Major draft shakeup 🚨 🚨 🚨
Sources say the #Bears are trading the No. 1 overall pick to the #Panthers in exchange for big-time compensation including multiple 1st rounders. Chicago loads up and lands at No. 9, while Carolina can draft its QB of the future. pic.twitter.com/DNvYMStoxd
— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) March 10, 2023
It was a busy day across the NFC South as the New Orleans Saints’ division opponent Carolina Panthers made a blockbuster move to acquire the first overall pick in the 2023 NFL draft, per NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport. It cost the Panthers a pretty penny letting go of their No. 9 and 61 overall selections in 2023, their 2024 first-rounder, a second-round selection in 2025 and underrated wide receiver D.J. Moore. Why give all of that up? For a quarterback, of course.
The Panthers are no stranger to drafting quarterbacks with the draft’s top selection, having taken long-time signal caller Cam Newton with pick No. 1 back in 2011. One player in this year’s draft that has gotten a lot of comparisons to the former Panthers passer is Florida quarterback Anthony Richardson. But sitting atop this year’s very talented quarterback group are also Alabama’s Bryce Young, Ohio State’s C.J. Stroud and Will Levis of Kentucky. Any of the four could be the Saints’ next division opponent.
Currently, (well, for now at least) the Saints have the division’s last No. 1 overall quarterback on their roster. Veteran passer Jameis Winston was selected at the top of the 2015 draft by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Winston’s future with New Orleans is currently uncertain, though he does have until Wednesday to accept a new deal with the Saints. The Panthers were wise to go shopping early in this year’s selection process, but the success of their choice won’t be known for quite some time.
