The Indianapolis Colts will enter the 2023 NFL Draft holding the No. 4 pick and will have a great chance to draft a franchise quarterback to become the next face of the organization.
Few teams have had more success drafting quarterbacks over the past 30 years than the Colts. In the 1998 draft, they selected Peyton Manning with the No. 1 overall pick. Manning went on to have a Hall of Fame career and lead the Colts to a win in Super Bowl XLI. In 2012, the Colts drafted Andrew Luck with the No. 1 overall pick, and he too was on a Hall of Fame trajectory until he retired at age 29 after seven seasons in the NFL.
This year’s draft has four quarterbacks who are expected to go in the first round — Alabama’s Bryce Young, Ohio State’s C.J. Stroud, Florida’s Anthony Richardson and Kentucky’s Will Levis. There is a high probability that at least two of these names will be available for the Colts at the No. 4 pick.
Oddsmakers have Young at -1000 to be the first overall pick of the Carolina Panthers. The Houston Texans pick second overall and are likely to take a quarterback, but there have been rumblings that they could go a different direction. The Arizona Cardinals select third and are not in the market for a quarterback, but they could trade the pick. Currently Levis is -275 to be the second quarterback taken with Stroud at +250 and Richardson at +550. The Colts have been mocked to select Richardson by ESPN’s Mel Kiper and Todd McShay on April 18 with Carolina selecting Young and the Texans selecting Stroud. Richardson is +150 to be the third quarterback selected. His over/under on selection spot in the draft is 4.5 with the over odds at -330 and the under at +225. ESPN’s Matt Miller predicted the Colts will select Stroud in his mock draft on April 23 with Young going to the Panthers and the Texans selecting Alabama edge rusher Will Anderson. Anderson is +330 to be the No. 2 pick, fourth on the board with Levis (+145), Texas Tech edge rusher Tyree Wilson (+200) and Stroud (+275) ahead of him.
Regardless of whom Indianapolis selects or what’s available when their pick comes around, the Colts are a long shot to win Super Bowl LVIII in Las Vegas. They are at +10000, the third-lowest odds on the board behind the Texans and Cardinals, who are both at +20000.