The dust has officially settled on the 2023 NFL Draft, but the discussion is not yet over. Just like Todd McShay’s annual All-Satellite Team and Mel Kiper’s annual draft grades, an annual tradition of my draft coverage here at BTSC is creating my All-Draft team. This year, however, we are changing it up a little bit.

This year, we are creating two distinct teams. If you have seen my teams in years past, you are probably familiar with my by-round approach. I choose my favorite selection from each round and then choose three other selections I like as “bench” options for that round. I do it for all seven rounds as well as undrafted free agency. We will be releasing that team today, but later this week, we will be releasing another team which fills out a starting 11 for both offense and defense. To fill out that roster, I will select three players from each round as well as one undrafted free agent. Again, that team will come out later this week, so stay tuned.

Here are the official ground rules created back in 2017:

1. Simply choose your favorite four or five players (or fits) taken in each round of the draft.
2. From those lists of four or five players, choose one that you like slightly above the rest. The others are your “bench” options.
3. You cannot be too obvious with your first pick. In other words, Joe Burrow was not allowed back in 2020, and Penei Sewell and Trevor Lawrence were not allowed last year. So this year, no Bryce Young or Will Anderson. Be reasonable with it. Avoid players who were selected or, in some cases, projected to go in the top 5-10 picks of the draft.

It is, in some ways, a different way of grading the draft picks based not only on value, but also on fit. My 2019 team included the likes of Antoine Winfield, Jr., Jaylon Johnson, Bryce Hall, Julian Blackmon, Willie Gay, Donovan Peoples-Jones, and Tyler Huntley, amongst others. The most success I have ever had in rounds 1-4, however, was probably the first year I did this exercise: 2017. Here was the team from that year.

Round 1- Patrick Mahomes — QB — Texas Tech
Bench: T.J. Watt, Jabrill Peppers, and O.J. Howard
Round 2- Chidobe Awuzie — CB — Colorado
Bench: Adoree Jackson, Joe Mixon, and Dalvin Tomlinson
Round 3- Larry Ogunjobi — DT — Charlotte
Bench: Jourdan Lewis, Kareem Hunt, and Cameron Sutton
Round 4- Eddie Jackson — S — Alabama
Bench: DeDe Westbrook, Carl Lawson, and Jamaal Williams
Round 5- Roderick Johnson — OT — Florida State
Bench: Jake Butt, Desmond King, and Jordan Leggett
Round 6- Caleb Brantley — DL — Florida
Bench: Adam Bisnowaty, Elijah Qualls, and Brad Kaaya
Round 7- Ejuan Price — EDGE — Pittsburgh
Bench: Isaiah Ford, Jalen Myrick, and Elijah Lee
Undrafted- Jerod Evans — QB — Virginia Tech

Enough of previous years. Let’s get to this year’s team! If you would like to participate in this exercise, you can do so by commenting down below with your own team, using the by-round format we are using today.

2023 All-Draft Team

Traditional by-round format

Round 1- Nolan Smith — EDGE — Georgia
Bench: Will McDonald IV (EDGE), Mazi Smith (NT), Darnell Wright (OT; 10th pick, but not a projected top-10 pick), Jaxon Smith-Njigba (WR)
Round 2- Joey Porter, Jr. — CB — Penn State
Bench: Cody Mauch (OL), Sam LaPorta (TE), DJ Turner (CB), Gervon Dexter (DT)
Round 3- Sydney Brown — S — Illinois
Bench: Darnell Washington (TE), Tyjae Spears (RB), Trenton Simpson (ILB), Dorian Williams (ILB)
Round 4- Clark Phillips III — CB — Utah
Bench: Adetomiwa Adebawore (EDGE), Jake Andrews (C), Chandler Zavala (G), Aidan O’Connell (QB)
Round 5- Chase Brown — RB — Illinois
Bench: Israel Abanikanda (RB), Darius Rush (CB), Yasir Abdullah (ILB), Olusegun Oluwatimi (C)
Round 6- JL Skinner — S — Boise State
Bench: Luke Wypler (C), Parker Washington (WR/RB), Jarrick Bernard-Converse (CB), Andrei Iosivas (WR)
Round 7- Andrew Vorhees — G — USC
Bench: Zack Kuntz (TE), Lew Nichols III (RB), DeWayne McBride (RB), Cory Trice (CB)
UDFA- Bryce Ford-Wheaton — WR — West Virginia
Bench: Steven Gilmore (CB), Ben VanSumeren (ILB), Joey Fisher (OT), Trevor Nowaske (ILB)

Who would be on your 2023 All-Draft team? Would any Steelers make your team? Be sure to comment down below and share your All-Draft team!