2022 NFL Draft: QBs soaring and sliding after week one

The 2022 NFL Draft may not have a Trevor Lawrence, but there’s definite QB intrigue. Which QBs are soaring and which are sliding after week one?

The top prospects at the quarterback position in the 2022 NFL Draft, at least two of the top preseason favorites to contend for the QB1 title, did not play all that well in week one of the college football season.

There were still a number of quarterbacks from all over the country that had huge performances in week one and did everything they could to maintain or boost their 2022 NFL Draft stock as the college football season officially got underway for most teams.

My most recent mock draft had North Carolina’s Sam Howell going number one overall to the Houston Texans, and while he could still find his way into that spot, there is clearly going to be competition for the QB1 title and every spot behind that.

Last year at this time, it was Trevor Lawrence, Justin Fields, and Trey Lance. Zach Wilson and Mac Jones joined the first-round party as the year progressed. Which quarterbacks will distinguish themselves? How did some of the top guys look in week one?

Let’s take a deep dive into some of the top QB prospects around the country and how they played.

2022 NFL Draft: QB stock report after week one

1. Spencer Rattler, Oklahoma

Stock: DOWN

Baker Mayfield was a Heisman winner and the top pick in the 2018 NFL Draft.

Kyler Murray was a Heisman winner and the top pick in the 2019 NFL Draft.

Jalen Hurts was a Heisman contender and a second-round pick in the 2020 NFL Draft.

Expectations are high for Spencer Rattler under Lincoln Riley, and he undoubtedly knows/feels that. Unfortunately, it looked like Rattler was trying to turn the hype into reality and he tried a little too hard.

Everyone wants Rattler to be Kyler Murray so badly, but I’m just not so sure that’s going to be the case.

He will undoubtedly bounce back from this performance — he completed 30-of-39 passes for over 300 yards with a touchdown and two interceptions (also added a rushing touchdown) — but let’s not forget that Rattler was benched at one point last season.

He’s shown a lot of really great things with his arm talent, ability to spread the ball around the field, and his natural playmaking ability that is somewhat reminiscent of Murray.

He’s simply just not the same type of athlete or on the same type of level as Murray when it comes to creating offense as both a passer and runner.

Rattler has skills and shouldn’t be written off, by any means, but this was not a great start for him at all.

2. Sam Howell, North Carolina

Stock: DOWN

Sam Howell didn’t lose a bunch of guys to the NFL just last year, did he?

Howell has been probably the heaviest favorite this past offseason to be the number one overall pick in the 2022 NFL Draft.

Understandable.

Howell’s body type and playing style is reminiscent somewhat of Baker Mayfield when he was at Oklahoma, and he has been extremely productive over his first two seasons at North Carolina.

As productive as Howell was in his first two seasons as a Tar Heel, he was given a significant wake-up call against Virginia Tech in the Tar Heels’ season opener.

Howell completed just over 53 percent of his passes, he was sacked six times, and he threw three interceptions.

It was hard, at times, to blame Howell for trying to play a bit of “hero ball” but at the same time, expectations for him as a potential number one overall pick were to come out and play some dominant ball and be the tide that raises all boats.

He didn’t do it.

In fact, he did quite the opposite.

This was a brutal outing for Howell and the pressure from Virginia Tech’s defense really had him rattled early.

It’s just one game, but it was obvious that Howell didn’t have his best stuff at all.

3. Malik Willis, Liberty

Stock: SOLID

Coming into the 2021 season, I would say expectations for Malik Willis are pretty unanimously high.

After transferring from Auburn, Willis burst onto the scene in the 2020 season at Liberty as arguably the best dual-threat quarterback in the country with 20 passing touchdowns and 14 rushing touchdowns last season.

In a game against Campbell, it’s safe to say that Willis was as-advertised, or against this level of competition, about exactly as he should have been.

He completed over 65 percent of his throws with some really nice deep passes and showed off his wheels as a runner, throwing for 217 yards (10.3 air yards per attempt) and a touchdown along with running for 55 yards and a score.

Again, against this level of competition, that is just about what we would have expected from Willis.

A relative walk in the park for the potential first-round quarterback.

This game didn’t move the needle, but it certainly didn’t do anything to take away from the potential that he could go very high in the 2022 NFL Draft.

4. Will Levis, Kentucky

Stock: UP

Will Levis was already in the “stock up” category after what he did to this very ripe banana.

The quirky viral video aside, Levis brought the goods on the field.

Levis had a handful of touchdowns in his two seasons at Penn State (6 rushing, three passing) but he transferred to Kentucky to be a full-time starter and he proved the Wildcats made the right decision by welcoming him in with a fantastic performance.

He completed 69.2 percent of his throws with 367 yards, four touchdowns, one interception, and a whopping 15.5 in the air yards per attempt category.

Levis was dealing in this game deep downfield, and was getting Wan’Dale Robinson (Nebraska transfer) heavily involved as well.

https://twitter.com/SECNetwork/status/1434197722899361800

This was just an impressive overall outing and debut at Kentucky for Levis.

The folks at Pro Football Focus really liked his performance in this game and as the season progresses, expectations will be adjusted and Levis will have an opportunity to really put his name on the 2022 NFL Draft map.

For now, consider everyone’s interest piqued.

5. Bo Nix, Auburn

Stock: UP

After the 2020 season, Bo Nix was borderline not on the NFL radar at all.

He showed tremendous promise in his freshman season with the Tigers, but as a sophomore in 2020, Nix looked like he had regressed, completing less than 60 percent of his passes with just 12 touchdown throws.

We can’t stress enough with some of these reviews that we have just one game to evaluate from 2021, but Bo Nix was truly one of the most impressive quarterbacks in all of college football.

He completed 20-of-22 passes for 275 yards with a whopping 15.2 air yards per attempt and three touchdowns. He brings great value with his legs as well, but it was Nix as a passer that really blew everyone away in the first game of the post-Gus Malzahn era.

Bryan Harsin and Mike Bobo have taken over the Auburn offensive staff and Nix looks like a completely different player than he did 9 or 10 months ago.

Of course, Akron is not exactly Alabama. Bigger tests await Nix but for the time being, this is a very positive start and the closest he has come to even sniffing the 90.9 completion percentage he had against Akron was a couple of games in 2020 against Mississippi and LSU.

It’s fair to remain a bit skeptical that Nix can keep this up, but for the time being, his stock is on the rise.

6. Desmond Ridder, Cincinnati

Stock: UP

Although at times he’s been inconsistent, Desmond Ridder has some of the best tools and talent in the 2022 NFL Draft class at the quarterback position.

Case in point, an absolute dot 52 yards in the air for a touchdown.

Ridder was dominant in this game for the 8th-ranked Bearcats, throwing for 295 yards with four touchdowns and one interception on an 80 percent completion rate.

Adding in a rushing touchdown, Ridder was the real deal in this game and showed his NFL-caliber stuff as the Bearcats rolled to a week one victory over Miami (OH).

One stat that will really matter to NFL teams?

Nobody in college football was better against pressure in week one than was Ridder, who was 9-of-10 with three touchdown passes in the first quarter of this game alone.

There are plenty of mixed opinions on Ridder, who showed some of the best accuracy in all of college football last season on downfield throws, he just wasn’t consistently accurate to all levels of the field.

He’s got a lot of experience, and he’s helped bring the Cincinnati program into the top 10 of all college football. NFL talent evaluators may not be unanimous on Ridder but it’s likely that most teams really like him with his dual-threat abilities, experience, and leadership.

7. Carson Strong, Nevada

Stock: UP

There is some much-deserved buzz building with Carson Strong, who has some of the most outstanding arm talent in college football.

Strong completed just 56.4 percent of his passes in a week one matchup against Cal, but the splashes he made on his 22 completions definitely made some big waves.

https://twitter.com/CFBONFOX/status/1434361520390123521

Some of these throws are absolutely ridiculous, and although the result of the game may not be as important to talent evaluators as the stuff Strong is putting on tape here, it’s worth noting that Nevada went into Cal’s house and fought their way back from an early 14-0 deficit to win the game.

Strong has everything you look for at the position physically at 6-foot-4, 215 pounds with obviously outstanding arm talent, and neither completion percentage nor efficiency have been issues for him in the past, so that number from game one should rise as the season progresses.

He did have an interception in this game and will tend to lean on his ability to throw the ball deep a little too much, but the talent is very obvious with this kid and he’s got a shot to be a first-round pick in the 2022 NFL Draft.

8. Matt Corral, Ole Miss

Stock: UP

There has been plenty of preseason hype and praise heaped upon Ole Miss quarterback Matt Corral as it relates to the 2022 NFL Draft.

Considering there is at least one guy every year that seemingly comes from obscurity to become a top quarterback prospect, it’s fair to cast a wide net when projecting and Corral was a guy a lot of people liked the more they dissected his 2020 film at Ole Miss.

Corral has drawn a number of comparisons to New York Jets second overall pick Zach Wilson, one of those players who came from relative obscurity to become a big-time NFL prospect just last year.

He definitely has the goods, and the Zach Wilson comparisons certainly didn’t stop as Corral and the Rebels took on Louisville on Monday night in Atlanta.

That’s some huge praise from Brugler, who is absolutely right. There were players like Johnny Manziel who took the “instinctive athleticism” too far and tried to just be a backyard quarterback all the time. Players like Patrick Mahomes have proven you can really hone that skill and make it a positive trait that NFL teams covet rather than something to be feared.

No offensive coordinator wants the quarterback going off-script all the time. A great offensive coordinator, however, will absolutely find ways to make that trait stand out in a positive way.

Lane Kiffin has done a good job of that with Corral who is now poised to make a run at QB1 status for the 2022 NFL Draft.

Phil Jurkovec, Boston College

Stock: UP

Phil Jurkovec may not have the biggest arm in this class, but he’s got plenty of arm talent to play in the NFL and he’s a very intriguing dual-threat at the position.

He showed some stuff last year after transferring from Notre Dame, and he was tremendous in the season-opening tune-up against Colgate.

Jurkovec finished this game with 303 rushing yards and three touchdowns while also adding 61 rushing yards.

The arrow has been pointing up for Jurkovec all offseason after reviewing his 2020 film, but it’s certainly a big help for him to have a playmaker like Zay Flowers, who could sneak into the first-round conversation himself.

Tanner Mordecai, SMU

Stock: UP

The two most impressive quarterback “trees” right now are growing in Oklahoma and Alabama.

At one point in time, all of Tua Tagovailoa, Jalen Hurts, and Mac Jones were on the same team with the Crimson Tide, and they’re now all high NFL draft picks.

The same could ultimately be true of the crew at Oklahoma not too long ago with Jalen Hurts, Spencer Rattler, and Tanner Mordecai.

Mordecai, like Hurts, decided he needed a change of scenery and left Oklahoma for SMU, where he had one of the best 2021 debuts of anyone at the QB position in college football.

He finished this game with seven touchdown passes, a number of them going to fellow former Oklahoma Sooners star Grant Calcaterra at the tight end position. At 15.2 air yards per attempt, Mordecai was slinging it in this game and deserves some major stock up attention.

Dorian Thompson-Robinson, UCLA

Stock: UP

In his second game of the 2021 season, Dorian Thompson-Robinson needed only nine completions to help UCLA beat LSU in a massive non-conference game for Chip Kelly and the Bruins program.

Of those nine completions, three went for touchdowns and Thompson-Robinson continues to show intriguing playmaking ability.

He’s got to improve upon his 59.9 percent completion rate, but the arrow is trending slightly up for the UCLA QB.

JT Daniels, Georgia

Stock: DOWN

Yes, Georgia had probably the best win of any college team in week one.

Yes, JT Daniels was the one quarterbacking the offense in a defense-dominated game.

Still, the talk of Daniels being a possible first-round pick was not exactly matched with his play on the field in this game.

Daniels was efficient for most of the game, though he did throw an interception and was forced to be ultra-conservative against the very fast and aggressive Clemson defense.

Compared to what we had expected from Daniels, his stock is down after week one even though Georgia had an impressive win as a team.

Kedon Slovis, USC

Stock: UP

Kedon Slovis is probably a little bit underrated at this point. He’s got the stuff and has for quite some time now.

Watching him in the USC Bowl game against Iowa a couple of years ago, you could tell that this was a kid with an NFL future and he just continues to remain rock-solid.

In this game against San Jose State, Slovis kept things on schedule completing 24-of-36 passes for 256 yards and two touchdowns, showing off some nice pocket maneuverability and better mobility than I think people have come to expect from him.

He showed some really nice things in this game from a timing perspective, he put nice touch on his throws, he made nice throws on the move, and he was just all-around really good.