Pro Football Focus

Carolina traded up to No. 1 overall with the Chicago Bears to once and for all land their next franchise quarterback a dozen years after taking Cam Newton with the top pick in 2011. They genuinely don’t seem fully committed to one specific player as of today, with reports claiming they’d at least entertain a trade-down, but we have them sticking here and taking the guy quarterbacks coach Josh McCown plans to play pick-up basketball with soon in Charlotte. Stroud was charted as accurate on 68.2% of passes in 2022, the second-best rate in the country, and led the nation with 28.2% of passes deemed “accurate-plus,” which factors in things like leading a receiver away from coverage. The one main knock he had throughout the year was a lack of creativity off-script, and then he had the performance of a lifetime in that regard against Georgia in the College Football Playoff.