NFL Draft 2023: 5 teams that won the first round

No. 1 team that won the first round of the NFL Draft: Philadelphia Eagles

It’s ridiculous that the NFL collectively let the Eagles have as ridiculously good a first round as they did. Teams that lost the Super Bowl the season before are known to take a dip but Philadelphia seems to be doing everything but.

Philadelphia was rumored to be in the market for a move up into the early picks in the round but they didn’t even need to do that. They gave up a 2024 fourth-rounder to move up one spot from No. 10 to No. 9 to make sure they got Jalen Carter.

Carter is a No. 1 overall-level prospect. He was a dominant force on Georgia’s national-title-winning defensive line and projects to have an equally disruptive output at the NFL level. However, he slid down the draft order because of character concerns — he pled no-contest to reckless driving charges relating to an incident that left two people dead and appeared overweight at his Pro Day at Georgia.

Those concerns are nothing to scoff at but the Eagles have a real chance to get the most out of Carter on the field while giving him the structure and support it appears he needs.

The Carter pick would have been enough to get them on this list. Getting Carter’s Georgia teammate Nolan Smith at No. 31 moved them to the top.

Smith is a tad undersized, which may be why he was available that late in the first round, but he could be another Haasan Reddick with top-tier athleticism. He’s yet another pass rusher for opposing teams to worry about, and you can never have too many of those in the NFL.

Oh, and Philadelphia moved up from No 94 to No. 66 in the third round while picking up a 2024 fifth-rounder from the Cardinals in a settlement over tampering with Jonathan Gannon.

Yeah, it was a good day to be the Eagles.