Mapping out the first round of the 2023 NFL Draft:

Georgia's Darnell Washington, LSU's B.J. Ojulari and Ohio State's Dawand Jones

Closing out the first round with high-ceiling prospects:

28th – Cincinnati Bengals, 29th – New Orleans Saints (via DEN from SF), 30th – Philadelphia Eagles and 31st – Kansas City Chiefs

In this final four-team stretch, I expect to see players who may not be full-time starters in their rookie seasons, but have the potential to pay off big down the road.

Obviously, the odd team here are the Saints, who received this pick in the Sean Payton trade, after the 49ers originally sent it to Miami when they moved up for Trey Lance a couple of years ago, who then exchanged it for Bradley Chubb coming over from Denver.

With the Bengals, Eagles and Chiefs, they’re obviously set up for a Super Bowl hunt, but they did lose some pieces who played key roles in getting them here.

Cincy could be doubling down on the secondary after picking Dax Hill late last year, if they end up letting two(-and-a-half) starters walk. Or they may be in the market for one of these talented tight ends, such as Georgia’s Darnell Washington, who would also basically function as a swing tackle.

Philly could be losing up to six or seven starters on defense. And while they haven’t traditionally prioritized linebacker, going back to the well with an edge rusher or grabbing a high-traits corner – if they went elsewhere with pick No. 10 –could make sense.

And Kansas City – depending on who the Chiefs bring back on their receiving corps and if they can get on page with left tackle Orlando Brown Jr. – could be targeting those areas. But this is sort of a sweet spot for edge rusher, where they may want to add one more guy to help them close out games.

The Saints are in a bit of a weird spot, because they’re already trying to restructure deals again and refuse to accept they should be in somewhat of a rebuild. Realistically, they should simply take the BPA (best player available) approach.

If there’s a receiver they like still hanging around, that would definitely be an option, but they’ll most likely let Marcus Davenport walk and love to grab a toolsy defensive end in the first. The three names on the edge for them and the two Super Bowl participants are probably LSU’s B.J. Ojulari, Georgia’s Nolan Smith and Iowa State’s Will McDonald.

This is typically the area for a potential trade up, if somebody wants to take a gamble on a quarterback. but I just don’t see anybody with the natural talent to command that, due to the massive dropoff from the “big four.” I’d also be interested if we maybe see LB1 come off the board around here.