These 2022 NFL draft prospects are tailor-made for New York Jets general manager Joe Douglas
Over the past week, I’ve been delving into the drafting tendencies we’ve seen from New York Jets general manager Joe Douglas. We’ve learned a lot about how much he values athleticism, age, and leadership.
It’s time to bring everything together and identify the 2022 NFL draft prospects who are the most perfect matches for Douglas’ tendencies.
Here are Douglas’ two strongest tendencies over his first two drafts:
- Team captains: Of Douglas’ 19 draft picks from 2020-21, ten of them were team captains in college (52.6%). That’s an extremely high rate; for reference, just 29.0% of the top-200 ranked prospects in the 2022 draft class (rankings via NFL Mock Draft Database) were team captains.
- Top-tier athletes: Douglas drafted seven players with a Relative Athletic Score (RAS)* of 9.0+ from 2020-21, tying for the most in the NFL over that span.
*RAS is a 0-to-10 rating that takes into account a player’s performance in various testing drills relative to their height, weight, and position. When multiplied by 10, the player’s RAS indicates where their athleticism ranks all-time among players at his position; i.e., a 9.0 RAS ranks at the 90th percentile.
I examined all prospects on the consensus big board at NFL Mock Draft Database and identified the non-quarterbacks who met both of the following two criteria:
- RAS of 9.0+
- Was a team captain in college
Without further ado, these are the 2022 NFL draft’s tailor-made “Joe Douglas guys”.
| Board Rank | Player | Pos. | School | RAS | Captain? |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Aidan Hutchinson | EDGE | Michigan | 9.88 | Yes |
| 7 | Kyle Hamilton | S | Notre Dame | 9.33 | Yes |
| 14 | Jordan Davis | DT | Georgia | 10.00 | Yes |
| 20 | Devin Lloyd | LB | Utah | 9.59 | Yes |
| 28 | Zion Johnson | IOL | Boston College | 9.75 | Yes |
| 36 | Breece Hall | RB | Iowa State | 9.96 | Yes |
| 43 | Travis Jones | DT | Connecticut | 9.40 | Yes |
| 52 | Jaquan Brisker | S | Penn State | 9.14 | Yes |
| 65 | Chad Muma | LB | Wyoming | 9.77 | Yes |
| 75 | Alec Pierce | WR | Cincinnati | 9.82 | Yes |
| 76 | Troy Andersen | LB | Montana State | 10.00 | Yes |
| 99 | Josh Paschal | EDGE | Kentucky | 9.70 | Yes |
| 100 | Damone Clark | LB | LSU | 9.87 | Yes |
| 120 | Zamir White | RB | Georgia | 9.82 | Yes |
| 123 | Zyon McCollum | CB | Sam Houston State | 10.00 | Yes |
| 136 | Charlie Kolar | TE | Iowa State | 9.12 | Yes |
| 142 | Pierre Strong Jr. | RB | South Dakota State | 9.34 | Yes |
| 156 | Bo Melton | WR | Rutgers | 9.25 | Yes |
| 161 | Tycen Anderson | S | Toledo | 9.49 | Yes |
| 170 | Chris Paul | IOL | Tulsa | 9.45 | Yes |
| 174 | Daniel Bellinger | TE | San Diego State | 9.67 | Yes |
| 175 | Thomas Booker | DT | Stanford | 9.88 | Yes |
| 183 | Matt Waletzko | OT | North Dakota | 9.95 | Yes |
| 206 | Mike Rose | LB | Iowa State | 9.06 | Yes |
| 209 | Malcolm Rodriguez | LB | Oklahoma State | 9.27 | Yes |
| 233 | Nick Zakelj | OT | Fordham | 9.83 | Yes |
| 247 | Micah McFadden | LB | Indiana | 9.47 | Yes |
| 271 | Matt Hanningsen | DT | Wisconsin | 9.33 | Yes |
| 332 | Baylon Spector | LB | Clemson | 9.13 | Yes |
| 333 | Ryan Van Denmark | OT | Connecticut | 9.44 | Yes |
| 370 | Andrew Ogletree | TE | Youngstown State | 9.35 | Yes |
| 410 | Bryant Koback | RB | Toledo | 9.72 | Yes |
| 459 | Jack Koerner | S | Iowa | 9.19 | Yes |
| 483 | Jason Poe | IOL | Mercer | 9.47 | Yes |
| 516 | Tony Adams | S | Illinois | 9.74 | Yes |
| 597 | Michael Griffin II | S | South Dakota State | 9.11 | Yes |
Could Georgia defensive tackle Jordan Davis or Utah linebacker Devin Lloyd be higher on the Jets’ board than many think?
Among players who have been frequently mentioned as options for the Jets with one of their two top-10 picks in the first round, only Michigan edge defender Aidan Hutchinson and Notre Dame safety Kyle Hamilton qualified for the list.
While the list doesn’t feature many players who the Jets might consider with one of their first-round selections, it features plenty of under-the-radar names to watch closely beyond the first round.
Connecticut defensive tackle Travis Jones, Penn State safety Jaquan Brisker, and Wyoming linebacker Chad Muma are three players to watch on the second day of the draft. Don’t overlook Montana State linebacker Troy Andersen or Cincinnati wide receiver Alec Pierce.
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Among well-known prospects, the two players who most narrowly missed the cut were Ohio State wide receiver Chris Olave and Iowa center Tyler Linderbaum. Both players were team captains but posted RAS marks of 8.68 and 8.83, respectively.
Keep in mind that some players did not complete enough testing drills to qualify for a RAS, so there are a few prospects not listed above who may have qualified if they did participate in a sufficient amount of testing.
Alabama tackle Evan Neal, USC wide receiver Drake London, and Georgia linebacker Nakobe Dean are the highest-ranked prospects who were team captains but did not test enough to earn a RAS.
It will be interesting to see whether Douglas continues to uphold the trends he showcased over his first two drafts or if he shows some malleability and simply tosses these tendencies out the window.
