Potential key draft games on 2023 schedule … While most of the NFL world is gushing over some of the great games between playoff contenders on the just-released 2023 schedule, we’ve been on the lookout for the games that could go along in determining which teams get the early picks at next year’s draft. And while its way too early to be sure which teams will actually be in the running for those early picks next year – and there are almost always surprise teams that no one expected to be in the running for an early, but are and others that play better than expected – several games do jump out as possible key games for the ultimate 2024 selection order:
- If there is an early consensus around the league about which teams are most likely to be in the running to get the #1 pick next year, Houston and Arizona, who had the 2nd and 3rd picks respectively, almost always get mentioned and those two teams play in Houston on November 19th. For the record, the Cardinals also play in Chicago, who would have had the #1 pick this year if they hadn’t traded it to Carolina, face each other in the windy city on Christmas Eve.
- Speaking of Chicago, the feeling around the league is that the Bears could be one of the more improved teams around the league this fall; we may have a better idea of whether that’s true and whether Chicago will be in the hunt for the top pick again this fall after the Bears play Denver on October 1st and then just days later meet Washington on the 5th. In fact, we could also get an early idea where Denver and Washington are as they face each other in the 2nd week of the schedule on September 17th.
- With both teams breaking in rookie QBs its hard not to figure that Houston and Indianapolis could very well be sniffing around the top pick this fall and as division rivals the Texans and Colts play twice, with an early date on September 17th in Houston, while they warp up the season in Indianapolis on January 7th. Should either team sweeps those two games it could have a major impact on the final selection order.
