NFL insider eyeing tanking, major fire sales during 2023 season ahead of loaded draft

In addition to who’ll win the Super Bowl, all eyes will be on another important race in the NFL this year. Who will be the top two picks in the 2024 NFL Draft with two impressive names atop the board?

USC star Caleb Williams and North Carolina quarterback Drake Maye are virtual locks to be the top two picks in the draft. Williams is coming off a Heisman Trophy campaign in 2022 and Maye is hoping to have a similar fate after a strong showing a season ago.

It’ll be interesting to see where they go in their respective NFL careers, and the top two teams on the draft board will get the chance to select them — and that’s something Sports Illustrated and MMQB’s Albert Breer is watching closely.

“Just the one thing I’m going to have on my radar from the start of the season is the two quarterbacks in college,” Breer said on The Rich Eisen Show. “I really think that’s going to be hanging over the bottom of the standings all yer. Does USC’s Caleb Williams deliver the way I think everybody expects him to deliver in the fall? Same with Drake Maye at North Carolina.

“Those guys are both seen as legitimate, they can be the first pick in any draft type of prospects at the position. And then, you’ve got teams like the [Arizona] Cardinals at the other end of it where it’s just going to be interesting.”

With Williams and Maye likely the top two picks, Breer said the amount of movement league-wide is going to be worth watching. Although he’s not sure about outright tanking — it’s tough to do in the NFL — he said to watch the trade deadline to see how teams try to maneuver their way to the No. 1 pick.

“I think the one thing I want to put on you radar there is when we get to the trade deadline, do we see fire sales like we’ve never seen before? Because as you and I know, tanking’s really hard in football,” Breer said. “You don’t have guaranteed contracts. It’s hard to tell guys not to go 100%. … But, do we see teams just aggressively offloading players that are at the bottom of the standings ahead of the trade deadline?

“I think it could make things really interesting going forward. So that’s one thing that’s going to be, just from a global standpoint on my radar, over the next six months where I think Caleb Williams and Drake Maye could have a material effect on the NFL season.”