NFL Draft Odds: Richardson Soars, Levis Plummets in Wild First Round of 2023 NFL Draft
Quarterbacks Dominate Early Selections in 2023 NFL Draft

Seattle Pulls Off Surprise At No. 5 and Will Levis Still On the Board
If the first round of the NFL Draft ended after former Alabama quarterback Bryce Young was selected with the top overall pick, all the draft “experts” would have looked pretty good.
After that, chaos ensued beginning with Houston picking Ohio State‘s C.J. Stroud second overall and then rolling the dice by sending a pair of future quality picks to Arizona so the Texans could select former Alabama edge rusher Will Anderson. Time will tell if Stroud and Anderson are considered to be among the NFL best players a few years down the road.
Indianapolis did go with a quarterback, but it was not Kentucky’s Will Levis. Anthony Richardson of Florida went fourth overall, while Levis, who was getting plenty of love to be a top-five pick from those setting the NFL Draft odds, was not drafted in the first round.
Here is a look at some of the storylines involving the top 10 picks as the 2023 NFL Draft got underway on Thursday night. Rounds 2-3 are set for Friday with rounds 4-7 to be held on Saturday.
Following the Script
According to the NFL Draft odds, Young trailed Stroud in the odds to be the No. 1 pick early on in the process. However, he had considered the guy for Carolina for weeks.
Young was priced at -15000 to be the top pick shortly before Carolina went on the clock with Levis the closest challenger at +2500.
He will love having offensive tackle Ikem Ekwonu, a top-10 pick last year to protect his blind side. However, there will be plenty of holes to fill on the Carolina offense following the trades of running back Christian McCaffrey and receiver D.J. Moore.
The other pick in the top 10 that went according to plan was the Atlanta Falcons going with running back Bijan Robinson out of Texas at No. 8.
There was slight movement with Robinson’s odds to go eighth moving from +150 to +175 in the hours leading up to the first round commencing.
Atlanta had rookie Tyler Allgeier rush for more than 1,000 yards in 2022 and the Falcons probably could start addressing the defense at some point. However, the Falcons went with the best player available. He will join fellow recent top 10 picks Drake London and Kyle Pitts in what could be a dynamic offense in Atlanta.
The Bears got offensive tackle Darnell Wright with the 10th pick. He was just behind fellow offensive tackle Paris Johnson at +300 odds to land in Chicago with the ninth overall pick so it makes sense that he was targeted by the Bears at 10.
The biggest surprise in the first round might have come at No. 5 when Seattle took former Illinois cornerback Devon Witherspoon.
Five players were ahead of Witherspoon in the odds to be the fifth overall pick. It was thought that he would end up in Detroit with -325 odds to be sixth overall. After Witherspoon was selected, the Lions traded out of the No. 6 spot.
Stroud’s odds fluctuated throughout the draft process. However, in the hours leading up to the start of the first round, he went from +300 to -1600 to be the second pick.
Let’s Make a Deal
Before the draft began, eight of the first 15 picks had already changed hands. The number grew with Houston moving up from 12th to third to select Anderson, Philadelphia going from 10th to ninth to select Georgia defensive tackle Jalen Carter, and Pittsburgh jumping into the top 15 after a trade with New England.
Carter (-325) was the clear front-runner to go to Seattle with the fifth pick and when that didn’t happen and he started to slide, the Eagles made the move to go with a Georgia defensive tackle in the top half of the first round for the second season in a row. Carter will be reunited with college teammates Jordan Davis and Nakobe Dean with the Eagles.
The Steelers aren’t known for moving up or down on draft day. However, the need to upgrade the offensive line resulted in the Steelers going from 17th to 14th to select Georgia tackle Broderick Jones.
The 14th pick was spot on for Jones as he was priced at -250 to go over 14.5 and +195 to go under.
The sixth, ninth, 10th, and 12th selections all changed hands multiple times.
Tough Night at the Office
Levis was thought to be a lock to go in the top 10 as he was priced at -1400 to be gone within the top five selections. When Indianapolis opted to go with Richardson, Levis’s draft experience was about to mirror that of former Green Bay Packers QB Aaron Rodgers.
Rodgers was thought to be the guy at No. 1 in the 2005 draft. Instead, San Francisco took quarterback Alex Smith in a move that the 49ers would like to have back. Rodgers lasted to the 24th pick in 2005. Levis wasn’t as fortunate as teams resisted the temptation to take the tumbling Levis late in the first round as he was the NFL last standings in the Green Room at the draft.
Oregon cornerback Christian Gonzalez also had a little bit of a longer wait. Coming in at +250 to go to the Las Vegas Raiders with the seventh pick, he wasn’t selected until New England scooped him up with pick No. 17.
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