The NFL draft is the league’s marquee offseason event because it’s a perfect package of anticipation, optimism and surprise. Trades only add to the excitement, and we’ve already seen one huge 2023 deal go down.

The Chicago Bears traded the No. 1 overall pick to the Carolina Panthers on March 10 for the ninth and 61st selections this year, a 2024 first-rounder a 2025 second-rounder and wideout D.J. Moore.

While this might be the biggest draft trade we see this year, it certainly won’t be the last. In 2022, we saw nine draft-day trades in the first round alone. Some involved an exchange of picks, while others involved players.

The 2023 draft will likely feature plenty of trade activity, too, and here, we’ll examine one hypothetical trade that would make sense for each franchise. We’ll dive into the whys and the hows and the valuation—based on an updated version of the classic Jimmy Johnson trade value model, via DraftTek.com.

Will each of these trades come to fruition? Of course not. However, they’re realistic enough that they could happen, and they should spark some fun pre-draft discussion—which is a big part of what makes draft season so entertaining.

Arizona Cardinals: Auction off No. 3

Cardinals Get: 2023 first-round pick (No. 11 overall), 2023 second-round pick (No. 41 overall), 2024 first-round pick, 2024 second-round pick

Titans Get: 2023 first-round pick (No. 3 overall)

According to NFL Network’s Daniel Jeremiah, the Tennessee Titans are interested in moving up in the draft for one of the top quarterbacks—most likely one of Ohio State’s C.J. Stroud, Alabama’s Bryce Young, Florida’s Anthony Richardson and Kentucky’s Will Levis—and are targeting the Arizona Cardinals’ No. 3 selection.

“Again, this is just people around the league who said do not sleep on Numero 11, the Tennessee Titans,” Jeremiah said on his Move the Sticks podcast (h/t Buck Reising of A to Z Sports).

Given the value of the quarterback position, Arizona should be able to leverage the selection for much more than what the trade-value chart might indicate, as they do in this hypothetical scenario.

Moving down would take the Cardinals out of range of one of the draft’s elite defensive prospects, like Alabama pass-rusher Will Anderson Jr. However, they should still be able to land a quality player while accumulating more darts to throw at a defense that ranked 21st in yards allowed and 31st in points allowed a season ago.

Atlanta Falcons: Take Advantage of Receiver-Needy Teams

Falcons Get: 2023 first-round pick (No. 14 overall), 2023 third-round pick (No. 76 overall), 2024 third-round pick

Patriots Get: 2023 first-round pick (No. 8 overall)

With quarterbacks and blue-chip defensive prospects likely to dominate the first few selections, there’s a good chance that the top receivers in the draft will be available when the Atlanta Falcons are on the clock at No. 8 overall.

While Atlanta could draft a receiver like TCU’s Quentin Johnston or Ohio State’s Jaxon Smith-Njigba, it’s hard to envision them taking a pass-catcher in the first round for the third straight year.

Atlanta’s receiving corps of Kyle Pitts, Jonnu Smith, Drake London, Mack Hollins and Scotty Miller is more than serviceable anyway.

In this scenario, Atlanta flips the selection to the Patriots, who need to add receiving help even after signing JuJu Smith-Schuster—the Patriots had no 1,000-yard receivers last season and only two wideouts who topped 500 yards.

Trading the pick would allow New England to jump the receiver-needy Houston Texans at No. 12. The Patriots could also take the top receiver on their board before a team like the Green Bay Packers or Pittsburgh Steelers have a chance to move up and do the same.

The Falcons would benefit by getting a pair of Day 2 selections over the next two years.