This could be 1st draft since 2013 without a quarterback selected in top 10

The Senior Bowl and other postseason all-star games are behind us, and they did nothing to crystallize the picture at quarterback for the 2022 NFL Draft.

Now we wait for the NFL Scouting Combine from February 28-March 7 to see if there will be some kind of unanimity on the projected order the quarterbacks in this draft will be taken.

For now, there is no clear-cut No. 1 quarterback in the 2022 draft class, though the top four seem to be — in alphabetical order — Ole Miss’ Matt Corral, North Carolina’s Sam Howell, Pitt’s Kenny Pickett and Liberty’s Malik Willis. Howell, Pickett and Willis were at the Senior Bowl, and they were joined there by Cincinnati’s Desmond Ridder, Nevada’s Carson Strong and Western Kentucky’s Bailey Zappe, who set FBS single-season records for passing yards (5,967) and TD passes (62, 18 more than anyone else in 2021).

Quarterbacks always are over-drafted; that is, because of the position’s importance, quarterbacks always go earlier than they should. With this draft, though, what seems possible, if not likely, is that for the first time since 2013, no quarterback is going to be drafted in the top 10.

Here’s a bit deeper of a dive on first-round quarterbacks in the past 10 drafts.

+ Quarterbacks have been selected No. 1 overall in each of the past four drafts (Trevor Lawrence in 2021, preceded by Joe Burrow, Kyler Murray and Baker Mayfield).

+ Quarterbacks have gone first overall seven times in the past 10 drafts. The other three: Jared Goff in 2016, Jameis Winston in 2015 and Andrew Luck in 2012.

+ Four times in the past 10 drafts, three quarterbacks have gone in the top 10. It happened in 2021 (each of the top three picks was a quarterback), 2020, 2018 (there were four in the top 10) and 2012.

+ Twice in the past four drafts, in 2021 and 2018, five quarterbacks went in the first round. There were four in the first round in 2020 and 2012; three in 2019, 2017, 2016 and 2014; two in the first round in 2015 (they were the first two overall picks); and just one in 2013 (E.J. Manuel, who went 16^th).

+ The 2013 draft is the only time in the past 10 drafts that a quarterback did not go in the top three.

+ In all, 33 quarterbacks have gone in the first round in the past 10 drafts. Six are out of the league, while 18 were the fulltime starters for their team this season. Of those 18, 13 were taken in the past four drafts. (That means that 13 of the 17 quarterbacks taken in the first round in the past four drafts started this season. The four who did not: Josh Rosen from 2018, Dwayne Haskins from 2019, Jordan Love from 2020 and Trey Lance from 2021.)

+ The conference breakdown of the 33: Eight were from the ACC, six each from the Big 12 and Pac-12; four from the SEC; two each from the AAC, Big Ten, Mountain West and FCS ranks; and one played at an independent.

+ The schools with two first-round quarterbacks in the past 10 drafts: Alabama, Clemson, Florida State, Louisville, North Dakota State, Ohio State, Oklahoma, Oregon and Texas A&M.