A beginner’s guide to the 2023 NFL Draft’s top 12 prospects, including pro comparisons

Every player in the NFL is unique. That doesn’t mean they won’t remind you of the guys who came before them.

A trap we commonly fall into every draft season is to lean too heavily on player comparisons to define their futures as a player. Baker Mayfield was on track to be Doug Flutie. All-Pro Matt Milano’s NFL.com comp was Bears backup John Timu. Viewing prospects solely through the lens of veterans who came before them typically winds up satisfying no one.

But in the larger scope of a scouting report they can shed a little light on the kinds of offenses or defenses in which they’d shine and the styles they embody. This is all to say that no comparison is ever going to be perfect, but some can help.

Which leads us here. Consider each entry a Cliff’s notes version of a larger story — a snippet you can relay at a draft party if you’re not super interested in draft talk. For more, you can check out my final, three round mock draft. But if you’re interested in the broad strokes, well, here you go.