3 talking points from the NFL Combine

What a week it was at the NFL Combine in 2022.

After a year away due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the Combine returned with a bang as the top prospects from college football went out to impress in Indianapolis.

With the NFL Draft just over a month away, there were plenty of winners and losers.

While there is still plenty of debate over the elite talent on offer, but the Combine gave us plenty to talk about and reflect upon.

Here’s three things we discovered in the 2022 NFL Combine:

Every inch counts

Whether it’s size, scores in the exercise drills or distance on gameday, inches matter a deal in the NFL. As Pittsburgh quarterback Kenny Pickett found out in Indianapolis.

His hand size became a huge talking point at the start of combine-week after he measured in at just 8.5 inches across.

That’s smaller than any quarterback currently in the NFL and fans were quick to voice alarm over Twitter.

That’s not to suggest Pickett cannot be a success in the league, or that he hasn’t achieved success already in his career thus far.

He threw 42 touchdown passes in 2021 and finished as Pitt’s all-time passing leader with over 12,000 yards.

And a third-place finish in the Heisman Trophy voting capped off a great five years for the New Jersey native.

So, could a QB be successful with such small hands? Michael Vick had similar hand size at 8.5” and went on become a multiple Pro Bowler and helped to transform the quarterback position as a rushing quarterback.

However, Vick’s talent was elite and obvious, Pickett isn’t even considered a top 5 pick by many.

And following some real issues with fumbling the football during his time in college, ultimately and unfortunately for Pickett, this news will concern many NFL franchises.

In our recent mock draft, we had Pickett down as the first quarterback to be selected in the opening draft, forecasting the 23-year-old to reunite with Matt Rhule at the Carolina Panthers.

But with Malik Willis and Desmond Ridder among the QBs who impressed in Indianapolis, Pickett may have already slipped down the QB rankings.

We hope Pickett can silence the doubters when he begins his career in the NFL. It’ll be intriguing to see how he gets on over the next few years.

Deep WR and CB class

It’s strange to be in March and still have no real consensus over who the number one overall pick will be in the upcoming draft.

However, what is obvious is that there will be a lot of talent on offer in the later rounds for teams to choose from.

We’ve known for a while that the cornerback position is well stocked. Ahmad ‘Sauce’ Gardner, who was electric during the Combine, has led the way in the rankings alongside Derek Stingley Jr and Trent McDuffie. All three could go in the first ten picks.

But the Combine proved that there will be excellent value at the position in the later rounds.

Sam Houston State’s Zyon McCollum showed out in short shuttle and three-cone drill while Kalon Barnes ran the quickest combine time ever in the 40-yard dash for a defensive back. Cam Taylor-Britt, Kaiir Elam and Tariq Woolen also stood out.

The receiver class is very similar. Not only did the elite core of Garrett Wilson, Chris Olave and Drake London ball out, but there was an abundance of talent throughout.

Christian Watson, Alec Pierce and the brilliant Calvin Austin III all had stellar weekends in Indy.

Skyy Moore, a player we at offGrid cannot wait to see as a pro, showed his potential. We predicted that Moore would stand out, and we expect him to be a round two selection in April.

There were a few disappointments. Treyvon Burks, who we’ve projected as a first-round pick to the Browns, didn’t impress in Indianapolis and Purdue’s David Bell didn’t live up to expectations.

However, we expect there to be at least five wide receivers taken in the first round of this years draft. And this could be the same in cornerback class.

Two very stacked positions.

Georgia’s defensive players are going to dominate the NFL

The 2022 NFL Combine was a real reminder of how talented the national champions Georgia Bulldogs were on defense last year.

As NFL Network’s Daniel Jeremiah remarked, “The Georgia Bulldogs won a National Championship, I think they just won a combine Championship.”

Defensive lineman Jordan Davis and Devonte Wyatt were the first to go and lived up to the hype of being absolutely freakish athletes.

In particular, the 6’6” 340+ pound Davis wowed scouts and spectators at Lucas Oil Stadium, posting a phenomenal 4.78 in the 40-yard dash to the point that even ‘The Rock’ was impressed.

After this week, there is no reason why Davis can’t go on to be selected in the top 10 picks next month.

Elsewhere, defensive end Travon Walker and Quay Walker were amongst the other Bulldogs to impress, while Nakobe Dean showed us why he’s considered the best linebacker in the 2022 class.

Safety Lewis Cine also bumped up his draft stock potential following an impressive combine. With the right coaching, he can match his lightning speed with his awareness. He could sneak into the first round at next month’s draft.

All-in-all, a lot of the Georgia players have the ability to go a long way in the NFL.

Kirby Smart must be a very proud man.