2023 NFL redraft: The top 15

With the 2023 NFL regular season complete, we have had a chance to look at all the rookies and start to get some idea of how they’ll fare in the pro game. Now it’s time to take a look back at the top-15 selections in the 2023 NFL draft and see what teams would’ve done with the benefit of hindsight.

The Panthers went all in on acquiring the first overall pick and decided to select Bryce Young. So far Young has struggled, and his struggles are only highlighted by how well Stroud has played in his rookie year. With hindsight, Stroud is the pick and the Panthers’ season could’ve looked a lot different.

It is tough to garner too much information from Richardson’s time in the NFL given the injuries he suffered, however, given the Texans’ offense and willingness to take some risks with the new regime, Richardson could well have been the pick over Young.

Sometimes, picks just feel right for everyone involved. The Texans selecting Anderson is one of those picks so in this instance, there’s no need to change anything.

With Richardson off the board and QB remaining a priority, the Colts take the last available from the big three pre-draft options. Young has struggled so far, but the talent and coaching around him have not been kind, perhaps in Shane Steichen’s system things could have been different.

Much like Will Anderson Jr. in Houston, Witherspoon to Seattle felt right from day one. In a defense that has mostly struggled, Witherspoon has balled out all year and continues to look like an absolute stud.

Jalen Carter started the year looking like the best defensive tackle prospect in quite some time, in recent weeks he seems to have hit the proverbial ‘rookie wall’ and the Eagles’ defense has taken a huge downturn as a result. The Cardinals went OT here, but given Carter’s talent, he makes more sense in retrospect.

The Raiders offensive line is one of the better units on their team, but Johnson has shown flashes of real talent during his rookie year, and adding someone with his physical prowess looks like a sensible choice at this point.

The Falcons took Bijan, one of the better RB prospects we’ve seen for quite some time, and simply refused to use him in big moments for most of the season. However, when he was on the field, his talent was obvious so we’re leaving this one as is.

We loved Gonzalez in the draft, and given the Eagles’ need for an injection of youth in their secondary, this pick makes almost too much sense.

Darnell Wright has certainly not been bad for the Bears, but Skoronski looks natural in the NFL and is more of a ‘plug-and-play’ type. In this spot, a wide receiver was also tempting to give Justin Fields as many options as possible.

Will Levis could’ve been the pick here given the flashes he showed, but for us he needs to showcase a little more before he select him 11th overall. The Titans now stick with their original plan and upgrade the offensive line.

The Lions selected Jahmyr Gibbs with this selection which, for us, was a bit of reach. Ironically, their second-round selection of Brian Branch has proven to be their best pick as the versatile DB has been lights out all year. Given what we know now, there’s no chance he makes it out of the first round.

The Packers have built a young and talented receiving corps around Jordan Love, but adding a rookie as talented as Addison (and stopping the Vikings from taking him) would add a sprinkling of star power that we would love to watch.

Jones fell all the way to the fourth round in the 2023 draft as he came with some injury concerns. Since stepping into the starting lineup early in the season, Jones has played extremely well, even if he did suffer a season-ending MCL tear recently.

The Jets selected Will McDonald IV with this pick in the real draft, a confounding selection even then. Now, with only nine tackles to his name in his rookie year, it looks even stranger when they could have gone all in on offense and given the then-not-injured Aaron Rodgers another weapon.