BR: Florida Gators' Final NFL Draft Prospect Rankings and Superlatives
We're just over 24 hours away from the opening of the 2022 NFL Draft, and the Florida Gators are expected to push their incredible 70-year streak of having at least one player selected in the event to 71 years once it kicks off.
On Wednesday, the five-man scouting staff at Bleacher Report — comprised of a mix of long-time analysts and former players and coaches — released its final 2022 NFL Draft big board, ranking the top 300 players in this year's event overall and by position with superlatives to go with the positional rankings.
Four Gators made the top 300 with three falling within the first 256 players, indicating that Bleacher Report is confident those three will be drafted while the fourth has a chance to sneak into the final day of the selection ceremony. You can find each Florida prospect, their ranking and superlative below.
Note: The number in parenthesis next to each prospect indicates their spot on Bleacher Report's grading scale, which includes summarized draft pick and career projections.
Overall rankings
14. Kaiir Elam, CB, Florida (8.5, immediate impact prospect/first round)
143. Dameon Pierce, RB, Florida (6.6, potential role player/fourth round)
168. Zachary Carter, DL, Florida (6.4, high-level developmental prospect/fifth round)
284. Jeremiah Moon, Edge, Florida (5.5, backup/draftable/sixth or seventh round)
Positional rankings and superlatives
Elam: No. 3 cornerback, "best in zone coverage"
Pierce: No. 10 running back, "biggest sleeper"
Carter: No. 15 defensive lineman
Moon: No. 30 edge rusher
Analysis
Bleacher Report's big board is similar to AllGators' final Gators mock draft, which we released on Monday.
We strongly believe that Elam, Pierce and Carter will all hear their names called before the draft is over, with Elam projected as a first-round pick, Carter projected in the late third round and Pierce projected in the early fourth round. BR, meanwhile, views Carter as a fifth-rounder but projects Elam and Pierce in the same rounds as we do.
Like Bleacher Report, we also believe a fourth Gator could sneak into the late rounds of the draft despite not being ranked highly. However, BR has a different Florida prospect in mind as a late-round pick than we do.
Moon is a candidate to be drafted, surely, as he's a unique linebacker prospect given his incredible athletic profile, ranking in the 85th percentile or better in height, weight, wingspan, arm length, hand size, vertical and broad jump among linebackers.
BR believes Moon will be an edge rusher at the next level, which he has plenty of experience playing from his time at Florida. However, he performed his best after the move to inside linebacker in 2021 and is the type of "freak" athlete for the position that teams have begun to look for in recent years.
His biggest downfall, though, is his injury history. Moon suffered four season-ending injuries (of various degrees) in his six-year Gators career, including this past year which kept him from participating in the Senior Bowl, and even hurt himself during the 40-yard dash at Florida's pro day in March.
When Moon was on the field, his production was solid but not stellar as he never topped 49 tackles, three sacks or 6.5 tackles for loss in a season. In our eyes, injuries and a lack of production could push Moon into undrafted free agent territory.
Instead, we could see Gators three-year starting right tackle Jean Delance taken in the sixth or seventh round due to his own athletic profile.
Delance doesn't carry injury concerns into the draft, has 37 games of SEC starting experience, is an above-average athlete and possesses 97th percentile arm length, a physical feature teams drool over at offensive tackle. As a result, at least 25 teams met with Delance at the 2022 East-West Shrine Game.
Although he was suspect in pass protection during his time at Florida, Delance emerged as one of the team's best run blockers last season when the Gators ranked fourth in the SEC in rushing yards per game in 2021. Run blocking appeared to be a strength of Delance's in years past, but Florida didn't run the ball enough to showcase it.
With offensive line depth being a constant need for just about every team in the NFL, Delance could be an intriguing developmental prospect late in the draft. It may surprise Florida fans to hear Delance's name get called, but teams have taken chances on athletic offensive tackles plenty of times in the past.
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