2022 Road to the Draft – Part 14
April 20, 2022
By Noonefromtampa
We have moved another week closer to the draft. Also with another week comes another Washington Commanders controversy. This time the team has been accused of “cooking the books” and cheating the other 31 NFL teams out of their share of local revenue. Just when fans think they have seen every possible error made by this franchise, they exceed expectations yet again.
The focus on the Commanders at pick #11 is has sharpened up to three players: Kyle Hamilton, safety from Notre Dame, and wide receivers Garrett Wilson from Ohio State and Drake London from Southern Cal.
Freshness Rating
This week, 58.1% of the mock data is 20 days or newer and 41.9% is 21 days or older. 64.4% of the mocks tracked have been updated in the last month (within 28 days).
| Age | Age % |
| New | 30.04% |
| 1 Week Old | 15.81% |
| 2 Weeks Old | 12.25% |
| 3 Weeks Old | 6.32% |
| 4 Weeks Old | 3.95% |
| 5+ Weeks Old | 31.62% |
| Grand Total | 100.00% |
Position Distribution
The number of mocks is up 30 this week to 253 overall, up over 13.4% from last week. The big surge at safety continued this week with Kyle Hamilton being mocked to the Commanders, which resulted in the safety position increasing almost 5% again this period. The quarterback position has continued its slide downwards, losing another 4.4% this week. Wide receiver had a small uptick of almost 2.2%.
| Position | Picked Count | Picked % | Last Week % | % Change |
| WR | 94 | 37.15% | 34.98% | 2.18% |
| QB | 66 | 26.09% | 30.49% | -4.41% |
| S | 42 | 16.60% | 11.66% | 4.94% |
| CB | 29 | 11.46% | 11.66% | -0.20% |
| OT | 11 | 4.35% | 4.04% | 0.31% |
| LB | 7 | 2.77% | 3.59% | -0.82% |
| DT | 2 | 0.79% | 0.90% | -0.11% |
| TE | 1 | 0.40% | 0.45% | -0.05% |
| IOL | 1 | 0.40% | 1.79% | -1.40% |
| Edge | 0 | 0.45% | 0.45% | 0.00% |
| RB | 0 | 0.00% | 0.00% | 0.00% |
| Grand Total | 253 | 100% |
Looking at the mocks from the past 20 days, over 87% of the mocks have focused on the wide receiver, safety and cornerback positions:
| Position | Pick Count | Pick % |
| WR | 68 | 46.26% |
| S | 39 | 26.53% |
| CB | 21 | 14.29% |
| QB | 7 | 4.76% |
| OT | 6 | 4.08% |
| LB | 3 | 2.04% |
| DT | 2 | 1.36% |
| TE | 1 | 0.68% |
| Grand Total | 147 | 100.00% |
The players mock picked to Washington at the 11th pick are, in descending frequency:
| Player | Position | School | Picked Count | Picked % |
| Kyle Hamilton | S | Notre Dame | 41 | 16.21% |
| Garrett Wilson | WR | Ohio State | 38 | 15.02% |
| Drake London | WR | USC | 36 | 14.23% |
| Kenny Pickett | QB | Pittsburgh | 23 | 9.09% |
| Derek Stingley Jr | CB | LSU | 22 | 8.70% |
| Malik Willis | QB | Liberty | 19 | 7.51% |
| Chris Olave | WR | Ohio State | 13 | 5.14% |
| Sam Howell | QB | North Carolina | 11 | 4.35% |
| Matt Corral | QB | Mississippi | 10 | 3.95% |
| Charles Cross | OT | Mississippi State | 7 | 2.77% |
| Devin Lloyd | LB | Utah | 6 | 2.37% |
| Ahmad Gardner | CB | Cincinnati | 5 | 1.98% |
| Treylon Burks | WR | Arkansas | 4 | 1.58% |
| Jameson Williams | WR | Alabama | 3 | 1.19% |
| Desmond Ridder | QB | Cincinnati | 3 | 1.19% |
| Ikem Ekwonu | OT | NC State | 3 | 1.19% |
| Jordan Davis | DT | Georgia | 2 | 0.79% |
| Trey McBride | TE | Colorado State | 1 | 0.40% |
| Trent McDuffie | CB | Washington | 1 | 0.40% |
| Kenyon Green | IOL | Texas A&M | 1 | 0.40% |
| Daxton Hill | S | Michigan | 1 | 0.40% |
| Trevor Penning | OT | Northern Iowa | 1 | 0.40% |
| Nakobe Dean | LB | Georgia | 1 | 0.40% |
| Andrew Booth Jr. | CB | Clemson | 1 | 0.40% |
| Grand Total | 253 | 100.00% |
As you can see the big shift towards safety has put Kyle Hamilton at the top list over Garrett Wilson and Drake London who fell to the second and third spots on the board.
Looking at the mocks from the past 20 days, the top nine picks, which cover 92.5% of the mock picks, don’t include any quarterbacks. Wide receivers cover four of the nine picks with Garrett Wilson leading. Kyle Hamilton leads Derek Stingley Jr. for the defensive backfield picks. Charles Cross, offensive line, and Devin Lloyd, linebacker round out the list.
| Player | Position | School | Picked Count | Picked % |
| Kyle Hamilton | S | Notre Dame | 39 | 26.53% |
| Garrett Wilson | WR | Ohio State | 29 | 19.73% |
| Drake London | WR | USC | 26 | 17.69% |
| Derek Stingley Jr | CB | LSU | 18 | 12.24% |
| Chris Olave | WR | Ohio State | 10 | 6.80% |
| Charles Cross | OT | Mississippi State | 5 | 3.40% |
| Ahmad Gardner | CB | Cincinnati | 3 | 2.04% |
| Devin Lloyd | LB | Utah | 3 | 2.04% |
| Jameson Williams | WR | Alabama | 3 | 2.04% |
Trades
There were two new trades this period. Neither mock author provided any details of the trade which makes them hard to evaluate. Trading up for quarterback, especially Willis, still doesn’t make sense given other needs on this team and the amount of draft capital it would take to move up. For the Commanders, moving back in the draft and gaining more picks is the more sensible move.
| Days Old | Notes | Trade Direction | Trade Position | Trade Team | Player |
| 2 | No details provided | Up | 4 | NYJ | Malik Willis |
| 3 | No details provided | Down | 20 | PIT | Devin Lloyd |
| 40 | Washington Commanders receive picks 18, 49, and 100. New Orleans Saints receive pick 11 | Down | 18 | NO | Sam Howell |
| 37 | Pittsburgh Steelers receive pick 11. Washington Commanders receive picks 20, 52, 2023 third-round pick | Down | 20 | PIT | Chris Olave |
| 34 | Atlanta receives pick 11, 42, 2023 3rd rounder, Washington receives picks 8 and 2023 7th rounder. | Up | 8 | ATL | Malik Willis |
| 48 | Washington Commanders send picks 11 and 42 to the Carolina Panthers for picks 6 and 144 | Up | 6 | CAR | Kenny Pickett |
Bonus This Week
Finally, let’s take a look at mocks by a few key people. Everyone probably knows who Mark Maske from the Washington Post is, along with Mel Kiper and Todd McShay from ESPN and Walter from Walter Football. I included their picks along with a number of other folks of whom some readers may not be aware. The rest of the people on the list have scored highly over the years on mock drafts tracked and scored by The Huddle Report. Brendan Donahue is the current leader for accuracy based on five-year average from 2017 to 2021. Ben Standig is a two time winner of The Huddle Report mock draft contest and is a Commanders beat reporter for The Athletic.
| Site | Author | Player | Position | School |
| Washington Post | Mark Maske | Drake London | WR | USC |
| ESPN | Mel Kiper | Kyle Hamilton | S | Notre Dame |
| ESPN | Todd McShay | Chris Olave | WR | Ohio State |
| Walter Football | Walter Cherepinsky | Drake London | WR | USC |
| Sharp Football Analysis | Brendan Donahue | Chris Olave | WR | Ohio State |
| Establish the Run | Evan Silva | Jameson Williams | WR | Alabama |
| Sharp Football Analysis | Ryan McCrystal | Kyle Hamilton | S | Notre Dame |
| College Football Metrics | Xavier Cromartie | Kyle Hamilton | S | Notre Dame |
| San Diego Union Tribune | Eddie Brown | Garrett Wilson | WR | Ohio State |
| SI.com | Kevin Hanson | Drake London | WR | USC |
| The Athletic | Ben Standig | Drake London | WR | USC |
| NFL.com | Lance Zierlein | Drake London | WR | USC |
Time until NFL Draft on April 28-30: 1 week
Sources: nflmockdraftdatabase.com