I've done this a few times throughout the year and right now I've got nothing else to do before the Bengals / Chiefs game. I figured it might help some of those 2022 depth chart projections. Again, I'll only include those with enough snap counts.
| Player | Snaps | Off | Pass | Run |
| Stroud | 803 | 92.9 | 92.3 | 67.3 |
| Miller III | 43 | 72.9 | 75.9 | 57.8 |
| McCord | 95 | 58.9 | 54.8 | 63.8 |
Ewers leaving was completely inevitable. Stroud is a bona-fide superstar at QB, and finished the season as the country's highest graded passer. He's set up to have an absolutely absurd 2022 before heading off to the NFL as a high draft pick.
Projected 2022 starter = Stroud
| Player | Snaps | Off | Run | Fum | Rblock |
| Williams | 211 | 86.2 | 90.4 | 84.8 | 73.6 |
| Henderson | 508 | 81.9 | 83.9 | 83.7 | 59.2 |
| Teague III | 140 | 79.7 | 81.6 | 84.3 | 48.5 |
I don't think these grades should surprise anyone. Williams IMO is the better running back. He's much more consistent. He's got more wiggle and he's got more power. Henderson is an absolute freak of nature but he's a straight-line speed guy without a whole lot of vision at the moment. He's the homerun hitter, but I really think carries should be split 50/50 between these guys in 2022. Williams is just too good and too efficient to only see 211 snaps all season.
Projected 2022 starter = Henderson
| Player | Snaps | Off | Recv | Drop | Fum |
| Smith-Njigba | 91.8 | 92.0 | 78.6 | 66.4 | |
| Wilson | 84.1 | 84.5 | 70.5 | 82.9 | |
| Olave | 79.3 | 79.9 | 73.2 | 75.5 | |
| Egbuka | 73.0 | 74.8 | 80.1 | 33.3 | |
| Fleming | 62.1 | 62.3 | 82.2 | 69.8 | |
| Harrison Jr. | 60.7 | 61.3 | 62.9 | 67.9 |
Again, no surprises here. It's sort of crazy to think that Wilson and Olave are near 1st round locks (Wilson more so) and they weren't even the best receivers on the team. JSN is poised to have an absolutely monster 2022, and Egbuka / Fleming / Harrison Jr. look promising as well. I think we saw last night there isn't going to be much of a drop off in the passing game. It might even be better in 2022. JSN finished as the country's highest graded WR
Projected 2022 starters = Smith-Njigba, Egbuka / Fleming, Harrison Jr.
| Player | Snaps | Off | Recv | Drop | Fum | Rblk | Pblk |
| Stover | 223 | 58.1 | 58.8 | 76.3 | 65.7 | 56.5 | 72.9 |
| Ruckert | 714 | 58.7 | 54.3 | 71.4 | 30.1 | 69.1 | 48.9 |
| Rossi | 143 | 50.6 | 46.3 | 74.9 | 12.0 | 54.1 | 70.1 |
Definitely an underwhelming season for Ruckert (and the TEs overall). I'm sure he'll still end up as a mid-round pick after going through the process and it was hard to stand out with so much of an emphasis on their WRs. This group is a major question mark in 2022 with Ruckert and Rossi gone and Stover likely moving to defense. Scott Jr. is intriguing but how well can he block by next season?
Projected 2022 starter = Scott Jr. / Royer / Stover?
| Player | Snaps | Off | Rblk | Pblk |
| D. Jones | 791 | 86.2 | 89.5 | 79.9 |
| M. Jones | 459 | 82.3 | 87.5 | 73.7 |
| Johnson Jr. | 768 | 79.0 | 83.5 | 65.4 |
| Petit-Frere | 768 | 78.5 | 84.3 | 60.0 |
| Wypler | 860 | 76.8 | 81.8 | 71.9 |
| Munford | 703 | 73.5 | 75.8 | 66.2 |
Who would have guessed that Munford would be the team's lowest rated OL after the season he had in 2020? He wasn't awful, but that move to guard certainly did him no favors. It's hard to argue against trying to get Dawand Jones into the lineup though. He clearly needed to see the field. I'm hoping he sticks around and the team should be able to simply plug in Jackson or Fryar and be a pretty good unit in 2022.
Projected 2022 starters = Johnson Jr. / M. Jones / Wypler / Jackson / D. Jones
| Player | Snaps | Def | Rdef | Tack | Prsh | Cov |
| Williams | 183 | 75.7 | 60.1 | 62.7 | 82.4 | 60. |
| Garrett | 392 | 74.2 | 71.0 | 56.9 | 68.5 | 65.7 |
| Cage | 231 | 67.0 | 64.0 | 62.8 | 64.6 | 61.8 |
| Jackson | 310 | 65.5 | 63.7 | 49.9 | 63.8 | 60.0 |
| Hamilton | 255 | 64.5 | 55.0 | 66.7 | 69.4 | 70.5 |
| Vincent | 370 | 62.7 | 60.9 | 73.0 | 64.4 | 59.1 |
Overall a fairly average group in 2021. Williams started off hot but hit the freshman wall a bit. Vincent played well last night but definitely had an underwhelming season (and career for the former #1 overall DT). Garrett will be missed for sure.
Projected 2022 starters = Williams / Hamilton / Vincent
| Player | Snaps | Def | Rdef | Tack | Prsh | Cov |
| Harrison | 558 | 82.1 | 75.1 | 72.0 | 87.0 | 53.2 |
| Smith | 443 | 71.9 | 65.0 | 63.9 | 80.0 | 50.3 |
| Sawyer | 173 | 67.4 | 57.9 | 45.4 | 78.6 | 48.7 |
| Tuimoloau | 286 | 62.5 | 61.1 | 82.5 | 60.1 | 62.3 |
| Jean-Baptiste | 313 | 60.7 | 61.6 | 60.7 | 60.4 | 58.4 |
Harrison finished as the team's highest graded defender. This group was sort of underwhelming overall as well. Smith and Harrison were really solid players but just never turned into the stars they were projected to be. Sawyer improved as the year went on. Tuimoloau didn't really stand out at all to me but hopefully he'll look like a different guy in 2022.
Projected 2022 starters = Sawyer and Tuimoloau
| Player | Snaps | Def | Rdef | Tack | Prsh | Cov |
| Young | 138 | 72.1 | 73.1 | 50.9 | 50.6 | 73.0 |
| Eichenberg | 431 | 64.9 | 76.5 | 61.0 | 69.0 | 48.9 |
| Chambers | 422 | 63.1 | 53.6 | 58.5 | 68.3 | 72.3 |
| Simon | 435 | 55.5 | 64.1 | 58.9 | 65.9 | 42.9 |
| Mitchell | 354 | 44.4 | 57.1 | 45.7 | 52.2 | 33.6 |
I know Young is gone now but I went ahead and stuck him in there.
I honestly think Eichenberg and Chambers will be a fairly solid duo in 2022. I think those two are getting better and better. Simon wasn't very impressive to me, but I think there's a solid player somewhere in there. He's still young (they're all sophomores, after all).
Also, the 2021 LB situation should be a lesson for all of the fans out there that think they know best on who deserves to be playing and who doesn't. How many years were people ADAMANT that OSU was making a mistake in playing Werner (currently the NFL's #3 rated LB as a rookie) and Borland over the "more athletic and clearly better trio" of Mitchell, Pope, and Gant? How did that turn out at the end of the day? Yikes.
Projected 2022 starters = Eichenberg and Chambers
| Player | Snaps | Def | Rdef | Tack | Prsh | Cov |
| Williamson | 315 | 72.1 | 90.4 | 64.4 | 53.1 | 66.3 |
| Martinez | 197 | 70.9 | 49.0 | 43.4 | 72.7 | 74.4 |
| Burke | 733 | 68.8 | 72.5 | 76.1 | 70.4 | 66.7 |
| Brown | 458 | 67.1 | 70.4 | 55.9 | 55.0 | 67.1 |
| Ransom | 435 | 64.4 | 60.7 | 48.0 | 65.8 | 65.5 |
| Banks | 313 | 61.1 | 66.3 | 37.2 | 60.0 | 59.8 |
| Cavazos | 111 | 48.4 | 31.1 | 27.4 | 60.0 | 53.4 |
Solid season from Burke and Brown, who look like they'll be the starters again in 2022. I went ahead and added the cover safeties in this group as well; Martinez showed potential but he's got a lot of work to do in the run game. I'm not sure where Ransom fits in best, but he had an up and down season for sure.
Projected 2022 starters = Burke and Brown
| Player | Snaps | Def | Rdef | Tack | Prsh | Cov |
| Proctor | 84 | 75.2 | 74.6 | 69.2 | 73.1 | |
| Shaw | 666 | 72.8 | 70.9 | 84.9 | 58.8 | 73.4 |
| Williams | 182 | 69.0 | 74.9 | 83.9 | 68.9 | 63.7 |
| Hickman | 704 | 69.0 | 65.1 | 69. | 74.8 | 70.2 |
Ahhhh... I'm sure Shaw's grade won't be controversial or anything. Shaw finished as the team's 3rd highest rated defender behind on Zach Harrison and Haskell Garrett. I think he played pretty well for a guy that was sort of thrown into the fire into probably the most difficult position to play in this defense. Think about how many mistakes were made by EVERYONE on this defense in 2021. There were plenty. The difference is the few that Shaw made stuck out like a sore thumb due to that free safety position being the last line of defense. I'm not sure how they're going to do it but all 4 of these guys need to see the field in 2022. I'd be moving Williams to LB ASAP.
Projected 2022 starters = Hickman, Shaw / Proctor, Williams
So here's how I end up on the 2022 depth chart.
QB - Stroud
RB - Henderson
LT - Johnson Jr.
LG - M. Jones
C - Wypler
RG - Jackson
RT - D. Jones
TE - Royer / Scott Jr.
X - Harrison Jr.
Z - Fleming
SL - Smith-Njigba / Egbuka
DE - Sawyer
NT - Hamilton
DT - Williams
DE - Tuimolau
MLB - Eichenberg
WLB - Chambers
CB - Burke
CB - Brown
NB - Williams
SS - Hickman
FS - Shaw / Proctor
