Quarterback is the most important position in the game of football. It can make or break your franchise. If you hit on a guy like Patrick Mahomes, then your Super Bowl window is open for a decade. If you miss on your top pick, you have to start all over again. This year at the 2023 NFL Draft, quarterbacks were flying off the board at a historic rate.
A whopping 11 quarterbacks were drafted in the first 150 selections of the draft. That is a Common Draft era record, per ESPN. Additionally, 12 quarterbacks were taken in the first five rounds. That is reportedly also a record for the Common Draft era. There were three quarterbacks taken with the first four picks of the draft, but Day 3 is where signal-caller sabotage commenced. A total of nine quarterbacks were selected on Saturday.
Here are all of the quarterbacks taken in the 2023 NFL Draft:
| Round | Pick | Team | Player | College |
|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 1 | Alabama | ||
1 | 2 | Ohio State | ||
1 | 4 | Florida | ||
2 | 33 | Kentucky | ||
3 | 68 | Tennessee | ||
4 | 127 | Fresno State | ||
4 | 128 | Georgia | ||
4 | 135 | Purdue | ||
5 | 139 | Houston | ||
5 | 140 | UCLA | ||
5 | 149 | Penn State | ||
| 5 | 164 | Minnesota Vikings | Jaren Hall | BYU |
| 6 | 188 | Philadelphia Eagles | Tanner McKee | Stanford |
| 7 | 239 | Los Angeles Chargers | Max Duggan | TCU |
Some are chalking this up to Mr. Irrelevant Brock Purdy. The San Francisco 49ers took a flier on the Iowa State product with the very last pick in the 2022 NFL Draft. He was thrust into the starting lineup as a rookie in Week 14 after the 49ers' top two quarterbacks went down due to injury, and won five straight games to finish out the regular season, and two playoff games to get San Francisco to the NFC Championship.
Maybe this is a trend that continues in future years. Teams taking lottery tickets at the most important position.
