4 biggest winners and losers of the 2023 NFL Draft first round
Will Levis
A few hours ago, Levis felt like a lock to go inside the top four of the 2023 NFL Draft at the absolute worst. Indianapolis was supposedly in love with him, Carolina was rumored to be highly considering him at number one, and Houston was even a highly rumored destination for him at two; but none of those things happened. Then when you expected to trade up for him, like a Tennessee, Tampa Bay, Washington, or Minnesota, it didn’t happen, and the number of teams with a need at QB began to diminish; until there were none.
Fans of the Green Bay Packers
This is not to say that Lukas Van Ness is a bad player, but it’s certainly not what fans of the green and gold wanted. Perhaps it’s what they should have expected though, as tradition and history made it obvious that neither wide receiver nor tight end would be the selection, in hindsight. If Van Ness comes out and performs I have a feeling fans will soon forget about the feeling of disappointment they are currently experiencing. If not, however, and one of the pass catchers taken after Green Bay’s selection excels, this pick could lead to pitchforks for Brian Gutenkunst.
Chicago Bears and Detroit Lions
Instead of separating these two, I’m going to save time and combine them. Heading into Thursday night a feeling of hope and excitement surrounded both franchises as they had an opportunity to make a statement in their pursuit of turning things around. Now, I do believe that Darnell Wright, Jahmyr Gibbs, and Jack Campbell are all excellent players, with superb ceilings; but better opportunities were present.
First of all, for Chicago, the idea of trading back and still landing the prospect they probably would have taken at 1 would have made Ryan Poles look omnipotent, and maybe they were too concerned with Carter’s off-field concerns, but I have a feeling this is a mistake they’ll look back on with regret. As for Detroit, both Gibbs and Campbell are very high-ceiling players that fit the direction this team is headed in, but for a team that just signed David Montgomery and easily could have brought back last season’s leader in touchdown carries, the pick of Gibbs in the top 12 makes little to no sense; especially with prospects like Christian Gonzalez, Nolan Smith, Michael Mayer, Myles Murphy, and more still on the board.
Campbell was my top-ranked LB in this class, so I can’t say I dislike the pick, rather I dislike when the pick was made. Campbell likely would have been available at 48, and like his draft mate in Gibbs, there were numerous higher-value positions of need still on the board.