Sports Illustrated

Since my last mock draft, posted right before the start of free agency, three more teams have traded away their first-round picks in the 2022 draft. Blockbuster trades have led to new homes for Deshaun Watson, Davante Adams and Tyreek Hill, and now eight of the NFL’s 32 teams don’t have a pick in the first round this year. ESPN’s Field Yates tweeted, “This is the craziest NFL offseason ever,” and it would be difficult to argue. As Panthers general manager Scott Fitterer notes, “It’s a unique quarterback class, because there’s not a clear number one, number two, number three.” The comment is even more interesting given that the Panthers control the earliest pick of teams most often linked to first-round quarterbacks.