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2023 NFL Draft odds: Bryce Young slight favorite to be No. 1 overall pick over CJ Stroud after both QBs shine in bowl games

Next up for Bryce Young and CJ Stroud: The NFL Draft.

Matt Severance

There was never any doubt that Ohio State quarterback CJ Stroud was going to play in the Peach Bowl for the Buckeyes instead of opting out to prepare for the 2023 NFL Draft, as the Buckeyes were counting on him in the College Football Playoff national semifinal. It would have been understandable for Alabama QB and 2021 Heisman winner Bryce Young to skip a meaningless Sugar Bowl against Kansas State, but Young not only played but was brilliant. It's now draft prep time for both, and Young is the slight +110 favorite to go No. 1 overall, with Stroud listed at +130 at Caesars Sportsbook.

Alabama's game was early on New Year's Eve, and Young was 15-for-21 for 321 yards, five touchdowns and no picks in his final collegiate game. The five TDs matched a school record for a bowl game (Mac Jones in CFP title game following 2020 season) and the second-most in Sugar Bowl history (Justin Fields had six).

Young now has five career games with at least five TD passes, an Alabama record. He threw for at least one touchdown across all 27 games that he started for the Crimson Tide. Young's 80 career passing TDs moved him into second on the school's all-time list behind Tua Tagovailoa's 87.

Immediately after the Sugar Bowl, Young's odds to go first shifted from +135 to -110, but then moved to the current +110 when Stroud was equally brilliant in a crushing 42-41 loss to No. 1 Georgia. Hanging 41 on one of the nation's top defenses, full of future NFL players, was no small feat.

Stroud would have another game remaining -- the title game vs. TCU -- had the Buckeyes not blown a 38-24 fourth-quarter lead. Teams leading by 14 or more points at any point of the fourth quarter were 19-0 in College Football Playoff games all-time. Ohio State still could have won, but Noah Ruggles' 50-yard field goal attempt with three seconds left sailed wide left.

Stroud, who finished third in this year's Heisman voting, was 23-for-34 for 348 yards, four scores and no INTs, joining 2019 Heisman winner Joe Burrow as the only QBs to throw for at least 300 yards, four TDs and zero picks against Georgia under Kirby Smart.

Frankly, Stroud might have had bigger numbers had star wideout Marvin Harrison Jr. played in the fourth quarter (and I sort of doubt the Buckeyes lose if he did). Harrison was put into concussion protocol after he took a massive hit from Georgia defensive back Javon Bullard in the end zone with less than a minute left in the third quarter. Harrison said he felt good enough to return, but the medical staff wouldn't let him. From that hit on, Georgia outscored Ohio State 18-3.

Alabama linebacker Will Anderson Jr. and Georgia defensive tackle Jalen Carter are both +750 third-favorites to be the No. 1 overall pick. The first round of the 2023 draft will be held on Thursday, April 27 in Kansas City. The No. 1 overall pick will be "earned" by either Houston or Chicago -- although this prop is for the top pick regardless of whichever team ends up owner it. 

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