Only two Miami football players projected for 2022 NFL Draft
Safety Bubba Bolden and wide receiver Charleston Rambo are the only Miami football players projected to be selected in the 2022 NFL Draft according to the NFL Mock Draft Database. Rambo is the 218th consensus overall selection in the sixth round. That pick would put Rambo with the defending Super Bowl Champion Rams.
Rams coach Sean McVay participated in a coaching clinic with the Miami football program last month. Bolden is projected five picks later, but that would place him in the seventh round. The 223rd pick belongs to the Cleveland Browns. Former Miami tight end David Njoku plays for Cleveland.
Miami has not had as few as two players selected in the NFL Draft since 2016. Cornerback Artie Burns was selected in the first round, 25th overall by the Pittsburgh Steelers and safety Deon Bush went 124th overall in the fourth round to the Chicago Bears. Burns and Bush eventually became teammates in Chicago.
No other Miami players are close to being projected to be selected in the 2022 NFL Draft. After Bolden, quarterback D’Eriq King is the 356th consensus ranked player in the 2022 NFL Draft. Having only two players projected to be selected in this year’s NFL Draft contrasts with two first-round picks in 2021.
A quiet year for UM and the NFL Draft. Charleston Rambo and Bubba Bolden among the highest touted. But hearing some Day 3 buzz for LB Zach McCloud, a LB/EDGE rusher who had 22.5 TFLs during a long career at Miami.
— Adam Beasley (@AdamHBeasley) April 25, 2022
Miami defensive ends Jaelan Phillips and Greg Rousseau were both selected in the first round. Phillips was selected 18th by the Dolphins and Rousseau 30th by the Buffalo Bills. New Miami head coach Mario Cristobal will likely have a former player selected in the first round for the third year in a row.
Defensive end Kayvon Thibodeaux is projected to be selected second overall by the Detroit Lions in the 2022 NFL Draft according to the Consensus Mock Draft database. The ability of a coach to develop his players for the NFL is an important selling point in recruiting. That is even more important for high draft picks.
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Miami has developed players for the NFL, but too frequently in recent years, those prospects have been mid to late-round picks. Phillips and Rousseau were the first first-round picks from Miami since Njoku by the Browns in 2017. Development should improve under Cristobal and his highly regarded staff.