Peter Schrager Predicts 2024 NFL Draft Trades, Says 6 QBs Could Go in 1st Round

Amid all of the expected chaos in the first round of the 2024 NFL draft on Thursday night, one thing that seems to be coming into focus is there will be quarterbacks selected very early.

On Tuesday's episode of The Pat McAfee Show, Peter Schrager of Fox Sports and NFL Network said the expectation is there will be multiple trades involving teams moving up and down and six quarterbacks could come off the board in the top half of the first round.

The trading part isn't much of a surprise. There has already been one trade involving a first-round draft pick this offseason when the Minnesota Vikings acquired the No. 23 selection from the Houston Texans.

There were six draft-day trades involving first-round picks last year. That was with all three first-round quarterbacks (Bryce Young, C.J. Stroud and Anthony Richardson) coming off the board in the first four picks.

The Vikings' move to acquire a second first-round pick, in addition to their own at No. 11 overall, this year seems to telegraph another deal coming. General manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah has said they won't force a trade up, but it's hard to envision them wanting to enter 2024 with Sam Darnold as their starting quarterback.

Caleb Williams is seemingly locked into the Chicago Bears at No. 1 overall. It would be stunning if Jayden Daniels, Drake Maye and J.J. McCarthy didn't come off the board in the top five.

Bo Nix and Michael Penix Jr. are wild cards in this scenario, but it's starting to seem more likely than not they end up being first-round picks.

The Washington Commanders (No. 2), New England Patriots (No. 3), New York Giants (No. 6), Vikings, Denver Broncos (No. 12) and Las Vegas Raiders (No. 13) are all in the market for a quarterback.

From that group, the Broncos seem to have the most difficult path to move up due to their lack of draft capital. They only have two picks in the top 120 and their second-rounder is owed to the New Orleans Saints as part of the Sean Payton deal.

The Raiders have eight total picks, including one in each of the first six rounds.

Per DraftKings Sportsbook, Nix is a -130 favorite (bet $130 to win $100) to be drafted by the Broncos. Penix is +260 to be drafted by the Raiders, followed by the Vikings at +380.

It's certainly possible all of the talk about these quarterbacks is being driven more by analysts than teams. Multiple mock drafts in the final days leading up to last year's draft had Will Levis being selected in the top half of the first round.

Levis wound up being the second pick of the second round at No. 33 overall to the Tennessee Titans.

All of the questions and mysteries will finally get answers on Thursday night.