This is the first in a series previewing each position in the 2022 NFL draft. Today’s installment looks at wide receiver.
The flood of speed receivers into the NFL is coming again in the 2022 NFL draft.
Eight wide receivers timed at less than 4.40 seconds in the 40-yard dash at the NFL scouting combine in February, which tied for the most at any combine in at least the last 17 years. A ninth – Alabama’s Jameson Williams – is a certain sub-4.4. speedster, but he has not run for NFL scouts because he’s recovering from major knee surgery.
Last year, 36 wide receivers were drafted, which tied an all-time high, and the past two years have seen 16 and 15, respectively, taken on the first two days of the draft. That’s an uptick on the average of 12 in the first three rounds the previous decade.
“It's a great wide receiver draft,” said NFL Network analyst Daniel Jeremiah. “I feel like we could copy and paste the comments on wide receivers and use it for the next 20 years, because the college game is giving us a ton of these guys every year.”
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Expect another 15 wideouts to go in the first three rounds again this year.
“We see receivers that are first-round guys fall out of the first round every year, and part of it's just because we have the sheer numbers,” Jeremiah said. “But if you look at the wideouts that have been taken in the second round over the last handful of years, you're going to see a ton of studs – just look at Ole Miss, from D.K. Metcalf, A.J. Brown to Elijah Moore -- those three wide receivers from one school. ... Deebo Samuel. Every year we see guys with big grades that end up falling into the second round just because of the sheer number of wideouts that we have.”
Of course, finding one that fits seamlessly into a team’s offensive system – especially on Day 3 – still is no sure bet. The Bills made an excellent pick in the fourth round in 2020 to get Gabriel Davis. But a slew of receivers drafted in the fourth round in the past five years have done next to nothing in the NFL – including players fans might already have forgotten – such as J’Mon Moore, Jaleel Scott, Hakeem Butler, Gary Jennings Jr. and Riley Ridley.
Overall position ranking: 8 out of 10.
Bills' view: Buffalo easily could justify drafting a wide receiver in the first two rounds. The Bills need a third outside receiver to replace Emmanuel Sanders and to go along with Stefon Diggs and Gabriel Davis. While proven veteran Jamison Crowder was signed to replace Cole Beasley, he’s on only a one-year contract. And as Kansas City’s Andy Reid has shown, more speed on offense always is a good thing. An attractive wideout is very likely to be on the board when the Bills draft at No. 25.
It would be hard for the Bills to pass on Alabama’s Williams, even though he probably won’t be 100% for the start of the season, because he’s so elite. It will be a mild upset if he lasts until No. 25. If one of the following three are on the board – Arkansas’ Treylon Burks, Ohio State’s Chris Olave or Penn State’s Jahan Dotson – should the Bills pick one? Burks is 6-foot-2 and 225 and draws comparisons to Titans star A.J. Brown. Olave ran 4.39 in the 40, and Dotson ran 4.43.
Bills' need ranking: 8 out of 10.
The best: The choice here is Ohio State’s Garrett Wilson, who draws comparisons to Diggs because of his burst and acceleration. Southern Cal’s 6-4 Drake London might be the first wideout drafted. He’s No. 2 on this list because we favor receivers who get great separation.
Names to know: If the Bills want to wait until Day 2 of the draft, prospects to consider include Boise State’s Khalil Shakir (a slot WR who ran 4.43), Memphis’ Calvin Austin (a 5-8 slot who ran 4.32), Tennessee speedster Velus Jones (4.31), Alabama’s John Metchie (a Robert Woods type), North Dakota State’s 6-4 Christian Watson (4.36), Kentucky’s Wan’Dale Robinson (a 5-8 slot who ran 4.44) and South Alabama’s 6-1 Jalen Tolbert (4.49). Western Michigan’s 5-9 Skyy Moore (4.41) and Watson probably will go early in the second round.
Big mitts: Arkansas’ Burks has such big, thick hands, he needed to get specially made, size XXXXL (that’s 4X) gloves. Nike’s biggest size is only 3XL. The big hands helped him as a youth growing up hunting in the woods near his home of Warren, Ark. He liked to fish and hunt deer and feral hogs, which he hunted with a knife.
“You have to go out there with dogs, and the dogs find them and we come up behind them and tackle them and take them out,” Burks said of hog hunting during his interview at the NFL scouting combine.
Sleepers. There’s a bunch. Jequez Ezzard starred for three years at Howard, then spent two years at Sam Houston State, averaging 21.3 yards on receptions and 16.3 yards on punt returns over two years. Northern Iowa’s Isaiah Weston did a lot of blocking on a running team but had 883 receiving yards and ran 4.42 at the combine. Both might be free agents.
Top 10 WIDE RECEIVERS
1. Garrett Wilson, Ohio State 5-11 3-4, 183
2. Jameson Williams*, Alabama 6-1 1-2, 179
3. Drake London*, USC 6-4, 219
4. Chris Olave*, Ohio State 6-0, 187
5. Treylon Burks*, Arkansas 6-2, 225
6. Jahan Dotson*, Penn State 5-10, 178
7. George Pickens*, Georgia 6-3, 195
8. Christian Watson, N. Dakota St. 6-4, 208
9. Skyy Moore, Western Michigan 5-9, 195
10. Calvin Austin III*, Memphis 5-7, 173
*-underclassman
