The quarterbacks of Alabama, Will Anderson Jr. and Bryce Young, declared their intentions to enter the draft. There is a time and a place for it. The Chicago Bears will pick first and the Houston Texans will pick second in the first round. The Bears snuck into the top spot after the Texans' dramatic win. Is Chicago going to keep the pick or trade it back? Will the Texans pick the signal-caller of the future? The Bears and the Texans are in the top three. There have been six trades involving first-round picks. There are five teams that are in the running to have two first-round picks. Some teams own multiple picks while others don't. The Dolphins were stripped of their pick in the first round due to tampering violations. The Rams, Saints, and 49ers will not have a first-round selection. The Broncos don't own a first-round pick, but they will have one from the Chubb trade. The first round of the draft will be held at Union Station in Kansas City, Missouri, home of the Kansas City Chiefs. The second and third rounds will take place on April 28 and 29, respectively. There are 14 picks. After Sunday Night Football, the top 18 picks will be made. The team write-ups have been updated recently. There will be a lot of teams looking to trade up to the Bears' spot in the first round. A year after not having a first-round selection, Chicago could come away with multiple firsts by trading back. In sacks and pressures, the Bears are last in the league. If they don't sign free agents, they can find help in the draft. There is a rebuild stuck in the mud. What's the reason? They are still looking for their quarterback. Before the season, there was hope that Davis Mills could be the long-term answer, but he was benched after 10 starts. Mills was the starter in Week 14 after Kyle Allen failed to impress. Houston needs a franchise signal-caller to give its rebuild legitimacy. Will it be Steve Keim or someone else who makes the decision? Keim has been the general manager. The team's "best player available" philosophy hasn't always helped it, as Arizona will have a lot of needs in the first round. The goal of the draft is to make Kyler Murray happy and give him more options to work with. If that doesn't happen, there will be a lot of tension behind closed doors as Murray gets ready to have surgery on his injured knee. Since 1998, the Colts have taken two quarterbacks in the first round. Look for a heightened focus on the passers in this class with their need at the position as dire as ever. The Colts have other issues to sort out, such as who will be their coach going forward, but there is no debate about the critical situation at quarterback, given Matt Ryan's age and performance. John Schneider is the general manager of the Seattle Seahawks. The Broncos owe Seattle a first-round pick so they get it. If the Seahawks let Geno Smith walk in free agency, they would need a quarterback as well as a defensive lineman. It is likely that Seattle will have three top-40 picks. The fourth-round receiver Amon-Ra St. Brown is off to a record-breaking start to his career after being selected by the Detroit Lions in the fourth round. The Lions are likely to have to address quarterback and CB in the draft. The secondary is Detroit's biggest need and the team needs to find young talent at that spot if it wants to compete in the future. McShay and Kiper have the highest ranked positions.
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1. Chicago Bears (3-14)
2. Houston Texans (3-13-1)
3. Arizona Cardinals (4-13)
4. Indianapolis Colts (4-12-1)
5. Seattle Seahawks (via 5-12 DEN)
6. Detroit Lions (via 5-12 LAR)
After waiting until the third round to make its first selection, Las Vegas needs to get a little bit of everything again. Even with stars like Adams, running back Josh Jacobs and defensive end Maxx Crosby, little has changed. There is a quarterback in the wild card. The Raiders have a three-day window after the season to move on with a relatively cheap $5.6 million salary-cap hit, even though they have a three-year, $121.5 million extension with a no-trade clause for quarterback.
The Falcons might be well-served by focusing on defensive linemen and edge players in the draft regardless of how Ridder performs in the last four games of the season. They are near the bottom of the league in sacks and pressure percentage, and the team desperately needs to find players to surround their star tackle. It is Atlanta's biggest need this year, only because there is cap money to play with.
The last time the Carolinas took a quarterback in the first round was in 2011. With a good chance at a top 10 pick, it is time to end the quarterback turmoil the team has been in. With the trade of running back Christian McCaffrey to the 49ers, general manager Scott Fitterer has a chance to move up for a quarterback.
The Eagles have a good chance to make a deep run in the playoffs and still get two first-round picks. Philadelphia can focus on the offensive line, defensive line and secondary now that Hurts is the starting quarterback.
Jon Robinson was the general manager for the last two years. For a team stuck in a cycle of early playoff exits, this draft will be crucial. Tennessee has invested heavily in the defense and gotten the desired results, but the offense doesn't have a lot of dynamic players, so this draft needs to yield players who can help put points on the board.
This is the second pick in the Texans' second round and came from a trade with the Cleveland Browns to get quarterback Deshaun Watson. The Texans got two first-round picks in the trade, as well as a third-round pick and a fourth-round pick.
A normal draft is what the Jets should have. They had six picks in the top 36 in the past two drafts, and now have one pick in each of the top rounds. It's hard to fill needs because they don't have as many as in the past. It's a sign of progress in their rebuild and puts more pressure on general manager Joe Douglas and his scouting department.
An additional third-round pick from a trade with Carolina, an additional fourth-round pick from a trade with the Rams, and two additional sixth-round picks from trades involving Gilmore and Stidham are included in the New England's picks. That would be a slam dunk if the offensive tackle hit the target early. The offense is 20th in the NFL in sacks taken per pass play due to the lack of play at that position.
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