It seemed to be a foregone conclusion that the Carolina Panthers, who moved up eight spots from nine to one, and the Houston Texans, the owners of the 2023 NFL Draft's second overall pick, would both select quarterbacks to kick off the upcoming draft in 10 days. However with Texans general manager Nick Caserio saying Monday that Houston is "open to listening" to trade offers for their first-round selection, the door is now open for another quarterback-starved franchise to soar up the draft board. If a team does decide to trade up for the Texans' number two overall pick, they would be lining up to take the remaining passer between Alabama's Bryce Young and Ohio State's C.J. Stroud. 

Here are six organizations that could be a trade suitor, ordered by each team's likely desire to move up. 

 

1. Indianapolis Colts (No. 4 overall)

The Indianapolis Colts are clearly the most quarterback-thirsty team outside of the top two overall picks at the moment. Owner Jim Irsay's tweet on Sunday highlighted how the quarterback position is at the top of his mind entering the 2023 Draft as he posted pictures of the four quarterbacks expected to come off the board in Round 1: Florida's Anthony Richardson, Ohio State's C.J. Stroud, Alabama's Bryce Young, and Kentucky's Will Levis. It is noteworthy that Richardson, the draft's best athlete at the position but also one of the more raw quarterback prospects, was the first photo Irsay attached to his tweet. The Colts may be fine with hoping Richardson drops to four, or it could be a smokescreen before offering to trade up with their AFC South rival. 

NFL

Texans GM’s surprising take on potential trade of No. 2 pick in NFL Draft

2. Las Vegas Raiders (No. 7 overall)

The Las Vegas Raiders signed head coach Josh McDaniels' former New England Patriots pupil Jimmy Garoppolo to a three-year, $72.8 million contract that is really a two-year, $48.5 million deal as far as guaranteed money goes. Plus, Vegas has hosted or will host the following quarterbacks for visits in the lead-up to the draft, according to Sports Illustrated: Alabama's Bryce Young, Florida's Anthony Richardson Ohio State's C.J. Stroud and Tennessee's Hendon Hooker. A franchise spending that much time familiarizing itself with each of the draft's top passers isn't doing it for fun. They're seriously considering taking a quarterback. Doing so would buy McDaniels and Raiders general manager Dave Ziegler time given the nature of developing a young quarterback.