The 2023 NFL Draft features some of the best quarterback talent that we have seen in years. There are a handful of teams at the top of the draft that would love to get their hands on one of these top prospects. We have seen a quarterback completely turn around a franchise, like Joe Burrow did just a few years ago for Cincinnati. The four quarterbacks who could be the next young star in the NFL are C.J. Stroud, Bryce Young, Anthony Richardson, and Will Levis. All of these four could be in play for the No. 1 pick that Carolina traded up for. Let’s look at all of these quarterbacks and where they may fit best.
One of the most intriguing, but questionable quarterbacks, is Anthony Richardson out of Florida. A lot of college teams run the spread offense which can greatly benefit players such as Richardson who are big and fast. In the NFL that may not work as well. It would be awesome to see Richardson in Carolina as Cam Newton 2.0. Newton took the Panthers to the Super Bowl and they would hope Richardson could do the same. He is raw and pretty inaccurate on short and medium length passes which is concerning.
C.J. Stroud is another option that Carolina could take No. 1 overall. It seems like him and Richardson are the most likely picks here. Stroud is definitely the safer pick. He appears to be NFL ready now, unlike Richardson, as he was in a complex offense at Ohio State and has all of the intangibles of an NFL quarterback. Ohio State ran RPOs, power runs, and had him throwing back shoulder passes. It was a spread offense though, so he will have to integrate into an NFL offense.
The stock on Bryce Young has seemed to be dropping. His lack of size is probably the biggest concern. At the NFL combine he measured at just five-foot-ten. Not many people have him going No. 1 but he could fall to Houston at No. 2 or Indianapolis at No. 4. Houston could be a good fit for him as they seem committed to bolstering their offensive line and just signed a veteran wide receiver in Robert Woods. In the Alabama offense, Young commonly had all day to throw or was hitting wide open wide receivers. It will be interesting to see how he does potentially on a bad NFL team like the Texans.
The ideal landing spot for Will Levis would probably be the Raiders. They just signed Jimmy Garoppolo, so he can sit and learn behind him until he is ready. Like in most college offenses he ran out of the spread but he has the skills to run any offense in the NFL. Accuracy is probably his biggest issue and he could learn a lot from Garoppolo. Levis is a project but he could have huge upside.
All four of these quarterbacks are expected to be selected in the top 10. C.J. Stroud appears the most NFL ready but the upside on players like Anthony Richardson and Will Levis could be too much for some teams to pass up.
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