Draft Report 2022
The draft room was thick with the aroma of pizza and the tension of coiled banter, ready to be sprung upon unsuspecting peers.
For those on the other end of a zoom call, 20 to 4000 miles away, the only thing louder than their internal screaming were the disconnected quips of an unrelated Soccer Match, its audio leeching over the mic from the command centre.
Visibly shaken by the discovery they had the first overall pick, Ste Griffiths, General Manager of the Skylarks, hung his head. After a protracted period of hair-pulling and hand-wringing, the reflexive decision to take Josh Allen as 1.1 was met with braying laughter from those who knew better.
But the suprises wouldn't stop there.
Travis Kelce was a second round pick for The Red Rifles. "There's such a gulf between Kelce and the next-best Tight End", posited GM Tom Wiggins, "It makes sense".
In a league with TE/WR in the flex position, it felt that Running Backs were drafted with an unexpected volume and eagerness. In fact, 16 of the first 24 picks were RBs.
The next eyebrow-raising moment came in the strategy of (Dolphins subsidiary?) The Cheetahs to draft heavily from the Miami franchise, to the point of taking the Floridian Defensive squad for their 4th round pick. A pundit in the draft HQ was heard to heckle, "What's happening?!"
TPC went on record with Naz El Harrati, their GM, to get this quote: "I thought it was a tactically genius move myself 😂"
Indeed, this year a lot of the conventional draft wisdom may fall on its face.
The run on QBs had some panicking in the middle of the draft. Still lacking a cornerstone for the team as they entered the 10th round, Andy Trebble was alarmed. Eventually they picked up Justin Fields and Trevor Lawrence with their 10th and 11th picks. The trade-off on positional timing allowed the pickup of such early round bombs as Nick Chubb and D'Andre Swift. Worth it? You decide.
Rarely is a manager every totally satisfied with their draft, and really the proof of the pudding is in the season. With Week 1 around the corner, who will come out with an early win to start off the season on the right foot? Only time will tell, and, in the words of Andy Dalton, Ron Jones, Joe Judge, and probably every other head coach ever; "It's a long season".