4 Sleeper Teams That Could Target Trade-Up for QB in 2023 NFL Draft
The 2023 NFL draft is steadily approaching, and with all of the rumors swirling around, we should be in for an exciting evening on Thursday.
At the time of writing, the only pick that seems certain is Alabama quarterback Bryce Young at No. 1 overall to the Carolina Panthers. After that, it feels like pure madness. The Houston Texans are reportedly more interested in a defensive player than Ohio State quarterback C.J Stroud, and Stroud could even fall out of the top seven picks, per NBC Sports' Peter King.
If the former Buckeye slides down the draft board, then we could be in store for a surprise team to trade up for Stroud or another quarterback later in Round 1 whose stock took a hit as a side effect.
Of course, the teams that everyone expects to trade up, like the Indianapolis Colts, Las Vegas Raiders and Tampa Bay Buccaneers, will be making calls. But there are a few clubs that might already have a veteran quarterback in place and could be sleeper candidates to strike a deal for a rookie as they've been more quiet about trading up before this week.
Remember, Alex Smith was coming off a Pro Bowl campaign and led the Kansas City Chiefs to an AFC West championship just a few months before the Chiefs traded up for Patrick Mahomes in 2017, so anything can happen on draft night.
Minnesota Vikings
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To the credit of Kirk Cousins and his loyal supporters, it did feel like he had turned a corner during the regular season. He finally got a win in prime time with a 300-yard performance against the New England Patriots, and the Minnesota Vikings were rolling with a 13-4 record and the No. 3 seed in the NFC playoffs.
However, then the infamous Wild Card Game happened...
Cousins returned to his conservative nature against the New York Giants, completing 31 passes for just 273 yards. That average of 8.8 yards per completion was nearly two full yards fewer than his regular-season mark of 10.7. In a way, his last pass of the outing perfectly summed up his performance: On 4th-and-long, he checked down to tight end T.J. Hockenson to drop his career playoff record to 1-4.
It's time for the Vikings to start thinking about who's going to be under center after the 11-year veteran, who turns 35 years old in August and is set to be a free agent in 2024.
The franchise could trade up for a quarterback prospect like Florida's Anthony Richardson or Kentucky's Will Levis, both of whom are considered projects. Minnesota would be a great landing spot for either player. Richardson or Levis could sit and learn behind Cousins for a season and then take the reins in Year 2.
The Vikings are somewhat limited when it comes to capital, with only five picks in the year's draft. But they can at least get by without overhauling their roster this offseason, and bringing in a potential cornerstone at the game's most important position now could be worth it down the road.
Baltimore Ravens
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Now that Aaron Rodgers has been traded, Lamar Jackson's contract extension has officially become the most drawn-out storyline of the offseason.
We're about 24 hours away from the first round of the draft, and the Baltimore Ravens and Jackson haven't reached an agreement on a new deal. He also hasn't signed the franchise tender that the team applied to him at the start of free agency.
Some people thought that the Ravens' signing of wide receiver Odell Beckham Jr. would help them make headway with the quarterback; however, that was two weeks ago, and there have been no updates on the negotiations since then. It's getting to a point where it feels like it wouldn't be much of a surprise to see Baltimore say enough is enough on draft night.
The 26-year-old has already requested a trade, and the 2019 NFL MVP should be enough for the Ravens to move up the draft board and find his replacement.
ESPN's Bill Barnwell recently proposed that Baltimore exchange Jackson to acquire the second overall pick along with some other compensation. The deal would give the Houston Texans the quarterback of the future they're looking for, while the Ravens can draft C.J. Stroud, whom Houston is apparently not all that interested in.
The Ravens have a good roster heading into the 2023 campaign, but that's not going to matter much if Tyler Huntley is starting under center. So they need to be aggressive if they want to remain a legitimate playoff contender.
New England Patriots
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While they might be able to patch things together down the road, it seems like the relationship of head coach Bill Belichick and quarterback Mac Jones is at least fractured.
It all started last offseason when Belichick didn't hire a legitimate offensive coordinator and instead brought in Joe Judge and Matt Patricia. Neither coach had much of a background on that side of the ball, but Patricia was given the play-calling duties. And Jones' play suffered.
The Alabama product regressed statistically in just about every category, and he reached out to his alma mater about how the offense should be run, which irked Belichick, according to Chris Simms of NBC Sports and NBC Sports Boston's Tom Curran. And the tensions haven't seemed to cool down much since then.
The head coach looked to trade the quarterback earlier in the offseason, according to Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk, while The Athletic's Chad Graff wrote that Belichick has seemed noncommittal to Jones since the end of last season.
Seeing as Belichick has reportedly already looked into dealing Jones, it seems like it's on the table for the New England Patriots to trade up for a new quarterback. The Patriots have 11 picks in this year's draft—six in the first four rounds—so they should have plenty of capital to get a deal done if the coach/general manager wants to pull the trigger.
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Green Bay Packers
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Now that Aaron Rodgers has finally been traded to the New York Jets, a new era of Green Bay Packers football begins. While Jordan Love is expected to take the reins, it's not out of the question for Green Bay to trade up for a quarterback, especially if some of the top guys start to slide down the board.
The sample size with Love is small, as he's appeared in 10 regular-season games with one start and hasn't attempted more than 100 passes in three years as a pro. He does have some experience playing in the preseason, but only five games at that. And he's been pedestrian in those outings, throwing five interceptions to four touchdowns.
To put it simply, the 2020 first-round pick hasn't done much to inspire hope that he's the surefire quarterback of the future, and the team has to make a big decision shortly after the draft on whether to pick up his fifth-year option at just over $20 million.
If quarterbacks start sliding out of the top five Thursday, Green Bay, which has 11 picks in the draft, could surprise everyone by putting together a nice package to trade up for Rodgers' replacement.
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