The 2022 NFL draft begins Thursday night live from Las Vegas, Nevada. The first round will take place Thursday night, the second and third rounds on Friday night, and then rounds four through seven will finish up Saturday afternoon. Minnesota will be guaranteed at least two players drafted over the course of the weekend, but up to four could potentially hear their name called. Below is the most recent mock drafts by the draft experts as of Thursday morning saying where they think Minnesota’s former stars will end up.

Boye Mafe—Edge

Mafe has been ranked by many draft experts as one of the top 10 edge rushers available in the draft. Some people also have some concerns about his being able to defend the run well enough as well. Thus, there is a wide variety of places Boye is projected to go. Could he make it back to back seasons with a Gopher in the first round after Rashod Bateman did a season ago? We will need to wait and find out, but some people think so. Here is a list of where the mock drafts think Boye will end up:

Maurice Jones Drew—Nfl.com New York Jets 1st Round Pick #19

Josh Edwards—CBSSports.com Arizona Cardinals 1st Round Pick #23

Doug Kyed—PFF Tennessee Titans 1st Round Pick #26

Rhett Lewis—NFL.com Green Bay Packers 1st Round Pick #28

Ryan Wilson—CBSSports.com Kansas City Chiefs 1st Round Pick #29

Daniel Jeremiah—NFL.com Kansas City Chiefs 1st Round Pick #29

Lance Zierlein—NFL.com Kansas City Chiefs 1st Round Pick #29

Behind the Steel Curtin Kansas City Chiefs 1st Round Pick #29

Chris Collinsworth-PFF Kansas City Chiefs 1st Round Pick #29

Dane Brugler—The Athletic Kansas City Chiefs 1st Round Pick #30

Bucky Brooks—NFL.com Kansas City Chiefs 1st Round Pick #30

The Sporting News Kansas City Chiefs 1st Round Pick #30

Michael Renner-PFF Kansas City Chiefs 1st Round Pick #30

Sharpfootballanalysis Kansas City Chiefs 1st Round Pick #30

Chris Ransom—Draft Utopia Kansas City Chiefs 1st Round Pick #30

Chris Tomasson—Pioneer Press Kansas City Chiefs 1st Round Pick #30

Austin Gayle—PFF Cincinnati Bengals 1st Round Pick #31

NFL.com 7 round mock New York Jets 2nd Round Pick #35

Kiper/McShay ESPN New York Jets 2nd Round Pick #35

Matt Miller ESPN New York Jets 2nd Round Pick #35

Lines.com New York Giants 2nd Round Pick #36

Thor Nystrom— NBCSports.com New York Giants 2nd Round Pick #36

WalterFootball.com Pittsburgh Steelers 2nd Round Pick #52

Pro Football Network Tampa Bay Buccaneers Round 2 Pick #60

The TDG Prediction?

Why not go with the consensus. Boye Mafe makes it two years in a row with a first round pick as he goes to Kansas City with either pick #29 or #30.

Daniel Faalale—OT

Big Dan came to Minnesota with the NFL already salivating over his size. After two up and down seasons with Minnesota he will jump to the NFL and the NFL is still salivating over his size. He had some work to do before being a consistent NFL starter but you can’t coach size. It’s likely Faalele will go on Day 2 of the draft, but once again there seems to be quite the variation between those that see him as a second rounder, and those who see him waiting until round three.

Ryan Wilson 2 round CBS Sports New York Giants 2nd Round Pick 36

The Sporting News Chicago Bears Round 2 Pick 48

Lines.com Chicago Bears Round 2 Pick 48

Thor Nystrom NBCSports.com Kansas City Chiefs 2nd Round Pick 50

Walter Football New York Jets Round 3 Pick 69

Pro Football Network Jacksonville Jaguars Round 3 Pick 70

Matt Miller ESPN Denver Broncos Round 3 Pick 75

The Athletic 7 round mock Baltimore Ravens Round 3 Pick 76

Kiper/McShay ESPN Los Angeles Chargers 3rd Round Pick 79

Behind the Steel Curtain Las Vegas Raiders Round 3 Pick 86

CBS Sports 7 round mock Tennessee Titans 3rd round Pick 90

The TDG Prediction?

We will take a little from column A and a little from Column B. Our prediction—Faalele is drafted by the Chicago Bears, but with their 3rd round pick #71 overall.

Esezi Otomewo—DL

A recruit out of Indianapolis Otomewo turned by the time his college career was over into a athletic defensive lineman. Like Faalele you can’t teach size and at 6’6 and 285 pounds with quick twitch muscles while raw an NFL team can try and mold him into a potential defensive line pass rusher. Otomewo got hurt late in the season so didn’t get to shine at the Combine as much as Maye did which slid him a bit down draft boards, but he should solidly be a third day selections of someone.

Pro Football Network Green Bay Packers Round 5 Pick 171

CBS Sports 7 round New York Giants Round 6 Pick 182

Matt Miller ESPN Philadelphia Eagles Round 7 Pick 237

The Athletic 7 round Indianapolis Colts Round 7 Pick 239

The TDG Prediction?

Otomewo will be selected in the early 7th round....lets say pick 224 by the Miami Dolphins

No other Gophers including Blaise Andres, Jack Gibbons, Coney Durr, Ko Kieft or anyone else are found on any other mock drafts. Most likely they will all try and sign UDFA deals after the draft comes to an end on Saturday evening. We will have a full recap of the draft and where the Gophers were signed nearly next week.