NFL draft order: Bears will pick No. 1 while Seahawks, Lions come up big

With the conclusion of the NFL’s common season, the primary 18 picks of the 2023 draft are set.

The Chicago Bears are the large winners (losers?) within the race to the underside because of a wild come-from-behind victory by the Houston Texans on Sunday that included a profitable fourth-and-20 Hail Mary and a 2-point conversion within the ultimate minute towards the Indianapolis Colts.

The Texans had been in line to safe the highest choose, however performed to win as a substitute and end the season with the league’s second-worst report at 3-13-1. The Bears secured the highest choose for the primary time since 1947 because of a 3-14 marketing campaign, establishing an intriguing dynamic on the high of the draft.

Bears have a QB: What is going to they do at high?

Alabama quarterback Bryce Younger is basically projected as the highest choose, whereas some consultants level to Ohio State’s C.J. Stroud and Kentucky’s Will Levis. However the Bears do not want a quarterback. They’re the uncommon workforce on the high of the draft with respectable hope on the place in Justin Fields. The Bears struggled to search out wins in 2022, however they did in order Fields emerged in his second season as one of many recreation’s most dynamic threats behind heart. The job belongs to Fields.

So now the Bears are in an enviable place. Do they take their choose of place gamers that embody potential game-changing defenders Will Anderson Jr. (Alabama) and Jalen Carter (Georgia). Or do they leverage their place to commerce down with a QB-needy workforce just like the Texans or the Colts to stockpile extra draft capital?

There’s loads of intrigue to be discovered past the primary choose, with a number of groups seeing trades repay in premium draft picks. The Seahawks will choose fifth because of the now-lopsided commerce that despatched Russell Wilson to the Denver Broncos. The Lions will choose sixth because of sending Matthew Stafford to the Los Angeles Rams. The Rams acquired a Tremendous Bowl trophy, and the Lions will add one other premium expertise to a promising younger roster. Win-win.

Story continues

The Philadelphia Eagles possess the New Orleans’ Saints’ No. 10 choose because of a choose swap in 2022. And the Texans have the No. 12 choose along with No. 2 because of the commerce that despatched Deshaun Watson to the Cleveland Browns. It is one in all three first-rounders the Browns acquired within the deal.

Let the draft hypothesis start.

2023 NFL Draft order, first spherical

1) Chicago Bears
2) Houston Texans
3) Arizona Cardinals
4) Indianapolis Colts
5) Seattle Seahawks (through Broncos)
6) Detroit Lions (through Rams)
7) Las Vegas Raiders
8) Atlanta Falcons
9) Carolina Panthers
10) Philadelphia Eagles (through Saints)
11) Tennessee Titans
12) Houston Texans (through Browns)
13) New York Jets
14) New England Patriots
15) Inexperienced Bay Packers
16) Washington Commanders
17) Pittsburgh Steelers
18) Detroit Lions