The 2023 NFL Draft has concluded and now it is time to figure out which teams had the best selections.
Helping in that situation is former NFL general manager Bill Polian.
Polian stated that the Houston Texans, Philadelphia Eagles, Seattle Seahawks, and Detroit Lions had the most impressive draft classes.
Polian was a six-time NFL Executive of the Year and claimed Super Bowl 41 with the Indianapolis Colts. He helped build contenders with the Buffalo Bills and Carolina Panthers as well. Basically, he knows what he is talking about.
The Eagles drafted seven players in this year’s draft. Many of them have been from the same program. They selected defensive tackle Jalen Carter and edge rusher Nolan Smith in the first round, then traded into the top of the fourth round Saturday to land cornerback Kelee Ringo.
The team also acquired running back D’Andre Swift in a trade with the Detroit Lions. The Eagles have now drafted five Georgia Bulldogs over the past two years.
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“The Philadelphia Eagles are another team that did quite well, which shouldn’t be a surprise because they always do. They maneuver around and make a lot of trades, although they made fewer in this draft.
It’s another good job by general manager Howie Roseman, and it was all set up by the trade he made with the New Orleans Saints at last year’s draft, which netted him the No. 10 overall pick.”
To Polian, the Lions may have done the best out of any team in the draft, and he included them as one of four teams that stood out to him for their work this year in a piece for The 33rd Team.
“The Detroit Lions did a remarkable job. They’re still getting the payoff from trading quarterback Matthew Stafford two years ago in terms of draft capital. They also got starting quarterback Jared Goff in the deal, and he has performed well for them. The Lions did as good a job as anybody getting good players. Gibbs, Campbell, LaPorta, and Branch all should contribute as rookies,” Polian wrote.
“If I had to rate a team as No. 1, something I don’t like doing because you don’t know what this draft is going to look like for four years, Detroit really jumped out,” he wrote.
That’s high praise for the Lions, who showed promise last year during the 2022 regular season.
Next up are the Texans who had key draft picks in C.J. Stroud (QB, Ohio State), Will Anderson (Edge, Alabama), Juice Scruggs (C, Penn State), and Tank Dell (WR, Houston).
The Houston Texans held the No. 2 overall pick this year and kicked off the flurry of trades in a big way. The Texans pulled off a trade with the Arizona Cardinals to secure back-to-back picks at the top of the first round. After drafting C.J. Stroud with the No. 2 pick, Houston then selected former Alabama standout edge rusher Will Anderson Jr. with the third overall pick.
“The Texans did a great job trading up to get the No. 3 overall pick after already having the second pick. General manager Nick Caserio did a tremendous job with that, and he also did a tremendous job concealing his intentions. In fact, the Texans floated the idea he might be leaving the organization, and they weren’t going to take a quarterback. So he got all of the attention off of what they were doing, which was getting ready to take two premier players,” Polian wrote.
Last but not least, Polian added the Seahawks who had key picks in Devon Witherspoon (CB, Illinois), Jaxon Smith-Njigba (WR, Ohio State), Derick Hall (Edge, Auburn), and Zach Charbonnet (RB, UCLA).
“The Seattle Seahawks maneuvered around and made good picks, as they almost always do. They’ve been a contending team for a long time, and that’s not an accident. Executive vice president and general manager John Schneider and coach Pete Carroll did a terrific job, starting at No. 5 overall with Illinois cornerback Devon Witherspoon, who was a really good pick,” he wrote.
We won’t truly know who won this draft for a few years as players will still have to prove how good they are once they step on the field of play.
