2023 NFL Mock Draft

General
1

Here’s my early take on who the NFL teams will draft in the first round.

01 Carolina Panthers
Bryce Young, QB
It’s either Young or Stroud. My money is on Young, as I think Stroud wil be the better QB and the Panthers usually pick the wrong guy

02 Houston Texans
C.J. Stroud, QB

03 Arizona Cardinals
→ Indianapolis Colts
Anthony Richardson, QB.
The Cardinals will go after a defense player, and don’t need a super early pick for that. Prime candidates for trading up are the Colts, Raiders or Titans. The Falcons wouldn’t shock me, either.

04 Indianapolis Colts
→ Arizona Cardinals
Defense.

05 Seattle Seahawks
Defense.

06 Detroit Lions
Defense

07 Las Vegas Raiders
Defense.
If Richardson is still there, the Raiders will grab him. If he isn’t, one reason could be that they traded up and grabbed him at 04. If they stay at 07, they will go defense.

08 Atlanta Falcons
O-line.
With an outside chance they go after Bijan.

09 Chicago Bears
Defense.

10 Philadelphia Eagles
Bijan Robinson, RB
The Eagles don’t have huge needs. And now they have the best RB prospect in recent years.

11 Tennessee Titans
Will Levis, QB
I wouldn’t be shocked if the Titans tried to trade up to 03 and go after Richardson. If not, they will have to hope that Levis stays on the board until 11.

12 Houston Texans
Jaxon Smith-Njigba, WR
The Texans need fresh weapons for their new QB.

13 New York Jets
O-Line
They have to protect Aaron Rodgers.

14 New England Patriots
Quentin Johnston, WR
The Patriots have one of the worst receiving corps in the league and need to address that. Or they will trade their 1st round pick away, as they often do.

15 Green Bay Packers
Defense

16 Washington Commanders
Defense

17 Pittsburgh Steelers
O-Line
I can also see them going defense, if they feel they can get their current o-liners up to speed.

18 Detroit Lions
Jahmyr Gibbs, RB
Like the Eagles, the Lions do not have huge needs. With the signing of David Montgomery, that would include RB. But Montgomery won’t be able to carry the backfield all by himself, and it looks like the Lions lost all faith in Swift.

19 Tampa Bay Buccaneers
Defense

20 Seattle Seahawks
Defense

21 Los Angeles Chargers
Defense. Unless they really trade Austin Ekeler away, but I don’t see that happening.

22 Baltimore Ravens
Jordan Addison, WR.
Or maybe another WR. But they need to add to their receiving corps, no matter if they still plan with Lamar Jackson or with another QB.

23 Minnesota Vikings
Defense. They also have a need on WR, with Adam Thielen out of town. But with KJ Osborn going strong, they don’t need to address that position in the first round.

24 Jacksonville Jaguars
Defense.

25 New York Giants
Zay Flowers, WR.
I had them down as a possible landing spot for Michael Mayer, but with the signing of Darren Waller, that won’t happen.

26 Dallas Cowboys
Defense.
Their receiving corps doesn’t look pretty, even after the addition of Brandin Cooks. But they won’t address that in the first round.

27 Buffalo Bills
Defense.

28 Cincinnati Bengals
Michael Mayer, TE
TE was their weak spot even before losing Hayden Hurst.

29 New Orleans Saints
Defense. I could also see them going RB, given that Kamara is likely to miss a sizeable portion of the 2023 season. But if Robinson and Gibbs are both gone, they will probably address another of their many, many needs first.

30 Philadelphia Eagles
O-Line.

31 Kansas City Chiefs
O-Line.

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I see Levis a Raider. Johnston has taken a lot of criticism in the last few week and now you give him the “kiss of death” for WRs in going to NE.

I don;t see Gibbs in Detroit. Maybe Saints or Falcons for now.

Nice job.

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3

If this happens, it settles what I want to do in leagues where I have a 1.01 pick.

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4

The Lions are known to put talent above roster needs. But I have to admit, the signing of Montgomery has put a damper on my prediction that the Lions will go after an RB early.

But they explicitly stated yesterday that they have no plans to trade Swift. Which means they probably plan to trade Swift. I still wouldn’t be shocked if they picked Bijan at 06.

Another 1st round RB candidate are the Cowboys, though they would have to trade up if they want a shot at Bijan, and maybe even at Gibbs.

5

Lions HC said at the combine he does not plan on giving Swift a bib work load and just wants to keep him healthy. Montgomery does that.

I could see 10-12 runs, 4-5 catches and a big year possible.

6

I would watch Da Bears for Robinson.

7

Sooo… how did I do?

:white_check_mark:

:white_check_mark:

They traded back. Got that right.

And Indy got Richardson. Got that right. I’d give me at least half a :white_check_mark: here.

Cards traded 2 spots further back and went o-line. Thought they’d go D first.

:white_check_mark:

They traded back and went RB. Didn’t project it, but at least I said I could see Gibbs in Detroit. Didn’t expect him to go at 12, though.

:white_check_mark:

Half a :white_check_mark: here.

They traded back 1 spot and went OL.

With Bijan off the board, the Eagles decided Gibbs was not good enough for a mid 1st, and traded up to reach for Jalen Carter, a commodity that may have been too hot to handle for some teams.

Levis was still there (and still is after round 1), yet the Titans followed the ongoing trend and went for an offensive tackle. Okay. Didn’t see that one coming.

After a long journey, that pick ended up in Detroit and was used on Jahmyr Gibbs. Wow. As I said, I did see Gibbs in Detroit, but not at 12.

Welp. They traded this pick to the Packers for Rodgers.
Who then used it on an OT to protect Jordan Love.
Almost got it right, no? :sweat_smile:

They traded back. Half a :white_check_mark:
The Steelers traded up from 17 and picked an OT, as expected. Another half :white_check_mark:

This one went to the Jets. I had them down for an o-line, but with the throng of OTs already off the board, they went D. Makes sense, I guess.

:white_check_mark:

The Steelers traded up to get their o-liner.
And the Pats went D instead of WR. Their last try to draft a WR in the 1st round probably went too bad. :sweat_smile:

Well, the Lions did not draft Gibbs here. Because they drafted him at 12 already. So they went LB instead.

:white_check_mark:

This one was a huge surprise. I did expect JSN to be the first WR to come off the board. But I expected him to go earlier. And I did not expect the Seahawks to be the first team to draft a WR. They sure started an avalanche, though.

They went WR as well. Like the Seahawks and Vikings (see below), I saw them drafting a WR on day 2, but not day 1.

They chose Flowers instead of Addison. I’d still give myself the :white_check_mark: here.

They got addison, and I’ll give myself another half :white_check_mark:. Still a little surprise they went WR in round 1, though.

They traded back a few spots. The Giants went D. I’m still convinced they wanted to go WR. But with the top 4 options off the board, this pick makes sense, I guess.

The Jags kept trading right further back, And the Bills, to my surprise, picked TE Dalton Kincaid. I know they are not deeply in love with Dawson Knox. Still, this one was a surprise to me.

:white_check_mark:
I wonder if they would have gone after Gibbs, if he didn’t go that early.

This one went to the Jags, who picked yet another OT.

Did they aim for Kincaid but decided to go another way after the Bills picked him up? Will be interesting to see if they go after a TE on day 2. With this pick, they went D.

:white_check_mark:

Both went D, as an entire army of OTs had already been selected.

I’m not unhappy overall. The biggest surprises to me were Gibbs (not the landing spot, but how early he went) and JSN (not how early he went, but the landing spot). And that Will Levis is still there.

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