Winners & Losers of the 2023 NFL Draft

By: Michael Higgins

(Image courtesy of Chiefs.com)

We are now days removed from an NFL Draft that provided plenty of surprises and eye-popping developments. After plenty of outrage and overreactions over every little pick, it is now the period of time where cooler heads can prevail to really analyze the draft as a whole. While we will not know the true winners and losers until we are years removed from the draft, we can certainly prematurely deem certain teams as winners and losers of this draft. Just because a team is not talked about in this article does not mean they did not win the draft or have a good draft. These are just my personal favorite and least favorite classes, without rambling off about every team’s draft. With that being said, here are the biggest winners and losers of the 2023 NFL Draft.

(Image courtesy of David Eulitt/Getty Images)

My first winner is an obvious choice that everyone has been talking about, the Philadelphia Eagles. Due to proper asset management, a team that just went to the Super Bowl had two first round picks, including a top-10 pick. With the 9th overall selection, the Eagles selected Georgia IDL Jalen Carter. Many saw Carter as the best overall player in the entire class, but unfortunate off-the-field developments resulted in him falling into Howie Roseman’s lap. Without making any assumptions on Carter’s legal situation, it is safe to say that the Eagles are a great fit. They are a good enough team to take a risk like that in the top-10, while he will not have to shoulder the load of a defense. The Eagles closed out their first round by selecting another Georgia Bulldog, EDGE Nolan Smith. Another guy who has great value at the end of the first round. A few more great picks were Illinois safety Sydney Brown and Kelee Ringo, the Georgia cornerback. Ringo was a player that was mocked to go early in the first round as the best cornerback in the class in the early pre-draft process. To build a winning culture, a team has to have chemistry. What better way to build chemistry than to draft a group of tight-knit players from the greatest team in college football? Not to mention, the Eagles made a Draft Day trade to acquire former Georgia RB D’Andre Swift. A low-risk, high-reward running back who adds versatility to that position.

(Image courtesy of Kirby Lee/USA TODAY Sports)

Another winner for me in this draft is the Baltimore Ravens. After getting Lamar Jackson extended, they needed to begin truly building around him. With the 23rd overall pick, they were able to select one of the most dynamic players in the draft, Zay Flowers. Flowers plays a game that perfectly compliments Lamar. Flowers can be involved in pre-snap motion and is an elite route runner. He understands leverage and how to stack cornerbacks in order to create separation. On top of getting a dynamic weapon. They added Trenton Simpson, an interesting sub-package linebacker that is great in coverage. On Day 3, the Ravens added one of my favorite press-man cornerbacks, Stanford’s Kyu Blu Kelly, and USC IOL Andrew Vorhees. If Vorhees hadn’t torn his ACL at the combine, he would’ve been selected in the first round. The Ravens took a swing on a guy who will have to sit out for all of next season but will surely be an impact starter for them down the road.

My last big winner of this draft was the Pittsburgh Steelers. The Pittsburgh Steelers did a phenomenal job of addressing their biggest needs through the draft. The best teams are built through the draft and that is how success is sustained. With the 14th overall pick, the Steelers selected Georgia OT Broderick Jones. Jones is a player with versatility to play both on the right and left side. He is a piece that will help keep the pocket clean for Kenny Pickett and keep the quarterback upright. With the first pick of the second round, they selected Joey Porter Jr. Not only does JPJ have the Steelers in his DNA, but he is also my 3rd ranked cornerback and they were able to get him in the second round, addressing another main need of theirs. In the later rounds of the draft, they got great value drafting players such as Darnell Washington and Nick Herbig. The Washington selection hints at a heavy usage of 12 personnel within the Steelers’ offense. I hate to be that guy, but Nick Herbig reminds me a lot of a young TJ Watt, but that may be a case of me helmet scouting.

My first loser of the draft is the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Tampa Bay is starting to become long in the tooth at a variety of positions, causing their list of team needs to get longer every day. One position that I would be fine with them not addressing in the draft was the interior defensive line. They have a star 1-tech in Vita Vea as well as some veteran contributors that can play in a rotational role. Kalijah Cancey is a fine player, but the Buccaneers could’ve received more value if they had addressed a different position. Even after that first round selection, they did nothing that really impressed me. I like Cody Mauch and he can certainly be an impact starter right away, but their draft class leaves me uninspired. Not addressing the running back position in the later rounds was puzzling, while they also did not seem to draft based on team needs or BPA.

(Image courtesy of Carlos Osorio/AP Photo)

My next loser of the draft, and my biggest loser, is the Detroit Lions. This pains me to write, I love Detroit and I love what the Lions are in the process of building. However, even if they hit it out of the park in Days 2 and 3 (which they did not), their decisions on Day 1 are enough to label them as one of the losers of the draft. I am a big proponent on not taking running backs in Day 1. You can find just as many gems in the backfield in the back half of the draft that you can find in the front half, it is an extremely replaceable position with a short lifespan. Drafting the RB2 in this class with the 12th pick is not good asset management, they could have traded to the beginning of the second round and still been able to get Gibbs. On top of that, 6 picks later they picked Iowa LB Jack Campbell. The linebacker class this year is extremely underwhelming, and this is another player that would have been available much later in the draft. He fits the kind of player that Dan Campbell wants, but the value was not there in the first round. As for the rest of Detroit’s draft, they had a very nice 2nd round and it almost took them off of this list. Sam LaPorta is another one of those Iowa Tight Ends that flashed abilities to run routes and consistently catch the football in an abysmal offense. Brian Branch also fell to the 2nd round due to many scouts viewing him as exclusively a nickel cornerback, but he can make plays and will be a great addition to their secondary.

Last but not least, the final loser of the draft was the Minnesota Vikings. I love what they did with the first overall pick, going out and getting a playmaker in Jordan Addison. He is going to add a new dimension to that Vikings’ offense and take some weight off of Justin Jefferson’s shoulders. However, I really liked at least one pick for every team, so I really had to get picky about the later rounds. After that first round, the Vikings left much to be desired with their picks.