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Caleb Williams? Shedeur Sanders? Drake Maye? Where do these quarterbacks rank in the top five for the 2024 NFL draft?
Though it is a tad early to make concrete statements on where we think all the prospects in next year’s draft class will go, we have been shown flashes and potential by a ton of players that clearly have NFL talent. There is plenty of weeks to go for players to flash that talent needed at the next level, but for the moment here is what we have for the top five quarterbacks in the 2024 class so far.
Let’s dive in.
Now that the 2023 NBA draft is done, what better time than now to run another 2024 NFL first-round mock draft?
Now that the 2023 NBA draft is in the bag, what better excuse can we at Touchdown Wire have to do another 2024 NFL mock draft? The 2023 college football season is still weeks away, and it’s the dead part of the NFL timeline, so while we don’t think we’ll see any insane deals like the one the Wizards and Suns pulled off (unless the Rams decide to get weird again), it is time to start thinking about what NFL teams will need after the 2023 season and after 2024 free agency.
This time, the draft positions are courtesy of the Pro Football Network mock draft simulator, with no first-round trades during the simulation.
Without further ado, here’s one version of how the first round of the 2024 NFL draft might look.
In Doug Farrar’s latest 2024 mock draft, the Cardinals, Buccaneers, Raiders, and Packers are in the market for new franchise quarterbacks.
May and June mark the “slow” part of the NFL year (don’t tell that to DeAndre Hopkins’ agent), which means that teams are now engaging in some summer scouting in between all the minicamp preparation and whatnot. This means, of course, that teams are already putting the work in on prospects for the 2024 NFL draft.
We’re doing the same at Touchdown Wire, and based on projected team needs and our own initial tape work, we thought it would be interesting to start up the inevitable 2024 mock drafts! In this case, the order of teams is set by Pro Football Focus’ Mock Draft Simulator, and we go from there.
And in this mock, we have four teams looking for new franchise quarterbacks in the first round. The Arizona Cardinals, who have the first two picks overall, are starting the process of moving on from Kyler Murray, which may or may not be an actual thing by the end of the upcoming season… but it could be. We also have the Tampa Bay Buccaneers looking to accentuate a quarterback room that currently consists of Baker Mayfield, Kyle Trask, and John Wolford, which kinda speaks for itself.
Also, the Las Vegas Raiders may well be tired of the Jimmy Garoppolo Experience after one year of it, and the Green Bay Packers may be in a situation where the Jordan Love succession plan didn’t go quite as everybody hoped.
So, here’s one version of how the first round of the 2024 NFL draft might go.
In this 2024 NFL mock draft, the Arizona Cardinals benefit to an historic degree from their 2023 first-round trade with the Houston Texans.
The story of the 2024 NFL draft began with the trade that brought Alabama edge-rusher Will Anderson Jr. to the Houston Texans with the third overall pick. To make that move with the Arizona Cardinals, the Texans gave up their 12th overall pick in 2023, as well as the 33rd overall pick this year (which the Cardinals flipped to the Tennessee Titans so the Titans could take Kentucky quarterback Will Levis), as well as a first- and third-rounder in the 2024 draft.
That first-rounder in the 2024 draft, per Pro Football Focus’ 2023 season simulations, could leave the Cardinals in a spot usually never seen. The 1992 Indianapolis Colts are the only team in any major professional sport to ever have the first two picks in a draft (they took defensive lineman Steve Emtman and linebacker Quentin Coryatt), but that’s where PFF has the Cardinals in their 2024 Mock Draft Simulator.
Were that to happen, the Cardinals would be in a position to take a near-generational quarterback and receiver, which is what we have them doing with the first two picks.
This 2024 mock is also good news for the Green Bay Packers, who pick up the first-round pick from the New York Jets for Aaron Rodgers, based on Rodgers playing at least 65% of the Jets’ offensive snaps in 2023. Here, Green Bay gets its future franchise quarterback with the assumption that it isn’t Jordan Love, and there’s a double-down for the team’s next great offensive tackle.
Not a bad haul in all, and here’s an all-too-early version of how the first round of the 2024 NFL draft might go.
