The most important position in football owned the spotlight during last year's NFL Draft in Cleveland, as five top-tier prospects -- including Clemson leader Trevor Lawrence -- were selected in the first 15 picks of the first round. There were also three signal-callers taken in the first three picks for the third time in league history, and a record eight were chosen in the first three rounds.
This year, quarterbacks weren't in high demand. Pittsburgh star Kenny Pickett was the lone first-rounder -- the hometown Steelers chose him 20th overall -- and the latest first-round passer drafted since 1997. There also wasn't a single quarterback taken in the second round, marking the third time in the past 30 years that only one player was drafted in the first two rounds. The 2022 class of quarterbacks was viewed as below-average, and draft results reaffirmed it.
"I think that the [QB] evaluations held, and we didn't believe it," NFL Network analyst Charles Davis explained to The DA Show on Monday. "I'm not going to do revisionist history at all. I actually looked into cameras and said, 'We know evaluations aren't great. But, at, some point, teams are going to get QB fever. And once that breaks, look out.' Well, I was wrong about the QB fever -- I was wrong that they'd break and do what they wanted.
"But the evaluations they told us, all the way through -- which is, 'This isn't a great crop' -- my evaluations held, in terms of the drafting. Doesn't mean it'll hold, in terms of how they'll play in the future. We could have three All-Pros, we just don't know yet. But evaluating them going in, I said consistently, the first five guys who were drafted in 2021, better score on them than any guys coming out this year. And then throw in Davis Mills, a third-rounder last year."
Pickett -- who was a Heisman Trophy finalist last season -- entered draft night as the fourth-ranked quarterback by Pro Football Focus, and the 42nd overall prospect. The 23-year-old produced a sensational redshirt senior season for Pittsburgh in 2021, racking up 4,319 yards with 42 touchdowns and just seven picks en route to an ACC title and a Peach Bowl appearance. Pickett will get a chance to compete for the Steelers' starting job in training camp.
The second quarterback off the board was Cincinnati leader Desmond Ridder, selected 74th overall by the Atlanta Falcons. In 14 games last season, the 22-year-old threw for 3,334 yards with 30 touchdowns and eight picks, and also rushed for 355 yards on 110 attempts with six scores. Ridder helped carry the Bearcats to a perfect regular season (13-0) and CFP berth, and his 44 wins in four seasons are the third-most in FBS history.
The entire NFL Draft conversation between Davis and DA can be accessed in the audio player above.
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