2023 NFL draft live updates: Panthers expected to pick Bryce Young No 1

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In a way, the Ravens have already won the day and they haven’t even made a pick yet.

Predictions

I’m already second-guessing myself about the Houston Texans. The current chatter is that they’re not going to be going with a QB with the No 2 pick. We’ll see. As of this morning, these were my predictions for the top ten picks.

1. Carolina Panthers: Bryce Young, quarterback

2. Houston Texans: C.J. Stroud, quarterback

3. Arizona Cardinals: Will Anderson, edge

4. Indianapolis Colts: Anthony Richardson, quarterback

5. Seattle Seahawks: Jalen Carter, defensive tackle

6. Detroit Lions: Devon Witherspoon, cornerback

7. Tennessee Titans (via trade with the Las Vegas Raiders): Will Levis, quarterback

8. Atlanta Falcons: Tyree Wilson, edge

9. Chicago Bears: Christian Gonzalez, cornerback

10. Philadelphia Eagles: Nolan Smith, edge

Bonus Prediction: The New England Patriots will not trade down at No 14.

Have your own prediction about who your favorite team will draft? Which players will slide and which players will rise? Which teams will trade up or down in this first round? Feel free to send us your predictions, either via email (to hunter.felt.freelance@theguardian.com) or via Twitter (to @HunterFelt) and we’ll use them here.

Fun fact

I won’t lie, this bit of trivia absolutely stunned me, considering that Alabama has had 79 players selected in the first round of the NFL draft (and very much counting).

Rumor: The Arizona Cardinals trading down?

Of course, the Arizona Cardinals will have final say on where Hopkins will land. The latest rumors have the Cardinals sending him to the Tennessee Titans for the 11th overall pick plus additional lower picks. It’s a bit of an odd move for them to trade down, one imagines that it’s a deal being considered for financial reasons rather than football ones.

Lamar Jackson

It looks like that rift between the Baltimore Ravens and Lamar Jackson has healed. Hours before the draft came reports that the Ravens signed their franchise QB to a five-year, $260 million extension ($185 million guaranteed). That’s a large enough contract to make Jackson the league’s highest-paid player. This follows reports that the Ravens are seeking a trade for Arizona Cardinals wide receiver DeAndre Hopkins, a way to appease the frustrated QB by pairing him with a brand-new weapon.

Preamble

Welcome to the most important event in the NFL calendar that does not actually involve any actual football. Yes, it’s time for the 2023 NFL Draft! Every year, NFL teams come together to select what they believed to be the most pro-ready eligible players in college football.

Of course, not every team will be picking in today’s first round. The Los Angeles Rams, Denver Broncos, Cleveland Browns and San Francisco 49ers will not be active as they have parted ways with their selections in various trades. Meanwhile, the league has taken away the Miami Dolphins’ first-rounder as punishment “for violating the policies pertaining to the integrity of the game” (as someone writing this from New England Patriots territory, I can assure you that this is not the first time the NFL has done such a thing).

This draft looks to be heavy with quarterbacks on top, a drastic change from last year’s somewhat less hyped-up affair. This would be the primary reason that the Chicago Bears traded the number one overall pick to the Carolina Panthers. At this point, it looks like it’s all but confirmed that the Panthers have decided on Alabama QB Bryce Young unless these reports were all just a gigantic smokescreen.

After that, things get much harder to predict! In fact, the people who make it their full-time jobs to try to forecast the NFL Draft have had remarkably different theories about what will happen after that. At the very least, this means that when my predictions are invariably wrong, I won’t be alone.

If you want to contribute to tonight’s liveblog, feel free to email us at hunter.felt.freelance@theguardian.com or tweet @HunterFelt and we’ll post your draft-related commentary and questions here throughout the course of the next few hours. It’s the 2023 NFL Draft live at Kansas City’s Union Station. We’re scheduled to start at 8:00 pm EST, but we’ll be back before then with additional updates.

Where and when to watch

The first-round of the NFL draft starts at 8pm ET/1am UK/10am AEST. It continues with rounds two and three at 7pm ET on Friday (midnight UK/9am Saturday AEST) and rounds four to seven, starting at 12pm on Saturday ET (5pm UK/2am Sunday AEST).

You can watch it live and in-person if you want to head to Kansas City, but if you want the easier option it will be shown on ABC and ESPN in the US, Sky Sports in the UK and Seven and ESPN in Australia. Broadcasting options around the world can be found here.

Hunter will be here shortly, in the meantime here’s who out writers think will go No 1. And they’re all in agreement:

Bryce Young, QB, Alabama. I’m guessing you’ve heard that Young is short. And he’s slender too: he looks more like a yoga instructor than an NFL quarterback. But Young is a pocket wizard. There have been comparisons to Patrick Mahomes’ bobbing and weaving style in the pocket, but even those fall short: Young is a more sudden manipulator than the bulkier Mahomes. He creates space when it appears there isn’t any. That’s his superpower, and why he’s separated himself from the other QBs at the top of the class. Oliver Connolly

Young. No need to be clever here. The Chicago Bears, having won the Justin Fields sweepstake, decided they had no need to pick first in a quarterback-heavy draft so they fleeced the Carolina Panthers, who desperately need a QB, in a March trade. By all accounts, Carolina have their eye on Young. Hunter Felt

Young. If Young were 6ft 2in, he’d be perfect. But he’s still about to be a Carolina Panther thanks to his talent and high football IQ, an especially important trait for his soon-to-be head coach Frank Reich. And Reich recently debunked the notion that he’s a quarterback heightist. Melissa Jacobs

Draft order for first-round

Here’s a quick reminder of the provisional draft order for the first-round. Carolina traded up to acquire the Chicago Bears’ No 1 overall pick. Houston have two picks in the Top 12.

1) Carolina Panthers (from Chicago)
2) Houston Texans
3) Arizona Cardinals
4) Indianapolis Colts
5) Seattle Seahawks (from Denver)
6) Detroit Lions (from LA Rams)
7) Las Vegas Raiders
8) Atlanta Falcons
9) Chicago Bears (from Carolina)
10) Philadelphia Eagles (from New Orleans)
11) Tennessee Titans
12) Houston Texans (from Cleveland)
13) Green Bay Packers (from NY Jets)
14) New England Patriots
15) New York Jets (from Green Bay)
16) Washington Commanders
17) Pittsburgh Steelers
18) Detroit Lions
19) Tampa Bay Buccaneers
20) Seattle Seahawks
21) Los Angeles Chargers
22) Baltimore Ravens
23) Minnesota Vikings
24) Jacksonville Jaguars
25) New York Giants
26) Dallas Cowboys
27) Buffalo Bills
28) Cincinnati Bengals
29) New Orleans Saints (from San Francisco through Miami and Denver)
30) Philadelphia Eagles
31) Kansas City Chiefs

• The Dolphins forfeited their first-round pick due to tampering violations.