Will the NFL Draft Confirm Georgia’s Status as National Championship Favorites in 2022?

This late winter, early springtime period is crucial for both pro and college football.

The NFL Draft will take place in April, and for franchises in the big time, it’s a chance to take their pick of the best amateur players and up-and-coming stars to bolster their rosters.

For college teams, there’s the fear that their best players will be plucked by the professional ranks, and while all schools wave off their stars with goodwill and thanks, there will always be that ‘oh no, we’ve been weakened’ mindset when a rising star is drafted.

The ramifications for the College National Championship are obvious, and for the SEC teams in particular the NFL Draft is always a big moment – the Georgia Bulldogs and the Alabama Crimson Tide are generally ripe for the picking year after year, and even more so having contested the national bowl game earlier in 2022.

So who will be impacted the most by the NFL Draft, and will the Bulldogs be in a strong position to successfully defend their National Championship during the 2022-23 season accordingly?

Will the Tide Turn for Alabama?

Winners of the SEC Championship game, the Alabama Crimson Tide, were the pre-season favourites in the NCAAF betting odds to clean up in the National Championship too.

It didn’t work out that way, of course, and now Nick Saban has a job on his hands to rebuild a roster that could be decimated by the NFL Draft.

It seems almost a certainty that Evan Neal, the versatile tackler, will be drafted early in the piece –those at the NFL website even consider him the number one pick. 

Neal could be joined in the pro ranks by Jameson Williams, the wide receiver who overcame a serious injury to record 15 touchdowns and 1,572 yards in 2021.

Others – perhaps Brian Robinson Jr, John Metchie III and Phidarian Mathis – will also be in the Draft conversation, and so the work Alabama will have to do to rebuild is obvious.

Wolverines Lose Their X-Factor

One of the most badly hit teams from the NFL Draft looks set to be Michigan Wolverines, who are still smarting from defeat to Georgia in the Orange Bowl.

The bad news for them is that they will lose a number of key players in 2022. Aidan Hutchinson, the outstanding defensive end who won the Ted Hendricks Award last season, is likely to be amongst the first players drafted, and to make matters worse he could be joined in the Draft by partner David Ojabo, who made eleven sacks and created five forced fumbles in a stellar campaign of his own.

Daxton Hill is another young star that could feature prominently in the Draft, and so the Wolverines could be forced to find three replacements in key roles ahead of the 2022 campaign.

Bulldogs Buoyed

As you might expect, the Georgia Bulldogs are unlikely to go untouched during the Draft.

After stellar 2021 seasons, Nakobe Dean, Travon Walker and James Cook will be in the crosshairs of NFL front office scouts up and down the land.

But the Bulldogs were a team greater than the sum of their parts in 2021 and into the postseason, and you sense that Kirby Smart will have an easier time of things building a winning team for 2022 as well.

Will the NFL Draft Confirm Georgia’s Status as National Championship Favorites in 2022? to SEC Football

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