At Kansas City’s NFL Draft, Carolina Panthers take QB No. 1. Then Texans steal the show
The Carolina Panthers did the expected Thursday evening, selecting Alabama quarterback Bryce Young with the first pick of the NFL 2023 Draft before tens of thousands of fans at Union Station in Kansas City.
Then the Houston Texans did the unexpected by making the next two picks and selecting Ohio State quarterback C.J. Stroud (No. 2) and Alabama rush end Will Anderson Jr. (No. 3).
The Texans had played it coy entering the draft Would they select a quarterback or a pass rusher? General manager Nick Caserio got both because of a trade with the Arizona Cardinals.
To move up, Houston sent Arizona the 12th and 33rd picks in this year’s draft plus their first- and third-round picks in 2024. The Texas received pick No. 105 from the Cardinals.
Anderson, the two-time SEC Defensive Player of the Year, was considered the top edge rusher in the draft.
Selecting fourth, the Indianapolis Colts, also in the market for a quarterback, took Florida’s Anthony Richardson.
The Seattle Seahawks picked Illinois cornerback Devon Witherspoon with the fifth pick.
The first offensive lineman came off the board with the sixth pick: the Arizona Cardinals, in a trade with the Detroit Lions, selected Ohio State tackle Paris Johnson Jr.
The Las Vegas Raiders, the Chiefs’ division rivals, drew a round of boos from the largely Kansas City-partisan crowd as their name was announced. They used the seventh overall pick to take Texas Tech edge Tyree Wilson.
After walking quickly to the stage, Wilson, wearing dark sunglasses on the Union Station stage, bear-hugged NFL commissioner Roger Goodall off the ground. Goodell was laughing as Wilson set him back down.
This story was originally published April 27, 2023 at 8:16 PM with the headline "At Kansas City’s NFL Draft, Carolina Panthers take QB No. 1. Then Texans steal the show."