2022 NFL Draft: How many quarterbacks will go in the first round?

The 2022 NFL Draft has some intriguing quarterback prospects. Here’s how many passers could wind up going in round one next year. 

If you are a fan of the NFL Draft or perhaps a team that doesn’t know whether or not they have their future quarterback in place, then you should have plenty of interest in scoping out the quarterbacks who could potentially land in the first round of the 2022 NFL Draft.

Each year at this time, we take a stab at speculating which college passers will rise to the occasion and solidify themselves as future first-round picks. Some are clearly easier to call than others.

At this time last season, we obviously knew that Trevor Lawrence was going to headline a talented group and wind up being the top pick in the draft (hence the ‘Tanking for Trevor’ tagline for bottom NFL teams in 2020). In addition, Justin Fields was a highly-touted prospect who we believed was a first-rounder. We even had a good idea that Trey Lance was going to be a strong candidate to get drafted in the first round even after opting out of the 2020 season.

However, Zach Wilson was very much a surprise after an astonishing junior year (as his sophomore campaign was less than spectacular). Likewise, many didn’t believe that Mac Jones had the skill set to be taken in the first round, but he was the fifth quarterback off the board by pick 15 overall in the 2021 NFL Draft.

Looking ahead to next year’s class, there are some very intriguing prospects. So let’s make an early educated guess as to how many could wind up going in round one.

How many QBs will go in the first round of the 2022NFL Draft?

First of all, we need to take into account the teams that are sure to have (or projected to have) major needs at the quarterback position next season. Those include (but may not be limited to) the Texans, Falcons, Lions, Broncos, Eagles, Saints, Steelers, and the Washington Football Team.

Obviously, there are a lot of factors that come into play here, and some of these teams may wind up getting surprisingly good play out of the young quarterbacks they currently have. For others, like Washington and Pittsburgh, it’s a matter of if, not when. With quarterbacks pushing 40 years old, they will soon be in the market for a new passer.

With this many teams (and potentially more) that could be in the market for a new franchise passer early in the draft, the need outweighs the number of prospects who will be available.

Right now, it’s very safe to assume that Spencer Rattler and Sam Howell will be first-round picks in the 2022 NFL Draft. Both quarterbacks have had remarkable starts to their college careers and are still just 20 years old.

After them, Carson Strong and Kedon Slovis are the names that currently lead the rest of the group. While they might not have as many tools to work with as Howell or Rattler, they could concrete their future first-round status with a very good season in 2021. In addition, players like Malik Willis, Phil Jurkovec, and even Matt Corral are also in the discussion.

Without even mentioning other potential candidates to break out in 2021, that puts us at 7 quarterbacks – a number that is obviously unreasonable to predict in the first round. Of this group, 2-4 of these players could fall out of this discussion.

Though it’s incredibly early, I would venture that the 2022 NFL Draft will include 4 first-round quarterbacks: Spencer Rattler and Sam Howell with some combination of Jurkovec, Willis, Slovis, and Strong rounding out the final two. We don’t see 5 first-round QBs often, and last year’s class was quite special. We can’t assume it will happen again in 2022 without seeing some of these young players in more action first.

This prediction is likely to change after the college season kicks off this year, but with the value of the quarterback position in the NFL, I think it’s reasonable to assume that 4 passers could be taken in the first round of the 2022 NFL Draft.