Earlier this offseason, the Carolina Panthers sent two first-round picks, two second-round picks and wide receiver D.J. Moore to the Chicago Bears for the No. 1 overall pick in the 2023 NFL Draft. Carolina was just one of several quarterback-needy teams that were expected to inquire with Chicago, and ultimately, Panthers GM Scott Fitterer struck a deal with Bears GM Ryan Poles.
With this trade, it takes a potential quarterback option away from the other teams inside the top nine. While Carolina maintains it's still open for business if there's another team that wants to give up assets for the right to make the first pick in April, don't expect the Indianapolis Colts to be a team that makes an aggressive move up the board.
"History kind of tells you when you do that, you better know what you're getting," Colts general manager Chris Ballard said, via The Athletic. "We weren't quite ready to do that. And we feel like there was enough depth in the draft that we were gonna be OK."
This quote seems to indicate that Indy may not have a quarterback it loves over the rest. The Colts sit at No. 4 overall, and likely will have the opportunity to select the third quarterback off the board, although it's always possible another team could trade with the Arizona Cardinals at No. 3 to jump Indy.
If the Colts are intrigued by a couple of different quarterbacks in this class, they aren't alone. Even though the Panthers made the move to No. 1 overall, ESPN reported that Carolina didn't do so with one quarterback in mind.
As it stands now, our four CBS Sports NFL Draft experts are divided in who they believe the Colts will draft. Ryan Wilson has Indianapolis selecting Florida's Anthony Richardson, Chris Trapasso has the Colts taking Ohio State's C.J. Stroud while Josh Edwards and Kyle Stackpole have them selecting Kentucky's Will Levis.
