Three Takeaways From The First Round of The 2023 NFL Draft

Some things to point out about strategies, trades, picks, and predictions in what has happened and what is still yet to come for the next round off the 2023 NFL Draft.

The 2023 NFL Draft is officially underway and things both have and have not gone as many expected them to -- something that seems to be the case just about every year.

Here's a look at three of the primary things of note from the first round:

1. Early trades.

Although NFL fans are reminded of this annually, the biggest thing to remember about the draft is that it is incredibly unpredictable.

There was definitely a shock that came during the third pick when the Arizona Cardinals traded their pick to the Houston Texans, who landed two consecutive picks, something of a rarity this early on in the draft.

While this was a huge advantage to the Texans and resulted in them being able to take a new quarterback and running back, fans do have to wonder why they traded an early pick, just to trade with the Lions three picks later.

2. Quarterback frenzy.

The NFL has become a quarterback-hungry league, and this draft continued to be a reflection of that. Ideally, teams obviously have a reliable starter and try to avoid a situation in which they're throwing a rookie to the wolves and allow him to hold the clipboard for a while. But that's not the case for several teams in the modern era.

Three quarterbacks were selected within the first four picks between Bryce Young (Carolina Panthers), CJ Stroud (Houston Texans) and Anthony Richardson (Indianapolis Colts).

All of these teams are in positions in which these players could see the field sooner rather than later in Year 1.

3. Quarterback picks did and didn't go as expected.

 Let's take a look at the quarterback who didn't get drafted -- former Kentucky quarterback Will Levis is still available. Since Young and Stroud were an obvious toss-up for the first pick, let's narrow down to Richardson.

The Colts could have easily taken Levis over Richardson especially since Levis seemed to be generally above Richardson in ranking, but either way, this leaves certain possibilities for the odd quarterback out.

Levis should be expected to be drafted early on the second round, though there are questions surrounding how far he could fall. How the situation continues to play out will be something to watch.