• The Bears could be in line for a top receiver to fall to them at No. 9: A wide receiver room that already features D.J. Moore and Keenan Allen could become elite with a player like Rome Odunze.
• The Vikings should have J.J. McCarthy on their radar: Whether it requires a trade-up or the Michigan signal-caller falls to No. 11, Minnesota should be targeting McCarthy.
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A first-round pick in the NFL draft can be transformative for the team that invests it wisely. Having two first-round picks provides a team with the ability to do something special.
Three teams are sitting there with this opportunity in the 2024 NFL Draft as of now — the Chicago Bears, Arizona Cardinals and Minnesota Vikings — with two of the three likely to use one of those picks on a quarterback. Only the Vikings seem likely to package those picks to go after a single player, sitting as they are with the 11th pick in a draft where four quarterbacks may be selected before they are on the clock.
We are going to present the best-case scenario for each team with two picks, starting with the top pick of the draft.
Chicago Bears (Pick Nos. 1 and 18)
- Pick No. 1: QB Caleb Williams, USC
- Pick No. 9: WR Rome Odunze, Washington
Caleb Williams to the Bears with the top pick of the draft isn’t a surprise, but that’s because it’s the correct pick and the best they can do. Williams is the best quarterback prospect in this draft, and one of the best to enter the league in several years. Williams has a rare ability to make plays outside of structure but is also far better within rhythm than he is given credit for. He can execute an NFL offense to an extremely high standard and then add a layer of magic on top when things break down, something very few quarterbacks can hope to match.
It is no guarantee Williams will work out, but the Bears have already taken strides to ensure that he has the help around him that Justin Fields didn’t have, trading for Keenan Allen to pair with DJ Moore before the draft.
With Williams on board, Chicago could go in many different directions at No. 9, and the arrival of Allen means the team doesn’t need to chase any upgrade in receiving talent, but if one of the “big three” receivers falls, the Bears couldn’t do better than snagging him. In this scenario, that’s Rome Odunze, a phenomenal composite of physical tools and playmaking ability — and arguably more raw than Marvin Harrison Jr. and Malik Nabers. Odunze could be an immediate playmaker for the Bears and learn to round out his game from Moore and Allen.
Arizona Cardinals (Pick Nos. 4 and 27)
- Pick No. 4: WR Marvin Harrison Jr., Ohio State
- Pick No. 27: EDGE Laiatu Latu, UCLA
The true best-case scenario for Arizona could arguably feature a trade-down from their top spot, depending on the desperation of quarterback-needy teams below them. But assuming they stick with their selection, drafting the best receiver available is a no-brainer. Despite us reaching the “overthinking Marvin Harrison Jr.” portion of the pre-draft process, he is still arguably the best player in this class, regardless of position.
Harrison sheds contact by defenders more easily than any receiver I can remember entering the draft, and he averaged 3.44 yards per route run last season despite an ugly quarterback situation for the Buckeyes in a post-C.J. Stroud landscape. Harrison would immediately become the team’s best receiver and a top target for Kyler Murray.
With the Cardinals' second first-round pick, the team should look at the best defender available. Laiatu Latu has the potential to slide in the draft because of his medical history and how he compares to other top prospects athletically. It’s not that Latu is a bad athlete, it’s just that he isn’t special in the way Alabama’s Dallas Turner or Penn State’s Chop Robinson are. Latu is, however, significantly more productive than anyone else in this draft and has peerless technique. Last season, he recorded an outstanding 26.2% pass-rush win rate, notching 62 quarterback pressures from only 304 pass-rushing snaps.
Minnesota Vikings (Pick Nos. 11 and 23)
At this stage, I would be surprised to see Minnesota use both of its first-round selections. I expect them to package those picks to move up in the draft to get their preferred quarterback. If they are willing to trade up for McCarthy, then an absolute dream scenario is that they don’t have to and he falls to them at No. 11 instead. McCarthy’s evaluation is tough because Michigan’s offense coupled with the team's dominance last season meant that we rarely got to see McCarthy put the team on his back. He attempted just 116 passes in the second half of games, but he has the tools and demeanor of a franchise quarterback in the making.
The Vikings would secure their future and have the bridge in Sam Darnold that allows them to bring McCarthy on slowly.
After McCarthy, the Vikings need to add an impact defender to a team that was making things work with smoke and mirrors on that side of the ball in 2023. Eventually, that plan was foiled and the defense was gashed late in the year. Terrion Arnold has some of the slickest man coverage skills of any draft prospect in years, and while most teams in the league play zone far more often, the Vikings under Brian Flores still covet man cover skills more than anything else on the back end.
In single coverage this past season, Arnold broke up 11 passes and recorded three interceptions from only 43 targets, allowing just a 41.0 passer rating into his coverage.
