The NFL Draft is less than a month away, and when it comes to sports betting, the odds are moving for the No. 1 pick.
The draft will be held April 27-29 in Kansas City, Missouri, and fans, bettors and oddsmakers are already invested in mock drafts.
Year after year, the most fascinating part of this conversation is always the debate over which impact player is selected first overall.
To dig deeper into who the first pick will be, we turned to FOX Bet for hypothetical odds on some of college football’s most dynamic athletes. The quarterback class is all everyone is talking about right now, so the early picks will be interesting.
Let’s take a look at five prospects vying for the top spot on Day 1.
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2023 NFL DRAFT #1 ODDS*
CJ Stroud (Ohio State QB) -120 (bet $10 to win $18.33 total)
Bryce Young (Alabama QB) +100 (bet $10 to win $20 total)
Anthony Richardson (Florida QB) +1400 (bet $10 to win $150 total)
Will Levis (Kentucky QB) +5000 (bet $10 to win $510 total)
Will Anderson (Alabama LB) +15,000 (bet $10 to win $1,510 total)
Jalen Carter (Georgia DT) +20,000 (bet $10 to win $2,010 total)
*Odds as of 4/7/2023
CJ Stroud
One of the things that draws so much interest in the draft is how players can move up (or down) mock drafts and odds boards without playing.
Such is the case with Stroud, the Ohio State quarterback whose hypothetical odds have shortened from +300 to -120 in recent weeks. Young had one of the most impressive seasons of any college QB this year. His 41 TDs ranked second in the sport, and in the Buckeyes’ loss to Georgia in the Peach Bowl, Stroud threw for 348 yards and four touchdowns.
A 2022 Heisman finalist and first-team All-Big Ten this season and last, Stroud is an intriguing name as the Panthers look to add talent at the QB position. The Carolina brass certainly looked impressed at Stroud’s Pro Day, so it’s no wonder the quarterback is now the new favorite to go No. 1.
Bryce Young
Alabama’s Bryce Young has had a historic career as the Crimson Tide’s starting quarterback. Among other accolades, the California junior earned the 2021 Heisman and has a College Football Playoff National Championship on his resume. In 2022, Young passed for 3,328 yards and 32 touchdowns while leading his squad to a 45-20 rout of Kansas State in the Cotton Bowl. In that matchup, he threw for 321 yards.
It’s clear why Young sits at the top of FOX Bet’s hypothetical odds board to go No. 1 overall in the draft, but it’s important to note that he recently moved from the betting favorite to second on the list.
Several of the Panthers’ “influential voices” favor Bryce Young at No. 1
The 2023 NFL Draft is 23 days away! All 32 teams are finalizing draft plans as they look to fill their needs with this year’s talent pool, especially at the No. 1 pick.
Anthony Richardson
In late January, Richardson was listed at +10,000 (bet $10 to win $1,010 total) to be the first overall pick.
After breaking several combine records, Richardson surged to become the third favorite in the betting to be the No. 1 pick, behind CJ Stroud and Bryce Young.
Nothing gets those draft odds moving like a player with a star turn in the mix like Richardson, said Matthew Griffe, associate of FOX betting operations.
“Richardson certainly improved his position with his combine performance,” Griffe noted.
Since then, his odds have settled down a bit, with Young and Stroud taking over the top slots. Richardson is currently ranked third on the odds board.
While everyone is in love with this caller, here are some stats to keep in mind. This QB’s career record as a starter on a major Power 5 conference team is 6-7. He completed 54.7% of his passes and has a 24/15 touchdown pass/interception ratio over three seasons.
That said, he is a prospect with a high ceiling that GMs love to trade.
Will Levis
The Kentucky quarterback has seen his draft stock rise, fall and rise again since he threw his last pass for the Wildcats.
His odds to be the #1 pick went from +4000 to +500 in one book and were cut in half in January in most other books. His odds of being selected first overall are now +5000. With Stroud and Young sitting in front of him in the odds and raw talent, Levis going No. 1 overall is certainly a long shot.
Will Anderson
Anderson’s stock appears to be dropping as the odds on the Tide standout having his name called first have stretched from +125 to +15000. The 6-foot-4, 243-pound linebacker racked up 57 solo tackles in the 2021 season and 24 solo tackles and an interception in the 2022 campaign. Most importantly, he’s a sack machine, recording 17.5 sacks on the season last year and 10 this year. Many consider him to be the best pass rusher in the class, but this looks like it will be a QB heavy draft in the top of the round.
Here is the order of the top six teams in the 2023 NFL Draft:
1. Carolina Panthers (via trade with the Chicago Bears)
2. Houston Texans
3. Arizona Cardinals
4. Indianapolis Colts
5. Seattle Seahawks
6. Detroit Lions
Which player do you think will be selected #1 overall? The odds are always changing, so stay tuned to FOX Sports as the scenarios unfold!
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