL Draft 2022 Results: Winners and losers from Day 2
Day 2 of the NFL Draft had fewer fireworks than the night that preceded it, but a great deal of high-profile roster-building/management took place on the penultimate session of this three-night extravaganza.
Many of the top talents that slipped through the cracks during Day 1 finally found a home in the second and third rounds, and teams that didn't fill a specific need the first go-round were able to make things right on Friday night.
NFL Draft 2022: Cheer for some, gloom for others
Winners - Tennesee Titans
In trading away A.J. Brown the day before, the Titans could have signaled to the league that they would be looking to rebuild soon. They flamed out of the 2022 NFL playoffs in the Divisional Round after earning a top seed, and their prized asset, Derrick Henry, just suffered an injury that sidelined him for more than half of the 2021 season.
If the time is now to rebuild, Tennessee supplanted their No. 18 pick and Brown replacement, WR Treylon Burks, out of Arkansas, with a potential future superstar under center.
Malik Willis was the most impressive QB at the NFL Combine, yet his skill set was so undervalued that he fell from a projected top 10 pick down to No. 86 overall. The Titans got themselves a massive steal in Willis, so long as he shows that he didn't only dominate at the collegiate level because of Liberty's less-than-stellar opponents.
Losers - Houston Texans
Ignoring the fact that Texans head coach Lovie Smith is sold on Davis Mills as his QB1 in 2022 and did nothing to address the position, Houston made some head-scratching moves in the NFL Draft.
Giving up three picks to trade for a receiver coming off an ACL tear (John Metchie) was certainly interesting. If he never develops into a three-down back, moving up to take Christian Harris (also from Alabama) could prove unwise.
Winners - Carolina Panthers
While the Panthers didn't get a chance to draft Malik Willis with either the No. 6, or No. 94 picks, they selected one of the significant sleeper signal-callers whose stock has plummeted since the college football season.
Matt Corral was a Heisman favorite midway through the 2021 college football season. It led his team to wins over everyone in the SEC West (the closest thing to NFL competition in NCAAF) besides Alabama and Auburn. If it weren't for the right ankle injury that knocked him out of the Sugar Bowl, Senior Bowl, and NFL Combine, we might not be talking about Corral on the second night of the NFL Draft.
The Ole Miss product was a franchise-level QB with a few bad breaks at the most inopportune times. Carolina may reap the rewards of his misfortune.
Losers - Atlanta Falcons
History may again look back unkindly on the Falcons when it is all said and done, this time for choosing a QB who had very little fanfare relative to the ones they passed on in the third round of the NFL Draft.
With two picks in the round before the Titans went with Malik Willis at No. 86 and the Panthers went with Matt Corral at No. 94, Atlanta went with Desmond Ridder. He struggled mightily in his showdown with Alabama in the College Football Playoff.
That was the closest challenge Ridder faced concerning what he'll see in the NFL, and it showed that he was perhaps a work in progress still relative to a guy like Corral, who thrived in SEC West play, and Willis, who wowed at the NFL Combine. Time may not be too harsh for the Falcons eventually in hindsight, but the fact that many think it can be, including the 'Dirty Birds' fanbase, is damning on Day 2 of the NFL Draft.
Winners - Philadelphia Eagles
When Nakobe Dean started sliding down draft boards, many wondered whether or not something was going on behind the scenes that prevented the Georgia LB from being selected when he was supposed to.
There was a shoulder/pectoral injury that went unaddressed that caused him to slide so far. The Eagles were the team to finally put their foot down and give Dean an NFL home, and if he ever recovers health-wise, they may reap the rewards.
Losers - Minnesota Vikings
Truthfully, the Vikings did well to draft Andrew Booth Jr. with the No. 42 pick, but that's not why Minnesota ends up on the loser side as opposed to the righteous side.
Instead, Ed Marinaro puts them here because of his bizarre pre-selection rant that overshadowed Booth's moment and left people talking about his appearance for all the wrong reasons.