NFL draft tier rankings 2022 - Highest-graded prospects for this class from Todd McShay and Scouts Inc.

As we close in on the 2022 NFL draft, prospect rankings rankings are becoming clearer and clearer. Executives, coaches and scouts for all 32 NFL teams are tweaking their boards. And similarly, NFL draft analysts Todd McShay and Steve Muench are finishing up tape evaluations at Scouts Inc. and starting to finalize their own rankings.

To stack the board, it's sometimes easier to compare players graded very close together by tiering them. Using Scouts Inc. draft grades, we separated the top prospects into different groups to help predict where they will come off the board during the first three rounds of the draft. This year, there are 106 players with at least a 70 grade, and we stacked them into six tiers. Then McShay and Muench went back and forth on what stood out, where they disagree and what this all says about the 2022 class.

Twenty-three players earn a first-round grade with a 90-plus, and 83 more are designated as a Day 2-caliber prospect. Even though these tiers include only first-, second- and third-round talents, full rankings currently include more than 350 prospects and will continue to be updated through draft day. But for now, here are our draft tiers for 2022.

Jump to a tier: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6Position breakdown

Grades of 95 or higher. Elite prospects. Should be immediate NFL starters and project as perennial All-Pro players. Worthy of a top-five pick most years. I had just one player in this tier in 2021.

McShay: It's not super uncommon for a prospect-less top tier, and it's never a crowded group. Last year, it was just quarterback Trevor Lawrence. The year before, it was just edge rusher Chase Young. The last time we had zero prospects break the 95-grade mark was 2016, when edge rusher Joey Bosa and