Best bet for fourth player selected in 2022 NFL Draft

The 2022 NFL Draft is fast approaching and we turn our attention to who will be selected the the No. 4 overall pick, currently owned by the New York Jets. As of now, it is assumed that Michigan defensive end Aidan Hutchinson will be selected with the first overall pick by the Jacksonville Jaguars and after that, it’s truly a guessing game for how the rest of the Top 5 will play out.

A popular candidate to fall to the Jets at the four spot has been Oregon defensive end Kayvon Thibodeaux. The elite edge rusher is starting to get hit with the dreaded pre-draft criticism from “anonymous scouts” and some mock drafts have him falling to as low as No. 8. Others aren’t buying into these critiques at all and have speculated that he won’t fall anywhere past the fifth pick.

Given that there’s a host of positional needs the Jets could fill with this pick, there’s a host of options at their disposal. If Thibodeaux isn’t there, they’d have another quality edge rusher option in Georgia defensive end Travon Walker. If they wanted to shore up their secondary, they could take someone like Notre Dame safety Kyle Hamilton or Cincinnati cornerback Ahmad “Sauce” Gardner. They could decide to give quarterback Zach Wilson some more protection by drafting Alabama offensive tackle Evan Neal or give him an elite pass catching weapon like Ohio State wide receiver Garrett Wilson. There’s numerous possibilities here.

We have odds for who will be selected with the No. 4 overall pick of the 2022 NFL Draft courtesy of DraftKings Sportsbook. Let’s look at who the oddsmakers have slotted near the top.

Odds

Kayvon Thibodeaux +300
Ahmad Gardner +300
Ikem Ekwonu +350
Jermaine Johnson II +400
Aiden Hutchinson +1800
Travon Walker +2000
Garrett Wilson +2000
Derek Stingley Jr. +2000

Best bet

Sauce Gardner has risen up many mock draft boards in recent weeks and he looks to be the first corner taken in this year’s draft. We’ll say the Jets try to lock down their next Darrelle Revis and draft him at No. 4.

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