It’s now been a week since the NFL Draft began, and we’ve all hopefully at least started to move past the shock of Sam Howell dropping all the way to the 5th round of this year’s edition, among 4 Tar Heels who were eventually drafted. And while we’ve still got a whole season of college football to preview, analyze, and experience first, it can’t hurt to take a look ahead and see who from UNC’s 2022 team might be putting on an NFL hat a year from now.

The Locks

Josh Downs, Wide Receiver

Downs is probably getting even more hype than Howell was last year from draft evaluators — while Howell was supposed to be among the best of a weak QB class, Downs is right at the top of another phenomenal wide receiver group (to be fair, I’m not sure we’re going to see a down year for receivers for some time).