Winners and losers of the 2022 NFL Draft, plus grading all 32 teams and ranking the nine QBs drafted

Welcome to the Monday edition of the Pick Six newsletter!

If I sound tired today, it’s because I spent the entire weekend trying to memorize the names of all 262 picks that were made in the NFL Draft over the weekend. Speaking of the draft, that’s basically all we’re going to talk about today, so I hope you’re ready for that and if you’re not, you better start mentally preparing now. 

Not only do we have draft grades for you today, but we also have winners and losers from the draft, plus the FIVE biggest steals. 

As always, here’s your weekly reminder to tell all your friends to sign up for the newsletter. All you have to do is click here and then share the link. Alright, let’s get to the rundown. 

1. Today’s show: NFL Draft winners and losers

We did so many podcasts over the course of the NFL Draft that I’ve already lost track of how many we ended up doing. However, I do know that we recorded a podcast for today where we went over our biggest winners and losers from the draft. 

Today’s show featured ME, Will Brinson, Chris Trapasso and Josh Edwards. Here’s a list of some of our winners and losers: 

Winners

• Brinson: Eagles. The Eagles made the biggest trade of the draft when they acquired A.J. Brown and they also crushed their first three picks. Not only did they land Georgia’s Jordan Davis in the first-round, but they found the player who will likely be their future starting center in the second round (Cam Jurgens). Oh, and Nakobe Dean fell into their lap at 83rd overall, which was shocking, because most people thought he would go in the first or second round. 
• Trapasso: Titans. After trading away A.J. Brown, the Titans brought in his replacement in Treylon Burks, who will cost roughly $20 million less per year than Brown. The Titans also found a potential starting corner in second-rounder Roger McCreary. Also, it’s probably worth mentioning that they might have also landed their QB of the future in Malik Willis, who shockingly fell to them in the third round. 
• Breech: Ravens. I’m not sure how it happened, but it seemed like every time the Ravens made a pick, they got a player who unexpectedly fell in their laps. They landed the best safety in the draft (Kyle Hamilton), the best center (Tyler Linderbaum), and their second-round pick (David Ojabo) probably would have gone in the first-round if he didn’t tear his Achilles in March. Somehow, the Ravens seem to win the draft ever year. 
• Edwards: Jets. You don’t usually see the words “Jets” and “smart decisions” in the same sentence, but you might this year because they managed to have one of the best drafts. If they hadn’t made a single pick after the first-round, they likely would’ve still walked away as winners because they found three likely starters in the opening round (CB Ahmad “Sauce” Gardner, WR Garrett Wilson and EDGE Jermaine Johnson II).

Losers

• Brinson: Ryan Tannehill. He lost his favorite receiver (A.J. Brown), and now the Titans are trying to replace him. 
• Trapasso: Jaguars. The Jags can’t do anything right. They made a risky pick at first overall with Travon Walker and then took two linebackers in the top 70 even though they had plenty of other needs. 
• Breech: Patriots. I hate calling the Patriots losers, because it will likely blow up in my face at some point, but I have no idea what they’re doing. It’s like Bill Belichick thought you could only draft from small schools this year. They got a player from Tennessee-Chattanooga in the first round (Cole Strange) and also drafted players from South Dakota State, Northwest Missouri State and Western Kentucky. 
• Edwards: Baker Mayfield. The Browns QB is still stuck playing for a team that he doesn’t want to be playing for, and now that the draft is over, there aren’t a lot of teams out there interested in trading for the beleaguered QB. 

If you want our full list of winners and losers, then be sure to click here so you can listen to today’s podcast. You can also watch today’s episode on YouTube by clicking here.

2. NFL Draft grades for every team

There is no one who loves handing out grades more than Pete Prisco, so after the draft was over Saturday night, he sifted through every team’s draft class and came up with a grade for each team. 

Since I’m pretty sure Prisco was a “C” student in college, we’re going to take a look at the teams that got the worst grades. The award for the worst grade goes to the Bears, who received the only “D.” With that in mind, here’s a look at five of the worst grades, along with Prisco’s explanation for why he handed out the grade he did.  

• Bears: D. “They didn’t have a first-round pick after trading it to get quarterback Justin Fields last year. They picked defensive backs with their first two picks, which they need, but why not an offensive lineman at some point before round five when they took Braxton Jones? I do like Kyler Gordon, but they better hope Jones can play.”
• Vikings: C. “New general manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah moved up and down the board, but in the end was it really good maneuvering? They took Lewis Cine in the first round, a player I like, but I didn’t love the rest of their draft, other than Brian Asamoah.”
• Browns: C. “They didn’t pick until the third round because of they traded their first to land Deshaun Watson, so it wasn’t a great haul. Landing Perrion Winfrey was a nice pick and second-round corner Martin Emerson is a long player with coverage skills.” 
• Cardinals: C-. “They opted to trade their first-round pick for Marquise Brown, which I didn’t like. Taking edge rushers Cam Thomas and Myjai Sanders in the second and third, respectively, address a major need. Keep an eye on sixth-round guard Lecitus Smith. He has talent.”
• Panther: C-. “Ikem Ekwonu makes this draft, but the rest of it was so-so in large part because they didn’t have a lot of picks. Matt Corral is a risky pick. Sixth-round offensive lineman Cade Mays is a good player who will play in the league for a while.”

If you’re wondering whether Prisco actually handed out any good grades, the answer is yes. A total of three teams — the Chiefs, Jets and Ravens — all received an “A.” If you want to check out the grades given to every other team, be sure to click here. 

3. Ranking the five biggest steals of the 2022 NFL Draft

Every year in the NFL Draft, we see plenty of steals happen, where a player who was projected to go high falls down the board to a shocked team who can’t believe they just landed such a good player at such a low spot in the draft. 

If you’re wondering who some of the biggest steals were this year, you don’t have to wonder anymore because CBSSports.com’s Tyler Sullivan made a list of the five biggest ones of the draft: 

• 1. Jermaine Johnson II to the Jets (26th overall). “The FSU product was CBS Sports’ third-ranked edge rusher, trailing only Aidan Hutchinson and Kayvon Thibodeaux, who both went inside the top five. In various final mock drafts, Johnson was also pegged to come off the board inside the top 10 but fell to No. 26 overall, where the New York Jets would ultimately trade up to take him.”
• 2. Kyle Hamilton to the Ravens (14th overall). “Out of all of the players in this class, the Notre Dame safety was the No. 1 overall prospect on CBS Sports NFL Draft expert Chris Trapasso’s final big board, and the Ravens had him fall right into their lap at No. 14 overall in the first round Thursday night.”
• 3. Nakobe Dean to the Eagles (83rd overall). “Georgia linebacker Nakobe Dean routinely found himself as a first-rounder in mock drafts leading into Thursday night. However, the opening round came and went and he was still sitting on the board. … Injury concerns, along with his size, were the driving forces behind Dean’s free-fall as NFL Media noted he was recovering from a “severe pec injury” and recently decided against undergoing surgery to repair it.”
• 4. Malik Willis to the Titans (86th overall). “The Liberty product was in the conversation of being the top QB in the draft throughout the pre-draft process, and some mocks even had him going to the Atlanta Falcons at No. 8 overall. Similar to Dean, however, Willis fell into Day Two. … This is incredible value for a Titans team that could look to move off of Ryan Tannehill following the 2022 season.”
• 5. Sam Howell to the Commanders (144th overall). “Entering the season, Sam Howell was in the conversation as the top quarterback in this class and a potential first-round pick. However, after a down season for UNC, his stock fell to the point of being a Day Three selection. … For a team like Washington — the latest to try and fix Carson Wentz — getting a developmental quarterback in Howell is a no-brainer at this stage of the draft.”

For a full explanation on why each of these guys made the list, be sure to click here. 

4. NFL Draft: Ranking all nine quarterbacks who were selected

The 2022 NFL Draft definitely won’t be fondly remembered by anyone who plays the quarterback position. Through the first two rounds of the draft, there was only one QB taken. Despite the slow start, we ended up seeing eight more quarterbacks get taken over the final five rounds and because we love to rank these here, we decided to rank all nine quarterbacks. 

The job of ranking the quarterbacks went to Cody Benjamin, and one thing you’re immediately going to notice is that the only QB selected the first round isn’t at the top of Cody’s list. 

Here’s a look at his top-five: 

1. Malik Willis (Titans)
Pick: Third round, 86th overall
Cody’s take: “Willis has shades of Michael Vick, Lamar Jackson and Jalen Hurts in terms of dual-threat athleticism. If he succeeds Ryan Tannehill, either in 2022 or right afterward, that’s a steal in the third round.”

2. Kenny Pickett (Steelers)
Pick: First round, 20th overall
Cody’s take: “A reliable, if unspectacular, pocket passer who already called Heinz Field home, he should be a plug-and-play (and more athletic) successor to Ben Roethlisberger for a team built to compete now.”

3. Sam Howell (Commanders)
Pick: Fifth round, 144th overall
Cody’s take: “Good on Washington for grabbing some Carson Wentz insurance, and even better on them for halting Howell’s slide. … Howell’s bruising running ability and deep-ball touch could promise big-play potential.”

4. Desmond Ridder (Falcons)
Pick: Third round, 74th overall
Cody’s take: “Ask some scouts, and Ridder is the smartest, savviest, most selfless QB of the class. Ask others, and they point to middling accuracy and passing touch. It’s a fine gamble for Atlanta, but you might’ve liked to get a bit more upside through the air.”

5. Matt Corral (Panthers)
Pick: Third round, 94th overall
Cody’s take: “Corral, by all accounts, has starting-caliber confidence, arm strength and athleticism. He also has a smaller frame and haphazard tendencies, which don’t necessarily bode well for a Panthers team transitioning the O-line.”

To see the rest of Cody’s QB rankings, be sure to click here. 

5. Undrafted free agent signings: Tracking the frenzy

Although things can get crazy during the draft, things actually get much crazier after the draft and that’s because there’s basically total chaos with each of the NFL’s 32 teams trying to sign the same undrafted free agents. 

Going undrafted isn’t the worst thing, as some of the biggest stars in NFL history didn’t get drafted. From Tony Romo to Kurt Warner to Antonio Gates to James Harrison, plenty of players have gone on to have impressive careers after not getting drafted. 

With that in mind, here are some of the notable players who signed as an undrafted free agent: 

• Carson Strong signs with Philadelphia. The Eagles added some more QB depth with the signing of the former Nevada QB. It was somewhat surprising that Strong didn’t get drafted, and now, he lands in a spot where he’ll have to compete with Gardner Minshew for the back QB role. 
• Mike Vrabel’s son signs with Falcons. Tyler Vrabel, who was an offensive tackle at Boston College, signed with the Falcons as an undrafted free agent. The pairing actually makes some sense and that’s because the younger Vrabel is familiar with Falcons head coach Arthur Smith due to the fact that Smith served as the Titans offensive coordinator for two seasons under the older Vrabel. 
• Cowboys land a kicker. There’s likely going to be a kicking competition in Dallas after the Cowboys signing of Jonathan Garibay. The former Texas Tech kicker gained some notoriety last year after hitting a game-winning 62-yarder against Iowa State last season. 
• Just another Manic Monday for Saints. Former Auburn safety Smoke Monday surprisingly went undrafted, but he wasn’t a free agent for long. The Saints, who are in dire need of safety help, quickly snatched up Monday after the draft ended. 

To check out every undrafted free agent signing, you can head to our tracker by clicking here. 

6. Rapid-fire roundup: Saints expected to sign Tyrann Mathieu 

It was a wild weekend around the NFL, and since it’s nearly impossible to keep track of everything that happened, I went ahead and put together a roundup for you. 

• Saints expected to add the Honey Badger. According to NFL.com, the Saints are expected to sign Tyrann Mathieu this week. The deal is still being finalized, but once it goes through, it will be huge for the Saints, who have a big need at safety. Mathieu is the top player remaining on CBSSports.com’s list of best available free agents. Starting at 4 p.m. today, free agent signings no longer count against the compensatory pick formula, so it won’t be surprising if we see a few big-name free agents get signed this week and it won’t be surprising if the Mathieu deal gets done AFTER that deadline. If that happens, the Chiefs won’t get any credit for losing him and the Saints won’t potentially lose any compensatory picks for adding him. 
• Bears release Nick Foles. The former Super Bowl MVP was released on Saturday night after the draft. With Foles out, the means Trevor Siemian will likely serve as the backup QB in Chicago this year unless they add another veteran. The release also means that Foles is now free to sign wherever he wants.  
• Rams trade for Troy Hill. Former Rams corner Troy Hill is headed BACK to Los Angeles after a trade between the Browns and the Rams on Saturday. Hill spent five seasons with the Rams (2016-2020) before heading to Cleveland in 2021. To get Hill back, the Rams sent a 2023 fifth-round pick to the Browns. 
• Urban Meyer likely returning to Fox after flaming out with Jags. Five months after being fired by the Jaguars, it looks like Meyer is going back to his old job. According to The Athletic, Meyer is “deep in negotiations” to return to his job with Fox. 
• Falcons release Mike Davis. After just one year in Atlanta, the running back has been released by the Falcons. The Falcons likely felt like Davis was expendable after the team drafted a running back (BYU’s Tyler Allgeier) over the weekend.