Five Key Statistics for the 2022 NFL Draft

Welcome to the 2022 NFL Draft from Las Vegas, Nevada. Here are five key statistics from the annual event as we await the first round.

The first NFL Draft took place in 1936. Now the league’s selection meeting is a three-day extravaganza that takes place in Las Vegas this year. Barring something unforeseen, a quarterback doesn’t figure to go first overall. But there are plenty of defensive standouts and quite the group of wide receivers. So here’s a little look at what could happen and what’s happened during the Common Draft Era.

12

Including compensatory selections, there are 262 picks in the 2022 NFL Draft. The Jacksonville Jaguars and Kansas City Chiefs lead the way with a dozen choices. Those teams are followed by the Green Bay Packers and Houston Texans with 11 picks. The Baltimore Ravens, Los Angeles Chargers and Philadelphia Eagles have 10 selections, hence seven teams with double-digit picks. Meanwhile, the Miami Dolphins have an NFL-low four choices.

72

The NFL Common Draft Era began in 1967. There have been a total of 1,615 players chosen in the first round since then. So which school has provided the league with the most first-round picks? It’s a tie between the University of Southern California and Ohio State University with 72 players. Third on that list is the University of Alabama (64), which has had at least one player selected every year since 2009 and have a total of 39 selections in the last 13 years.

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15

As previously mentioned, there are 262 picks in this year’s draft. The Jaguars and Chiefs have an NFL-high 12 selections. But that doesn’t mean they will wind up with a dozen players. And there’s certainly no guarantee every team will still have that many picks by the end of the proceedings. The current NFL Draft with seven rounds began in 1994. The Minnesota Vikings’ 15 selections in 2020 is the record for the most picks in the seven-round format.

7

Picking a wide receiver in the first round has been very vogue the past two years. A combined total of 11 wideouts have been first-round picks since 2020. That includes last year’s NFL Rookie of the Year in Bengals’ star Ja’Marr Chase. There may be at least five wide receivers selected Thursday night in Las Vegas. As for the record for one draft, you have to go back to 2004 when seven wideouts went in Round 1 – led by Larry Fitzgerald (Cardinals).

10

All told, 10 of the 55 first overall picks since 1967 are enshrinees in the Pro Football Hall of Fame (by draft year). Tackle Ron Yary (1968), running back O.J. Simpson (1969), quarterback Terry Bradshaw (1970), defensive ends Lee Roy Selmon (1976), running back Earl Campbell (1978), quarterback John Elway (1983), defensive end Bruce Smith (1985), quarterback Troy Aikman (1989), tackle Orlando Pace (1997) and quarterback Peyton Manning (1998).