The NFL Draft seems to get more and more entertaining with every passing year, with all 32 teams more willing to wheel and deal to improve their draft position.
In the 2023 NFL Draft, a record number of trades were made, with 41 deals going down throughout the annual event, according to Brad Spielberger of PFF, which is remarkable, to say the least.
41 Draft trades now a record (at least in the rookie wage scale era)
A ton of movement this year
— Brad Spielberger, Esq. (@PFF_Brad) April 29, 2023
It seemed that every team in the league was willing to talk about making deals, and that may be a testament to many believing it was a weak draft class, so teams weren’t sold on certain players and didn’t mind trading down or at least discussing options.
Well before the 2023 NFL Draft got underway last Thursday, the Chicago Bears traded the No. 1 overall pick to the Carolina Panthers, which ultimately turned out to be former Alabama Crimson Tide star quarterback Bryce Young.
Although that was a massive trade, the biggest surprise deal on draft day was the Houston Texans trading up to No. 3 in order to select linebacker Will Anderson Jr. out of the University of Alabama.
The Texans had just drafted C.J. Stroud out of Ohio State University at No. 2 overall to be the team’s new face of the franchise, and no one expected Houston to immediately get back to work and make a deal with the Arizona Cardinals for the next pick.
Perhaps this draft sets the standard for the next few years as trades become more and more frequent in a league where trades rarely ever happened in the past.
