Welcome to the Monday edition of the With the First Pick newsletter. It's Easter week and Masters week, but this newsletter will be solely focused on Lying Season Intensification week. That's a name I just made up, but it does occur every year -- the moment pro days conclude and there are a few weeks until Roger Goodell takes the stage and says, "The NFL Draft is now open."
Outside of a few stray individual workouts, the 2023 Pro Day circuit has concluded, and everyone in the NFL world will now morph into a high schooler from "Mean Girls," gossiping and spreading falsehoods about each other until the actual draft. Prepare yourself to read lots of speculative tweets featuring my favorite ultra-safe term this time of year: "reportedly believe." All we'll be missing the next three weeks is a burn book.
If you missed last week's launch, we're rebranding the Pick Six newsletter through the end of April, and I, CBS Sports NFL Draft analyst Chris Trapasso, will be with you every step of the way. This daily newsletter's sole purpose is to track everything transpiring in the NFL and spin it into a draft angle. I'm telling you -- this is the place to get the latest on everything draft related.
Before I begin, here's your daily reminder to tell all your buddies and that one uncle who's always texting you mock draft links to sign up for the With the First Pick newsletter. Just click here and then share this link with them.
Today's NFL mock draft 🔮: Those two TEs in Round 1?
For months now, you've been bombarded with the universally agreed upon take that it's a loaded tight-end group in the 2023 draft. Ryan Wilson's latest mock draft speaks to the deepness of the position that has been stale the past few years -- minus Kyle Pitts -- by sending Iowa's Sam LaPorta to the Packers and Oregon State's Luke Musgrave to the Cowboys.
Most mocks feature Notre Dame's Michael Mayer, Utah's Dalton Kincaid, and sometimes Georgia's Darnell Washington in the first round, but LaPorta and Musgrave are darn good, too, and deserve some first-round mock-draft love. They get plenty here. Oh, and Ryan has the Titans trading up for Anthony Richardson and Will Levis free-falling all the way to the Vikings at No. 23 overall! SKOL! [clap] SKOL! [clap]
Some other notable prospect-team pairings:
1. Carolina Panthers - C.J. Stroud, QB, Ohio State
2. Houston Texans - Bryce Young, QB, Texans
3. Tennessee Titans! (trade with Cardinals) - Anthony Richardson, QB, Florida
8. Atlanta Falcons - Jalen Carter, DT, Georgia
21. Los Angeles Chargers - Jordan Addison, WR, USC
28. Cincinnati Bengals - Keion White, EDGE, Georgia Tech
30. Philadelphia Eagles - Nolan Smith, EDGE, Georgia
Rumor mill 🤔: Texans not set on QB at No. 2?
According to NBC Sports' Peter King, citing a "league personnel source," it's not a lock Houston goes QB with the second pick. Burn all those mock drafts, people. Now, of course, this feels like banner material for Lying Season Intensification week, but now we won't be able to shake it from our heads. The thought would be that after picking Will Anderson Jr., the Texans would use their second pick in Round 1 to trade up for one of the top quarterbacks, likely inside the top 10.
Prospect of the day 📈: Myles Murphy, EDGE, Clemson
Murphy might be the biggest enigma in this draft class, particularly at the oozing-with-premier-talent edge-rusher position. A former five-star recruit and the nation's top strongside defensive end in the high school class of 2020, Murphy has long been labeled A DUDE. After a flashy freshman year during the chaotic pandemic season, the lightbulb really came on for Murphy down the stretch in 2021, when he registered 28 quarterback pressures in his final six contests.
That lightbulb, unfortunately, dimmed. The nearly 6-foot-5, 268-pound Murphy, who I assume fills up every doorway he walks through, actually got less effective generating pressure on a per-snap basis in 2022 compared to his breakout sophomore campaign. And we don't have a firm grasp on his athleticism yet, because he hasn't worked out yet ... until tomorrow! Murphy only turned 21 in January, therefore, in theory, he has upside galore as a thiccc three-down defensive end. Read Murphy's comprehensive, football-nerdy scouting report here.
- Notable combine results: N/A
- Combine measurements: 6-foot-4 5/8" and 268 pounds
- Current CBS Sports prospect ranking: No. 11
We aren't ignoring teams without first-round picks
We here at CBS Sports have not forgotten about you, Dolphins, Rams, Browns, Broncos and 49ers fans. For you, we get it -- mock drafts haven't been as magnetizing as normal this year because your team doesn't have a first-round pick (although for Rams fans, this is an annual thing).
One of our resident NFL Draft analysts, Josh Edwards, mapped how that quintet of teams can still have success in the 2023 draft.
News & Notes 📝
- Titans moving to No. 3 overall? During a recent episode of the "Move The Sticks" podcast, NFL Media's Daniel Jeremiah mentioned the Titans have already explored swinging a trade with the Cardinals to secure the No. 3 overall pick in this draft. Wooo boy. To read more about that, click here.
- Dolphins open to trading WR Cedrick Wilson. A free-agent signing in 2022, Miami would reportedly move the veteran wideout in a trade. Will any club bite and add veteran depth to its receiver room before the draft?
- Quentin Johnston, WR1? The trainer for Johnston and Jaxon Smith-Njigba agreed with the TCU receiver when he stated he's WR1 in this draft. While not a stunning revelation, for someone paid by both Johnston and Smith-Njigba to choose between the two instead of skirting around it elicited this Gary Payton GIF for me.
