2023 Big Board: Top 20 NFL prospects in college football

By Rob Rang
FOX Sports NFL Draft Analyst

The dust has barely settled on the 2022 NFL Draft, yet scouts are already looking ahead to the incoming crop of talent, one boasting a much more inspiring class of quarterbacks and the latest wave of pro-ready pass-catchers and fearsome front-seven defenders. 

While the quarterbacks will certainly be the story of the 2023 draft, Alabama edge rusher Will Anderson Jr. and Georgia defensive tackle Jalen Carter sit atop my initial Big Board, with reigning Heisman Trophy winner Bryce Young getting the nod over Ohio State’s C.J. Stroud as the top signal-caller. While I see a slight drop-off from Young and Stroud to the next tier of passers, two others at the position make the cut below, which means that QBs make up a full fifth of the 20 players listed.

One might imagine that the stellar recent crops of edge rushers and pass-catchers left the cupboard bare in 2023, but that is certainly not the case. Anderson and Carter might have been the first players selected at their positions had either been eligible in 2022. And even after the wideout buffet known as the 2022 NFL Draft, receiver is rich once again, with three pass-catchers among the top 10. 

At this point in past years, no one would have forecasted Travon Walker or Joe Burrow to be the No. 1 overall selections in their respective drafts. So don’t take this as a mock draft so much as an early summer watch list. With the entire 2022 season yet to be played, prospect stocks will obviously rise and fall. 

But if the 2023 draft were to be held today, the draft-eligible players listed below would be my suggestions for the first picks off the board. 

1. Will Anderson Jr., Edge Rusher, Alabama, 6-foot-3, 243 pounds

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