NFL Draft betting odds from a year ago serve as important reminder

A year ago today, Will Levis was the betting favorite to go second overall in the 2023 NFL Draft. This serves as a reminder to block out the late-in-the-process noise.

Apr 27, 2023; Kansas City, MO, USA; Kentucky quarterback Will Levis walks the NFL Draft Red Carpet / Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports

With the 2024 NFL Draft less than one week away, we can use the betting odds of quarterback Will Levis as an important reminder leading up to the main event.

Just one year ago, quarterback Will Levis was vaulted as the betting favorite to land with the Houston Texans with the second overall pick in the draft. Instead, the Texans opted to select C.J. Stroud out of Ohio State who went on to win NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year. Levis then slid completely out of the first round and landed with the Tennessee Titans with the first selection in the second round after a trade-up.

Throughout the entire season, the quarterback battle was seen as a two-person battle between Alabama's Bryce Young and Stroud. However, as the NFL Scouting Combine rolls along and into pro day season leading up to the draft, smokescreens begin filling the air as agents, teams, and more leak information to NFL insiders.

This makes the process of filtering out what information is accurate and what information is completely based to try to win leverage from a team or player's camp is accurate. However, the Levis situation is a reminder to stick to the information that has been true throughout the entirety of the process and not the late noise that leaks out.

Just as it had been throughout the whole season, the NFL Draft rolled around and it was still just a two-man race between Young and Stroud. A similar noise is happening with the quarterback class this year.

Caleb Williams and Drake Maye have been seen as the top quarterbacks in this class since last May when the 2023 NFL Draft concluded. And while the hype around Jayden Daniels is real after his Heisman-winning season, he is now getting buzz to go second overall to the Washington Commanders.

On an even more bizarre and extreme level, NFL insider Adam Schefter has stated that six quarterbacks (including Oregon's Bo Nix and Washington's Michael Penix Jr.) could go in the first round. This would be an absurd outcome as Nix and Penix have not been viewed as first round picks throughout the process leading up to smokescreen season.

Don't buy the buzz. Daniels could go No. 2 overall to the Commanders. Passing on Maye would be a choice, but that is certainly possible. However, let the betting odds of Levis from a year ago serve as a reminder to filter your information appropriately.

Seeing more than quarterbacks selected in the top-32 picks is highly, highly unlikely as anyone beyond Williams, Maye, Daniels, and McCarthy would be a shocking outcome.