2023 NFL Mock Draft: Texans shake things up at No. 2, Colts pass on QB, Anthony Richardson goes outside top 10

We here at Mock Draft 2.0 will NOT kowtow to the sports betting industry and the odds suggesting C.J. Stroud is the guy at No. 1 overall. (He could be, it just feels like Bryce Young is the kid you move up to get.)

The Texans are PROBABLY taking a quarterback at No. 2, but they also turned down a chance to move into the first pick, (presumably) knowing the Bears had other suitors for the spot. So what if they’re just happy with one of the Alabama players? Houston took two of them last year with Nick Caserio in charge after Jack Easterby’s ousting. It would seriously shake up the draft in a fun way.

Cardinals GM Monti Ossenfort spent the last few years in Nashville with the Titans — when the Texans shock everyone, this No. 3 pick turns into gold. The Titans can jump up for a reasonable price (No. 11, plus the Titans’ second-round pick and a fourth-round pick) and grab a QB after Malik Willis appeared to not be Mike Vrabel’s guy.

There’s a lot of chatter about Chris Ballard’s warm seat, but Jim Irsay’s overseen a tanking operation before and beefing up your defense with a blue-chip prospect and rolling into the season with Gardner Minshew is elite tank material.

The Seahawks would prefer to trade back but it would be spot-on Pete Carroll/John Scheinder to use another first-round pick acquired in the Russell Wilson trade to beef up the offensive line, moving Skoronski to guard. Fifth is high for him here, but the pick fits. The Northwestern product’s versatility also provides backup in case a tackle gets hurt.

Christian Gonzalez is probably the top-rated corner on most boards but MAN does Witherspoon fit a Dan Campbell defense. I still *probably* think they go hog molly with this pick but this is a culture/scheme/need fit.

The Raiders could go QB here (Levis and Richardson are suddenly slipping!) but Chandler Jones seems destined to become a salary cap casualty after this year, which means Vegas needs to replenish its pass rush this offseason.

Super tempted to go with a QB here, but the Falcons haven’t shown a massive propensity to fly around the draft board. They have, however, shown some interest in adding pieces to their defense. Cornerback is an option but Drew Sanders coupled with the dudes up front (Grady Jarrett, Calais Campbell, David Onyemata) is fun to imagine. The Falcons’ defense could be taking shape.

The Bears can go a lot of different directions here. Offensive line makes a ton of sense, but those Matt Eberflus defenses in Indy always had a good combo of linebackers and solid corners. Adding Gonzalez with Jaylon Johnson would put some teeth in this defense.

Howie Roseman’s been hammering the UGA/Bama pipelines lately, which probably counts as #analytics. The trenches need depth and future starters for the Eagles. The last CB they drafted in the first round was Lito Sheppard, so anyone banking on seeing that is ignoring obvious draft history.

Confession: I actually only had the Cardinals trade out of the No. 3 spot, hoping I would draw the ire of Darren Urban as he rounded up mock drafts for the Cards website and saw another mock trade. But we’re here and they have to take someone so why not a sorely needed rusher off the edge.

I honestly didn’t plan this when I went Anderson at No. 2 but if you’re the Texans how do you not sign in blood for this right now? An elite defensive prospect and an upside-riddled QB who you don’t feel compelled to start right now … OC Bobby Slowik was in San Francisco when they drafted a smaller, slower passer a few years ago attempting to reinvent the ShanaClan offense.

Tough to peg without the Aaron Rodgers finalized, the Jets could still use help on the offensive line, especially with Mekhi Becton lingering as a question mark and Duane Brown quite long in the tooth. The only hesitation here is Woody Johnson stressing a lack of patience with this team.

The Patriots early-round history with wide receivers isn’t fantastic, so this likely won’t go over well. But it hasn’t stopped them from trying to find a *guy* — Johnston would pair nicely with JuJu Smith-Schuster and give the Pats a legit deep threat they’ve sorely missed for some time. If you don’t like Johnston or the Pats taking a WR in the first round, take it up with Belichick, not me.

‘Member when the Seahawks traded Russell Wilson and promptly took OL help early in the draft? This REEKS of the Packers doing the same thing to Aaron Rodgers, with the built-in excuse of helping Jordan Love. Flowers’ size might not be perfect but he’s a DUDE.

With Will Levis slipping, this could be a prime spot for a trade down or even just snagging the Kentucky QB. I think Ron Rivera believes in Sam Howell and would love to add a talented, young piece to his secondary. Porter has the pedigree and played at a high level — it just fits Washington kind of easily.

MOCK TRADE! Will Levis’ slide ends here with the Seattle Seahawks sensing some serious value and swapping with Pittsburgh (Seattle sends its third-round pick and 20 for Pittsburgh’s fourth-round pick and 17) so it can jump up and add a QB with some Josh Allen traits (I’ll never forget Seattle GM John Schneider watching Allen’s pro day as long as I live) who can sit and learn behind Geno Smith as necessary. The Lions and Bucs were definitely threats to take Levis too.

SPICY FROM THE LIONS! Grabbing Bijan Robinson here feels a touch excessive but D’Andre Swift is in the final year of his rookie contract and David Montgomery’s got a two- or even possibly one-year contract. Robinson behind this offensive line could cook. At some point you ignore positional value and take an elite running back at a discount. When people zig sometimes you gotta zag.

It’s pretty wild how quickly Tampa’s offense just cratered before our eyes (and it’s fine, because they won a Super Bowl with Tom Brady) — Mike Evans and Chris Godwin remain staples, but the run game is a big question mark and the offensive line has suffered some massive attrition. Beef it up with some versatility (Bergeron probably ends up kicking inside)!

Pittsburgh’s talent up front will give Van Ness time to learn and develop from elite NFL players in the same room, he’ll also be able to make some splash plays out of the gate for a Teryl Austin defense and Steelers team that surely sees itself as a competitor this season.

You might ~think~ the Chargers have a good WR corps — and it is very strong up top — but Keenan Allen and Mike Williams see monster cap hits after 2023, which could mean a change coming. Additionally, L.A. needs a vertical speed threat, particularly with Kellen Moore replacing Joe Lombardi at OC.

The Ravens could certainly draft another wide receiver as a peace offering for Lamar Jackson, but their pass rush might need some reinforcements if they want to get after the young trio of AFC North opponents they’ll see next year.

Let’s get weird!!!! Kirk Cousins fits the scheme, knows the scheme, knows the coach, etc, etc. But he’s 34 years old and has one year left on his contract. Hooker’s coming off a torn ACL so the timeline is pretty outstanding to grab a leader/scheme dependent type QB to run this KOC offense. It gives the Vikings some pretty good leverage if there’s mutual interest in running it back for 2024 and it should motivate Cousins this year. The only question is if they’ll let him know.

The Jaguars’ roster looks pretty darn stout, but Jacksonville definitely needs help on the back end of the defense. Trent Baalke hasn’t been shy about targeting Georgia for help on his roster, spending a first- and second-round pick on Dawgs the last two years. Plus, think of the cheap moving costs! (Copyright Ringer Dannys.)

The Giants dipped into the ‘Bama pool in the first round last year, so let’s run it back here to beef up the back of this defense. Branch is just 21 years old with positional versatility and Brian Daboll certainly has a viable connection with Nick Saban to find out how Branch will fit. Wide receiver would be fine here too but this is good value given what’s available later for pass catchers.

Mike McCarthy wants to run the dang ball so why not help your offense out twice by grabbing a strong run-blocking tight end who doesn’t need to be the focal point of the offense with a stout WR corps on the depth chart.

Bills fans are RABID DOGS for a wide receiver so let’s give them a seriously legit slot guy in a pass-happy offense, with Downs providing a perfect complement to Stefon Diggs and Gabe Davis.

The Bengals are loaded at wide receiver, but Tyler Boyd’s contract is coming up, they have to pay Joe Burrow and adding a stud slot guy in JSN (versus paying Boyd another big deal) could be a way to alleviate the Burrow Bomb coming to the salary cap either this offseason or next offseason. This offense could be COOKING in 2023.

Addison was a monster at Pittsburgh before he transferred to USC where he was just fine. We presume the Saints are “fine” at WR because of Chris Olave and Michael Thomas, but if Thomas (30 years old, btw) doesn’t come back and be his old self or gets hurt, things get thin pretty quickly. This could be a nice complement to help out Derek Carr.

Very tempted to go edge here. Nolan Smith would be the target based on Howie Roseman’s love for UGA. But Howie’s jumped all over Clemson prospects too and likely knows he needs to continue and build depth on the interior with Fletcher Cox long in the tooth.

The Chiefs remain ahead of the curve: with Patrick Mahomes locked in essentially forever, they’ve decided to just pepper defensive players in the draft. It’s like the reverse rookie QB contract with an alien at quarterback. And it’s obviously working quite well with a second Super Bowl win. They add more up front here.