The 2022 NFL Draft is just a month away. To celebrate, our NFL reporters gathered for a virtual mock draft with each of them representing the team they cover. We encouraged our writers to trade picks to move up or down as they saw fit, and while many tried, no one succeeded. That naturally generated some strange outcomes, but that’s the thing about the draft, isn’t it?
To provide context and bring order to the proceedings, we invited The Athletic’s NFL Draft guru, Dane Brugler, to weigh in on each pick as it happened.
1. Jacksonville Jaguars: Aidan Hutchinson, Edge, Michigan
Greg Auman: The fundamental question is whether you’re better served helping Trevor Lawrence or his defense. The Jaguars have invested in Cam Robinson as a left tackle and have a three-year starter at right tackle in Jawaan Taylor, so we focus on the defense. Hutchinson will be their third first-round pick used on an edge rusher in four drafts, following Josh Allen in 2019 and K’Lavon Chaisson in 2020. Hutchinson had 14 sacks last fall for Michigan, so you’ll have a defensive counterpart to Lawrence, someone who comes in with the highest expectations, a headliner for a revamped Jaguars defense under new coordinator Mike Caldwell.
Dane Brugler: If the draft happened today, this is the direction I think the Jaguars would go. At the combine, most teams believed the Jaguars would draft either Hutchinson or an offensive lineman, likely Ikem Ekwonu, here at No. 1. But with the recent moves by Jacksonville, most notably the Brandon Scherff signing, Hutchinson has emerged as the clear favorite.
But don’t count out Georgia’s Travon Walker as a realistic possibility here.
