Getty Image / David Becker
For much of this NFL offseason, it seemed pretty clear who the first two picks in this year’s NFL Draft would be.
Although the order they would be drafted in wasn’t entirely clear, it appeared to be a sure thing that CJ Stroud and Bryce Young would be the draft’s top 2 selections.
Over the last week, that has become much less certain.
Young appears to be locked in as the draft’s top pick, but things are much less certain after that.
There have recently been reports that the Houston Texans aren’t interested in drafting Stroud and could actually pick a defensive player instead.
Those reports saw Stroud fall from being the betting favorite, with Will Anderson becoming the new favorite.
Now Anderson has been replaced by a quarterback whose draft stock has been all over the place over the last month.
According to The Draft Network’s Jaime Eisner, Caesars Sportsbook now has Will Levis as the favorite to be the 2nd player off the board.
🚨Major No. 2 overall pick odds shift at @CaesarsSports. Will Levis is now the odds-on favorite. Is a trade coming?👀
Will Levis (-140)
Tyree Wilson (+275)
Will Anderson Jr. (+400)
C.J. Stroud (+450)
Bryce Young (20/1)
Anthony Richardson (25/1)#NFLDraft | #NFLDraft2023— Jaime Eisner (@JaimeEisner) April 22, 2023
Will Levis being the 2nd player taken in this draft would be a truly shocking turn of events.
There hasn’t been a point in the pre-draft process that he has been considered the 2nd best QB in the draft and there was a moment where there were some that believed he was even the 5th best prospect, behind Hendon Hooker.
There has been just about no positive news about CJ Stroud lately, but it would still be shocking to see him drafted after Will Levis. Regardless of any test scores or whatever else is causing Stroud’s odds to drop, everything we’ve seen from these two seems to tell us that Stroud is the better QB.
Whatever the Houston Texans are thinking right now, it looks like they could make things very interesting early on during the NFL Draft.