NFL Draft 2023 Live Updates | Who will be the first pick?

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — The NFL draft begins tonight! The Carolina Panthers are on the clock with the No. 1 pick and likely will choose between quarterbacks Bryce Young and C.J. Stroud. The events at Kansas City’s Union Station start at 1 p.m. Eastern and will include a red carpet and musical acts highlighted by Fall Out Boy. The draft will begin at 8 p.m. EST and can be viewed on NFL Network, ABC, ESPN and ESPN Deportes. Follow for live updates from Associated Press reporters across the country (all times EST).

What to know:

— When, where and how to watch the NFL draft.

— Mock Draft! See if your predictions are better than ours.

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4 p.m.

With about 4 hours before the first pick, are you sticking with your guy to be selected No. 1 in tonight’s NFL draft?

Alabama quarterback Bryce Young is the overwhelming favorite according to most oddsmakers and most mock drafts.

The Carolina Panthers will kick things off after trading four draft picks and wide receiver DJ Moore to the Chicago Bears for the No. 1 overall pick.

The Panthers are choosing between Alabama’s Bryce Young, Ohio State’s C.J. Stroud, Kentucky’s Will Levis and Florida’s Anthony Richardson as they try to escape the quarterback quagmire they’ve been trapped in for half a decade.

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3 p.m.

The NFL draft is set to begin in Kansas City in five hours and one of the more intriguing names to watch is that of Georgia defensive lineman Jalen Carter, writes AP’s Rob Maaddi.

Carter was once projected to be the No. 1 overall pick in the draft before the Chicago Bears made a trade with the quarterback-needy Carolina Panthers.

There are questions about how far the Bulldogs’ standout defensive lineman may slip because of his involvement in a car crash that killed a Georgia teammate and a team staffer. Carter was given 12 months’ probation and a $1,000 fine after pleading no contest to misdemeanor charges of reckless driving and racing

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2 p.m.

Draft parties in some cities won’t be so raucous tonight because five teams don’t have any first-round selections in the NFL draft that begins in six hours.

Moving up in the draft for quarterbacks has become a common occurrence, but the Broncos, Rams and Browns bucked that trend by parting with their 2023 first-round picks in trades for veteran quarterbacks. The 49ers don’t have a first-rounder because of the Trey Lance trade in 2021 and the Dolphins forfeited their first-rounder for tampering with Tom Brady and Sean Payton while they were with other teams.

AP Football Writer Josh Dubow reviews some of the best and worst trade-ups for quarterbacks.

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12:45 p.m.

Who will steal the spotlight with a daring fashion statement at the NFL draft tonight?

While top prospects in this year’s draft like quarterbacks Bryce Young, C.J. Stroud and Anthony Richardson prepare their outfits for the big night, Kristie Rieken looks back at some of the most memorable draft night ensembles since Deion Sanders made a splash with his track suit and gold chains in 1989.

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11:45 a.m.

Bijan Robinson is expected to be the first running back selected in the NFL draft. How high he goes is the big question.

The Texas star has top-10 talent but NFL teams no longer place a premium on running backs, so he could still be on the board late in the first round. Only four running backs have been selected in the first round since Saquon Barkley was chosen at No. 2 by the New York Giants in 2018. None went higher than No. 24.

“Everybody has their opinions and understandably so because the running back position came to be one-dimensional,” Robinson told AP. “But if you have a guy who is really versatile and can line up as a receiver, in the slot and have as much effect (as a receiver) as at running back, that’s when the value really takes off.”

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10 a.m.

The NFL draft will be held at Kansas City’s Union Station, where the league has built its largest stage complex for its second-biggest event behind the Super Bowl, writes Dave Skretta.

Once a fixture at Radio City Music Hall in New York, the draft has grown in popularity since it took to the road eight years ago in 2015. The event has become a major boon for the league, teams and host cities.