Todd McShay explains his pick for first quarterback drafted in 2022

With his second official mock draft of the upcoming 2022 NFL Draft, Todd McShay explained his pick for the first quarterback selected in the draft. McShay picked Pittsburgh’s Kenny Pickett to the Washington Commanders as his first quarterback off the board, with the 11th pick of the draft.

Todd McShay’s first quarterback pick

“Pickett, to me, is the most NFL-ready,” said McShay. “I don’t care what Kiper says about being NFL-ready. 50 starts in college, got better as his career progressed [and] got healthy his final year and put it all together. He was sensational this past year. 42 touchdowns [and] seven interceptions. And clearly was in complete command of that offense. I think he comes in and he’s ready to start right away.

“But that would be an interesting situation if it is Washington with Taylor Heinicke and then there’s also rumors potentially about Jimmy Garoppolo and a trade there. So we’ll see how it plays out prior to the draft, but if they go into it with Heinicke as the only option — I think that Pickett would be a great pick there at number 11 for Washington.”

Washington picking Pickett hinges mostly on what they do in the weeks leading up to the draft, according to McShay. If the newly-named Commanders are interested in finding a quarterback through trade or free agency, they may have different needs once the draft begins. If not, as McShay believes, they could be the first team to select a quarterback by taking the one who appears to be the most polished already.

Earlier while breaking down their mock draft choices, McShay and Mel Kiper Jr. shared a laugh about McShay calling a player “NFL-ready” as Kiper claimed no draft pick is ready for the NFL and saying they were was setting them up for failure. The rule doesn’t apply to Pickett in McShay’s mind, as he believes his expansive college experience was enough to give him a head start at the pro level.

McShay is so high on Pickett’s NFL-ready skills that he even could see him jumping into a top-ten draft pick on draft day.

“I’ll go with Kenny Pickett,” McShay answered when asked which quarterback could crack the top-ten. “For two reasons. First of all, a couple team jump out, there in a little bit of a win-now mode. Carolina Panthers at No. 6, because of Matt Rhule. The clock is ticking. Then Denver at No. 9. They have a pretty good team around the quarterback position, they need an upgrade.”