List of players attending NFL Draft interesting as much because of who’s missing as who’s going

The NFL was fairly excited in regards to the 21 gamers who’ve dedicated to attend the draft in Las Vegas beginning April 28.

The league even broadcast a present on NFL Community to announce their names Thursday night.

And there was clearly a press launch to hype the upcoming occasion.

A few of the names are admittedly thrilling. Hopeful No. 1 total picks Aiden Hutchinson of Michigan and Kayvon Thibodeaux of Oregon, for instance, can be in Vegas.

However solely two quarterbacks have confirmed they’re attending the festivities. Liberty’s Malik Willis and Mississippi’s Matt Corral are the one two out of all the 2022 quarterback class who’re headed to Las Vegas.

And that implies stuff:

Both the NFL didn’t invite as many QBs because it normally does as a result of it acknowledges this 12 months’s QB class is sub-par and the gamers is perhaps ready within the inexperienced room previous the primary spherical and into the second spherical on Friday.

Malik Willis #7 of the Liberty Flames reacts in the course of the LendingTree Bowl at Hancock Whitney Stadium on December 18, 2021 in Cell, Alabama.
(Jonathan Bachman/Getty Photographs)

Or a bunch of fellows the NFL did invite determined it might be higher to hang around with household and skip the large manufacturing in Vegas.

Regardless of the purpose, the purpose is that, for an occasion that’s supposed to focus on who’s getting picked after which hugging commissioner Roger Goodell, this listing truly appears newsworthy due to the gamers who aren’t anticipated to attend.

Kenny Pickett of Pittsburgh is just not on the listing.

Pickett, arguably probably the most NFL-ready quarterback on this draft and one many analysts see as the most effective of the group, reportedly plans to be in his hometown in New Jersey along with his household and fiancee on draft weekend.

And that’s cool. Typically guys don’t embrace the thought of embracing the commissioner.

Pittsburgh quarterback Kenny Pickett passes towards Wake Forest in the course of the first half of the Atlantic Coast Convention championship NCAA school soccer recreation Saturday, Dec. 4, 2021, in Charlotte, N.C.
(AP Photograph/Jacob Kupferman)

Final 12 months, first total decide Trever Lawrence skipped the draft and stayed house with household. So did Justin Fields.

However Trey Lance, Zach Wilson, and Mac Jones confirmed up. And bought picked within the first spherical.

This 12 months, quarterbacks resembling Desmond Ridder of Cincinnati, Sam Howell of North Carolina, Nevada’s Carson Robust, and others gained’t be on the purple carpet. And apparently the NFL doesn’t count on them within the first spherical.

Oh, yeah, right here’s an entire listing of the 21 gamers the NFL says can be on the draft in Las Vegas.