| Last year’s NFL Draft was set up as a big old quarterback party. This year’s is setting up QBs to get annoyed, pestered, harangued and attacked. In 2021, it seemed everyone tried to grab their figurehead for the future. This time the overwhelming point of focus is trying to snatch talent capable of disrupting everyone else’s offensive leader. Cast your mind back 12 months and recall that the top end of the annual selection extravaganza saw QBs taken with each of the first three picks. It included a predictable Trevor Lawrence and Trey Lance, who the San Francisco 49ers dropped a treasure trove of assets to acquire. Zach Wilson, Justin Fields and Mac Jones all came off the board and no one wanted to talk about any other position. It felt like all quarterbacks, all the time. This year, it doesn’t. At least, not quite the same. It is still all about the signal-callers, but it is largely about how to defray and dismember the skills of other team’s stars rather than how to add to their own. It is going to look different this time around, and not just because Roger Goodell will be doing his thing from a stage set in the middle of a Las Vegas lake. The early stages of the draft are going to be laden with a booming crop of pass rushers, coming out of college hellbent on laying their hands on some of the elite QBs in the league. If we can’t upgrade at the most important position — the thinking leans — let’s try to blunt the impact of whoever is standing across from us. Which is why physical monsters Aidan Hutchinson and Travon Walker top most predictions for the first overall pick, each with the skill, strength and footwork to turn life at the line of scrimmage into a nightmare for those facing them. Hutchinson finished second in the Heisman Trophy voting following an outstanding senior year at Michigan, while Walker, out of Georgia, has vaulted up many boards due to his versatility, which includes superior ability to defend the run. “Any team that’s looking to draft a player, they’re really going off of three things,” Michigan head coach Jim Harbaugh said on “HUTCH,” a podcast that dove deep into Hutchinson’s story. “They’re going off talent — which is production, intangibles, and measurables. They’re going to be looking at a guy who checks every one of those boxes.” Walker is now the betting favorite, however, priced by FOX Bet at -250. It would be a surprise if Florida State’s Jermaine Johnson, Oregon’s Kayvon Thibodeaux and Purdue’s George Karlaftis do not also generate strong early interest, and it is possible that as many as seven pass rushers could find themselves shaking hands with the commissioner on opening night. There is some copy-cattery at play here. Sure, everyone talks about how the last two Super Bowl champions got over the hump in the same season that they picked up a new superstar quarterback (Tom Brady and Matthew Stafford). However, it should also be noted that those teams were bursting with firepower in the pass rushing department, too, factors that were of monumental importance when it truly mattered. Remember how Patrick Mahomes was hassled beyond belief in Super Bowl LV? Or how Joe Burrow got sacked seven times as the Cincinnati Bengals fell just short against the Rams? Thursday is going to be the kind of draft-watching experience where you see lots of images of quarterbacks being sent to the turf, instead of montages of highlight touchdown throws. Indeed, there is no major buzz about any of the young men under center. Kenny Pickett, Malik Willis and Matt Corral could be forgiven for feeling slightly irked at the widespread disrespect conferred upon this year’s QB class, which has routinely been described as “weak” by even the kinder assessors. While the Carolina Panthers hold the No. 6 pick and have informed Sam Darnold they might look to choose a QB, plenty of mock drafts predict the first signal-caller taken will not come until beyond the midway stage of the first round. Others foresee only one being taken on the first night. The Jaguars have the top pick and have had months to deal with the reality that there is no obvious choice this time around. Last week, GM Trent Baalke admitted four players were still in contention, which most observers took to mean that at least two were edge rushers on his list. “The pick doesn’t have to be made today, so there’s no sense in forcing it right now,” Baalke said. “We’re continuing to dig up and do research on these guys. We’re ahead of last year’s schedule in terms of preparation. We’ve worked hard to get there. The decision doesn’t have to be made right now, so why make it?” Decision time will be here soon enough, and the draft never fails to entertain more than you’d expect for something that is, essentially, a bunch of names being read. And it will be a rare occasion where we can feel sorry for the quarterbacks, destined to be left on the shelf longer than normal, and this time accompanied into the league by a bunch of marauding rushers ready to cause some damage. |
