2023 NFL Mock Draft, Pre-Combine Edition

I put together my first 2023 nfl mock draft on Sunday afternoon and immediately realized some things

  1. It’s much harder to do than you think surprisingly, I only started over three times.
  2. If you go by team needs to closely, invariably you will always have safeties, linebackers and tight ends fall down the board (not to mention running backs falling to day two).
  3. none of this matters until we have gotten through the combine.
  4. NONE OF THIS MATTERS until we have gotten to free agency.
  5. I am still very happy I put one together though, as now I have a baseline to work from.

Looking at Version 2.0

Mostly, this first edition made me think a lot about how to get this into shape and how others approach the draft from a “pro mocker” standpoint. To get an NFL mock draft right, I think it’s great to have lists of rankings by position but, you have to understand that if you ranked the top ten cornerbacks and had all 32 front offices do the same, you may have 33 different lists. So many factors come into play at each draft slot and all it takes is one team to do something weird and months of work don’t mean much as players fall to spots no one saw coming (looking at you, Raiders.)

So, as my eyes turn to the combine, I’ll work on tightening up the lists and considering how each camp would hypothetically treat each positional group based on how they’ve drafted in the past, what type of player best fits their scheme/needs, and even what they’ve done in free agency in years past. With the combine will come hype, which will drive many articles but they can’t all be Travon Walker, and for every riser, someone has to fall. I’ll revise this early next week after some 40 times and Wonderlic results come in. So, roast me if you must but here’s my first 2023 NFL Mock Draft of the season.

NFL Mock Draft Version 1.0

PickTeamPlayerPositionSchool
1ChicagoWill AndersonEdgeAlabama
2HoustonBryce YoungQBAlabama
3ArizonaTyree WilsonEdgeTexas Tech
4IndianapolisWill LevisQBKentucky
5SeattleJalen CarterDLGeorgia
6DetroitChristian GonzalezCBOregon
7Las VegasC.J. StroudQBOhio State
8AtlantaDevon WitherspoonCBIllinois
9CarolinaAnthony RichardsonQBFlorida
10PhiladelphiaMyles MurphyEdgeClemson
11TennesseeParis JohnsonOTOhio State
12HoustonQuentin JohnstonWRTCU
13NY JetsPeter SkoronskiOTNorthwestern
14New EnglandLukas Van NessEdgeIowa
15Green BayJordan AddisonWRUSC
16WashingtonBroderick JonesOTGeorgia
17PittsburghJoey Porter JrCBPenn State
18DetroitCalijah KanceyDLPittsburgh
19Tampa BayBryan BresseeDLClemson
20SeattleMazi SmithDLMichigan
21LA ChargersJaxon Smith-NjigbaWROhio State
22BaltimoreBijan RobinsonRBTexas
23MinnesotaBrian BranchSAlabama
24JacksonvilleMichael MayerTENotre Dame
25NY GiantsZay FlowersWRBC
26DallasJalin HyattWRTennessee
27BuffaloO’Cyrus TorrenceGFlorida
28CincinnatiKelee RingoCBGeorgia
29New OrleansNolan SmithEdgeGeorgia
30PhiladelphiaJohn Michael SchmitzCMinnesota
31Kansas CityAnton HarrisonOTOklahoma

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written by

Andy has been involved in sports betting on and off his entire adult life and has been creating content surrounding it for the past five years. While the NFL is his first love, he also bets hundreds of college basketball games every winter and loves sweating golf DFS during the football offseason.

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