2024 NFL Draft: Ideal first-round picks for NFC East teams

Ralph Vacchiano

NFC East Reporter

The NFL Draft might be two months away, but draft season gets serious this week as the NFL convenes in Indianapolis for the annual scouting combine. It’ll be the first time NFL teams get a real, up-close look at the top prospects.

Of course, by now it’s not hard to figure out which group of prospects each of the four NFC East teams will be looking at in Indy. They all have some pretty obvious needs at the moment and surely already have their eyes on some players who could be a match.

Those needs might change when free agency opens in two weeks, and players still have plenty of time to rise up or fall down the draft boards of individual teams. But for now, here’s a first look at where each of the four NFC East teams might go with their first-round picks:

Washington Commanders (No. 2 overall) — North Carolina QB Drake Maye

There is a lot of speculation that Washington’s new offensive coordinator, Kliff Kingsbury, wants USC’s Caleb Williams — which makes sense since Kingsbury spent last season coaching Williams as a senior offensive analyst at USC. But it’s not their choice to make. They’ll get to choose from whoever is left after a quarterback is taken No. 1.

And don’t expect them to pay what could be an enormous bounty to trade up. For one thing, the Bears might — and probably will — take a quarterback at No. 1. And if they don’t, they can get a heck of a lot more from teams that want to trade up for a quarterback from behind the Commanders in the draft order. Because of the number of teams that might want to move, it could cost a fortune to even move up just one spot.

Besides, the 6-foot-5, 220-pound Maye isn’t exactly a consolation prize. It’s early in the process, but it’s easy to find plenty of scouts who prefer Maye over Williams. Maye is bigger (four inches taller than Williams) and considered by most to be more polished and ready to succeed in the pros. He’s also…

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Publish date : 2024-02-26 19:14:36

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