Buy or Sell: Tyree Wilson Will Be the Third Selection in the NFL Draft

There have been few more significant risers in the lead-up to the 2023 NFL Draft than Texas Tech’s Tyree Wilson. 

Although he’s been considered a first-round talent for a few months, he’s continued climbing mock drafts to where there’s a solid chance he’ll be selected within the first three picks. 

Looking at BetMGM Sportsbook, Wilson is +250 to be taken third overall. He’s in a logjam with Ohio State quarterback CJ Stroud (+200) and Alabama edge rusher Will Anderson (+250).

Wilson was hard to miss if you tuned into Big 12 football last season, as he stands 6’6″ and weighs 271 pounds.

He initially attended Texas A&M but transferred away from College Station after playing sparingly in years one and two. After a third season of minimal production in 2020, he broke out in 2021 with 13.5 tackles for loss and excelled as a senior a year ago with 14 tackles for loss, seven sacks, and 61 tackles across ten games. 

The speculation about who the Arizona Cardinals will likely take has been all over the map. Names like Wilson and Anderson have been common, but Illinois quarterback Devon Witherspoon and Ohio State tackle Paris Johnson Jr. have also been mentioned. No one seems to know what Monti Ossenfort and Dave Sears have planned. 

What should Arizona do with the No. 3 pick? 

The roster requires a complete overhaul, so naming a position of need seems pointless when nearly everything is lacking. With so many holes to fill and the Cardinals not infatuated with top-end talents in this draft class, the intelligent thing to do would be to trade back.

There have been a few teams, like the Minnesota Vikings and Indianapolis Colts, who are in the market for a quarterback of the future. Rather than wait, it wouldn’t be surprising if a quarterback-starved team moves some chips to move up in the draft.

This would give the Cardinals more picks in either this year’s draft or next, which should be their goal. Both are needed considering the team is starting fresh this year and isn’t expected to be competitive in 2023, so they should focus on the future.

Quarterback Kyler Murray will likely miss the beginning of the season as he recovers from a torn ACL. Although there’s been no official announcement about his return date, he suffered the injury during Monday Night Football in Week 14, and it would be a surprise to see him back in Week 1. The focus should be on getting this roster in a position to be competitive a year from now, once Murray has returned to full health. 

While Wilson is a fine prospect, the Cardinals would be wise to move down the draft and select a prospect of a similar caliber at a discounted price. 

Buy or Sell: Sell Tyree Wilson to go Third Overall