Mel Kiper, Todd McShay disagree on first quarterback taken in 2023 NFL Draft

In a SportsCenter special breaking down NFL Draft analyst Mel Kiper‘s third crack at an NFL mock draft, there was some disagreement between ESPN’s lead draft analysts.

While Kiper has Ohio State‘s CJ Stroud being taken by the Carolina Panthers as the first quarterback off the board, McShay has sources telling him it will be Alabama‘s Bryce Young.

“You have CJ Stroud, Bryce Young, you flip a coin on this one, you go with Frank Reich,” Kiper said, explaining his reasoning for having Stroud as the No. 1 overall pick. “Who has been his quarterback over the years? The bigger quarterback. That would be CJ Stroud over the diminutive dynamo Bryce Young at 5-10 and a quarter, about 204, manufactured the weight there.”

Both Kiper and McShay were very impressed by what Stroud did against Georgia in a narrow loss in the College Football Playoffs.

“So you look at CJ Stroud, the way he finished the year against Georgia, the way he was at the Combine, the way the last two years, he didn’t throw interceptions,” Kiper said. “He was the college version of Aaron Rodgers. He also had a tremendous completion percentage of 70% over the last two years. Not many balls hit the ground. And the support staff that’s in place in terms of Frank Reich and the assistant coaches and Andy Dalton now as the backup, everything’s in place to develop that young quarterback. I think it will be CJ Stroud right now.”

Todd McShay says Bryce Young will be No. 1 pick

No point in wasting time, here is the thinking McShay outlined for having Young as the No. 1 quarterback taken in this year’s NFL Draft.

“I have Bryce Young as my No. 1 quarterback,” McShay said. “I talked to a source recently who has never missed. Five or six years of talking to him, because of his position and who he’s talking to, on which quarterback’s going to which team. He thinks it’s Bryce Young, that they’ve made their decision, Carolina has at No. 1, but it’s early in the process. He could call back in three weeks and says it’s CJ Stroud.”

McShay did agree with Kiper that Reich has traditionally gone with taller quarterbacks when presented an option in the NFL Draft.

“As you mentioned Mel, what’s Frank Reich used to working with? Great pocket passers with that size,” McShay said. “You start with Peyton Manning all the way down to Philip Rivers, Carson Wentz, Nick Foles, Jacoby Brissett and Matt Ryan. They’re all 6-4 to 6-6. And you’ve got the best pure pocket passer in this draft in CJ Stroud, with a little bit more size at 6-3, 214 pounds, compared to 5-10 and change and 204 pounds. I went back and studied the tape, the Georgia tape specifically, but even the Rose Bowl from two years ago. It is so impressive what Stroud can do with his progression reads and his ball placement.

“If he can bottle up what he did in that Georgia game in terms of being able to get outside, extend plays and utilize his feet more, I think he could be the best quarterback in the NFL when it’s all said and done. But to me right now it’s Bryce Young.”