2023 NFL Draft Odds Change After Chicago Bears Trade No. 1 Pick to Carolina Panthers
Whoa, damn.
Da Bears did it.
Chicago traded the first overall pick in this year’s 2023 NFL Draft – as predicted – but it wasn’t to the team many had thought – myself included.
The Carolina Panthers, seeking their first franchise quarterback since Cam Newton (drafted in 2011), put together a dazzling package to entice the Bears to trade the first overall pick.
Here’s the deal, and, boy howdy, did the Bears get a haul:
They acquired the No. 9 overall pick in this year’s draft, a late second-round pick (No. 61 overall) in this year’s draft, a 2024 first-round pick, and a 2025 second-round pick.
But here’s the kicker: It’s a receiver, 25-year-old DJ Moore, which the Panthers somehow also included, to give Bears starting QB Justin Fields a new No. 1 target.
Chicago crushed this like a snorting bear.
It may look like a win-win since the Panthers get their pick of either Bryce Young or C.J. Stroud. Both look solid to me.
Carolina’s brass has plenty of time until the 2023 NFL Draft – Kansas City, April 27th–29th – to decide who their prized pick will be.
And following Stroud’s outstanding NFL Draft Combine performance, during which he was nearly perfect, he and Young are now basically neck-and-neck as to who should be the choice.
As NFL’s Ian Rapoport tweeted: “The Panthers built their coaching staff as very QB friendly -- with Frank Reich, Josh McCown, and Jim Caldwell having decades of experience. They now have 48 days to work with GM Scott Fitterer's personnel staff to figure out the best QB for their future.”
I like Stroud more than Young, let the record show.
And so do bettors.
After this deal went down, Stroud’s odds to become the number one pick over Young quickly changed.
Like, big-time movement.
I wrote last week that you can bank on Young being the top pick, it’s just a matter of … by which team.
That doesn’t age well – also like me.
FanDuel Sportsbook’s odds have shifted like this: Stroud from +320 to be the first overall pick to now (as of Friday, March 10) to -320.
That’s huge.
Be sure to keep track of the latest 2023 NFL Draft odds through one of the many great gambling sites available in the U.S., including BetMGM and more.
So here’s the thing: There are already reports that Carolina is split between Young and Stroud.
Per ESPN's Adam Schefter, Alabama quarterback Bryce Young is favored by Panthers owner David Tepper, while Ohio State signal-caller C.J. Stroud may be preferred by head coach Frank Reich.
"Just hung up the phone with someone in the organization and I said, 'There's a belief that David Tepper likes Bryce Young, Frank Reich likes C.J. Stroud," Schefter said on SportsCenter. "And they said, 'We love all these quarterbacks and we've got 48 days to make a decision on which one we'll be taking.'"
In the end, usually, an NFL franchise’s GM and owner make the final decision:
So, sports fans, I’m still forever banking on Young.
