Seahawks 2022 draft class now cited as best in the NFL

3 years later, the Seahawks have the best draft class when it counts

Sports Info Solutions, which admittedly sounds like the name of a fake watered-down company that would exist in some ‘1984’esque film universe about A.I. athletes, has upgraded their grades of the 2022 draft…and guess who’s on top?

The Seattle Seahawks have overtaken the New York Jets, despite that green team having three first round picks and four of the top-36. The Seahawks did have three of the first 41, but Seattle has vaulted to number one because of a certain pick that they made in the fifth round:

Tariq Woolen.

Seahawks 2022 draft points:

Charles Cross, Boye Mafe, Kenneth Walker III, and Abraham Lucas have been no less than respectable, if not leaving points on the field mainly due to injuries. But the Seahawks have had considerable contributions from Woolen, especially in 2022, and the added bonus of Coby Bryant turning into a starter in 2024.

I recently touched on the value of the 2022 draft class earlier this week when I wrote about the most important current players from the last four years of picks, and perhaps what’s more impressive is the fact that the 2023 class could be EVEN BETTER.

Devon Witherspoon, Jaxon Smith-Njigba, Derick Hall, and Zach Charbonnet have an opportunity to become stars in Seattle, while Anthony Bradford, Mike Morris, and Olu Oluwatimi could be no less than star-ters. There is also Kenny McIntosh and Jerrick Reed.

Overtaking the Jets

SIS noted that they initially had the Jets ranked first right after the 2022 draft because New York picked CB Sauce Gardner at 4, WR Garrett Wilson at 10 (with Seattle’s original pick), DE Jermaine Johnson at 26, and RB Breece Hall at 36. Gardner has made All-Pro twice, Johnson has made Pro Bowl once, and Wilson has posted at least 1,000 yards in all three seasons.

But remarkably, the Seahawks landed their own starting corner in the fifth round, while Mafe has more career sacks than Johnson and Walker has more career rushing yards than Hall.

I touched on Walker’s potential for a breakout season in 2025 in Wednesday’s “Him or Him?” survey (still time to vote!), and All_22 Films did a great breakdown this week explaining why that could happen:

The Jets didn’t pick an offensive lineman until career backup Max Mitchell in the fourth, and they have since had to draft two first round tackles (top-11) in each of the past two drafts. Comparatively, the Seahawks also landed Cross and Lucas in 2022, giving Seattle no less than “lots of hope” that their two bookend problems are already solved.

Rams, 49ers bad

SIS initially ranked the 49ers class 28th and the Rams 31st at the conclusion of the 2022 draft. Now three years later, the Rams are 28th and the 49ers got a huge boost from taking Brock Purdy with the last pick in the draft.

Neither L.A. nor San Francisco had a pick in the top-60 (Rams lost theirs in trade for Matthew Stafford, 49ers lost theirs in traded for Trey Lance) and the Rams didn’t pick in the top-100.

Woolen picked up SIS’s 9th-best overall Total Points score from the entire draft class:

Another notable name to talk about there is the player who Woolen is tied with, Tyler Linderbaum. As I wrote this week, drafting a center in the first round is a risk, not just if he doesn’t hit, but also if he does. Linderbaum is an awesome player, but the Ravens had to decline his fifth-year option because he’s a center and for no other reason.

This only leaves maybe a 2% chance that the Seahawks will pick up Grey Zabel’s fifth-year option, no matter what happens.

Oddly, there was a significant amount of secondary value in the 2022 draft, including Woolen, Gardner, and Ravens safety Kyle Hamilton. Seattle hopes that Nick Emmerson can be their version of a versatile player in the box-ish area who can create chaos that benefits Mike Macdonald’s Seahawks.

The Seahawks won a Super Bowl in 2013 and reached another in 2014, largely because of their draft classes from 2010-2012. What can Macdonald and John Schneider do with this roster if Seattle’s front office found another hot streak from 2022-2025?

Seaside Joe 2257