2024 NFL Draft bold predictions: Cowboys QB surprise, plus first-round ties QB record
The 2024 NFL Draft will be kicking off in just a few hours and if the past few weeks have been any indication, this could go down as one of the craziest drafts of all time and that's mostly due to the fact that no one seems to have any idea what's going to happen.
Actually, I take that back. Everyone knows what's going to happen with the first pick -- the Chicago Bears are going to take Caleb Williams -- but after that, it's all a mystery. Trying to predict what's going to happen in this draft won't be easy, but we decided to do that anyway during Thursday's episode of the Pick Six podcast. For today's show, I got together with Will Brinson and Tyler Sullivan and we each made some bold predictions about what's going to happen during the draft.
Since there were three of us and we each gave three predictions, that means you'll be getting a total of nine predictions.
Anyway, here's a look at our bold predictions for the draft:
BREECH
1. Six quarterbacks go in the first-round. The NFL Draft has been going on for 88 years and in that span, there has only been one draft where six quarterbacks were selected in the first-round and that came all the way back in 1983. This year, it feels like we could hit that number again. At this point, it feels like a lock that we'll see three quarterbacks go with the top three picks (Williams, Jayden Daniels, Drake Maye) and over the final 29 picks of the first-round, I think we'll also see J.J. McCarthy, Michael Penix Jr. and Bo Nix also go off the board to make history. 2. Huge first-round trade. This feels like a draft where we could see a huge trade go down on the first night and when I say huge trade, I think we see at least one team make a deal that moves them up 15 SPOTS in the first-round. Over the past 10 years, that's only happened twice: The Chiefs did it in 2017 when they moved from 27th to 10th to get Patrick Mahomes and the Lions did it in 2022 when they moved from 32nd to 12th to get Jameson Williams. The best candidate for a big trade this year feels like the Bills, who could look to make a monster move in the first-round in order to land a receiver. 3. Cooper DeJean goes in the top-15. The Iowa corner is definitely projected to be a first-rounder in the draft, but almost no one is projecting DeJean to go in the top-15. There will be multiple teams in the top half of the draft looking for corner help including the Broncos (12th overall pick), Raiders (13) and Colts (15) and it won't be surprising at all if one of them decides to make take DeJean.BRINSON
4. Giants somehow land Drake Maye. The Giants appear to be in the market for a quarterback and Brinson's prediction here is that they somehow figure out a way to make a trade for Maye. To make this happen, the Giants will almost certainly have to make a trade with the Patriots to get the third overall pick and then use that pick to take Maye. Of course, it's also possible that the Patriots end up passing on Maye and taking someone else, which would make it much easier for the Giants to land Maye. 5. Michael Penix Jr. goes in the top-10. For some reason, Penix has turned into the forgotten quarterback of this draft. There's been a lot of debate about whether he'll end up going in the first round and not only does Brinson think he'll go in the first-round, but his prediction is that Penix will end up being a top-10 pick. If the Raiders or Vikings can't make a trade into the top-five, it's possible they could settle for a smaller trade up to the seventh, eighth or ninth pick to get Penix. 6. JC Latham is the first non-QB drafted. Right now, the expectation is that Marvin Harrison Jr. or another receiver will be the first non-QB taken, but Brinson's bold prediction is that we see Latham go first. So how could this happen? If the Cardinals trade out of the fourth pick in a deal with a team that needs a quarterback, that would leave the Chargers picking at five. At that point, the Chargers could take a receiver, but Jim Harbaugh would likely give some serious thought to taking an offensive lineman in this scenario.SULLIVAN
7. Vikings DON'T trade up in first-round. The Vikings will be looking to take a quarterback on Thursday and although most experts think they're going to trade up to make that happen, Sullivan's bold prediction is that the Vikings stay put at 11th overall. If they go this route, they can still select a quarterback if they like one of the guys who will likely be available at 11 (like Bo Nix or Michael Penix). The other upside of staying at 11 is that the Vikings would get to keep their other first-round pick (23rd overall), which means they'll get another shot to improve their roster. 8. Cowboys draft a quarterback. Sullivan doesn't think the Cowboys will use a first-round pick on a quarterback, but he does think they'll use a Day 2 pick to draft a quarterback and he specifically mentioned Spencer Rattler as an option to watch out for. There will definitely be some drama in Dallas if this happens, so we should probably all be rooting for it to happen. 9. Byron Murphy is the first defensive player taken. The former Texas star is widely viewed as one of the top defensive tackles in the draft, but most experts have him going somewhere outside
