Super Bowl LVI is over, and the entire NFL is now officially in offseason mode. This also means that teams will turn their full attention to the next big dates on the calendar: free agency and the draft, who are set to begin in mid-March and late April, respectively.
It remains to be seen how the two shape out, but we already have a road map of sorts — from the list of players set to enter free agency, to each team’s individual needs, to the order in which teams will pick during the draft. The latter was finalized on Sunday with the Los Angeles Rams beating the Cincinnati Bengals in the Super Bowl.
As a result, the official selection order of the NFL’s 2022 draft now looks as follows:
- Jacksonville Jaguars: 3-14 (.512 SoS)
- Detroit Lions: 3-13-1 (.528 SoS)
- Houston Texans: 4-13 (.498 SoS)
- New York Jets: 4-13 (.512 SoS)
- New York Giants: 4-13 (.536 SoS)
- Carolina Panthers: 5-12 (.509 SoS)
- New York Giants via Chicago Bears: 6-11 (.524 SoS)
- Atlanta Falcons: 7-10 (.472 SoS)
- Denver Broncos: 7-10 (.484 SoS)
- New York Jets via Seattle Seahawks: 7-10 (.519 SoS)
- Washington Commanders: 7-10 (.529 SoS)
- Minnesota Vikings: 8-9 (.507 SoS)
- Cleveland Browns: 8-9 (.514 SoS)
- Baltimore Ravens: 8-9 (.531 SoS)
- Philadelphia Eagles via Miami Dolphins: 9-8 (.464 SoS)
- Philadelphia Eagles via Indianapolis Colts: 9-8 (.495 SoS)
- Los Angeles Chargers: 9-8 (.510 SoS)
- New Orleans Saints: 9-8 (.512 SoS)
- Philadelphia Eagles: 9-8 (.469 SoS)
- Pittsburgh Steelers: 9-7-1 (.521 SoS)
- New England Patriots: 10-7 (.481 SoS)
- Las Vegas Raiders: 10-7 (.510 SoS)
- Arizona Cardinals: 11-6 (.490 SoS)
- Dallas Cowboys: 12-5 (.488 SoS)
- Buffalo Bills: 11-6 (.472 SoS)
- Tennessee Titans: 12-5 (.472 SoS)
- Tampa Bay Buccaneers: 13-4 (.467 SoS)
- Green Bay Packers: 13-4 (.479 SoS)
- Miami Dolphins via San Francisco 49ers: 10-7 (.500 SoS)
- Kansas City Chiefs: 12-5 (.538 SoS)
- Cincinnati Bengals: 10-7 (.472 SoS)
- Detroit Lions via Los Angeles Rams: 12-5 (.483 SoS)
As can be seen, the Patriots come in at 21st after finishing the 2021 season as a playoff team that was eliminated in the wild card round. Even though they share their 10-7 record with the Raiders, their inferior strength of schedule means that they win the tiebreaker between those two teams and get to pick first among them.
Nonetheless, the Patriots are on track to have a comparatively pick earlier again. Since 2012, when linebacker Chandler Jones was selected 21st overall, the team has had just one selection coming in earlier: quarterback Mac Jones was picked at No. 15 last year. With that position now addressed, the team is in a rather comfortable position and can either go best player available or swing a trade to add more draft capital.
At the moment and putting previous trades as well as the compensatory selection process as projected by Over the Cap into account, New England is set to own the following six selections this year:
- Round 1: 1-21
- Round 2: 2-54
- Round 3: 3-85
- Round 4: 4-126*
- Round 6: 6-199*, 6-209*
*projected draft slots
As far as the draft order for the first round is concerned, we can see that five teams do not own any picks on Day 1 at the moment. The Bears, Seahawks, Colts, 49ers and Rams all traded their selections away: Chicago and San Francisco did so to move up in the first round last year, Seattle to acquire safety Jamal Adams, and Indianapolis and L.A. to add quarterbacks Carson Wentz and Matthew Stafford.
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