2024 NFL mock draft: Preseason Round 1 pick predictions - ESPN

The 2023 college football season kicks off this weekend with Week 0 action, but NFL scouts have already been working ahead on the 2024 draft class prospect list for months. Quarterbacks Caleb Williams (USC) and Drake Maye (North Carolina) headline a loaded group, and this could be one of the deepest offensive tackle classes in quite some time. There are plenty of high-end defenders and elite receivers at the top of the board, too.

How might Round 1 look by next April? I'm making an early prediction of all 32 first-round picks with my preseason mock draft. ESPN's Football Power Index (FPI) projected the draft order, which starts with the Cardinals with the No. 1 pick.

Three teams have already traded their Day 1 selections, and I worked off the assumption the Jets will end up with the Packers' pick, too, based on conditions in the Aaron Rodgers deal. Here's how I see Round 1 at this point in the process:

Read more from :
Reid's summer mock draft

Caleb Williams, QB, USC

If the Cardinals do end up at No. 1 — which ESPN's FPI predicts — that means things didn't go well for them this season. This is the worst roster in the NFL on paper, and the team is breaking in a new general manager and coach. There would of course be conversations about trading the pick for a massive bounty, given Kyler Murray is already in Arizona. But I could also see the Cards drafting Williams and trading Murray, especially if the 2019 top pick struggles in his return from a torn ACL in his right knee. It might be difficult with Murray's big contract, but if Arizona bottoms out this season, the new regime could opt to make a change.

Williams has already been called a generational prospect and the next Patrick Mahomes by some scouts. He finished fifth