Arizona Cardinals make bold move in latest 2024 mock draft

The 2023 NFL Draft is barely a distant memory and we're already looking ahead to the 2024 NFL Draft. 

Nevermind that there is a whole season to be played and at this time next year, there's a chance we'll have a new reigning Super Bowl Champion. Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs will have something to say about that, but the point is, there is a whole NFL and college football season to play out. We've barely hit 2023 OTAs at this juncture.

With that noted, the NFL Draft is a 24/7/365 affair, which is why it's more than fair to check in on 247Sports' way-too-early 2024 NFL Mock Draft.

Perhaps not surprisingly, 247SPorts sees two quarterbacks not just going in the top five, but two quarterbacks being drafted within the first three picks.

The first pick is somewhat obvious. If USC quarterback Caleb Williams can repeat his Heisman Trophy-winning campaign or even come close to it, his blend of raw athleticism and pure quarterbacking ability makes him well worth going first overall. 

If he stays healthy and again dominates the college football landscape, the only question is which team will take him? Per 247Sports, that team would be the Arizona Cardinals, who would be moving on from Kyler Murray in this scenario. 

The luck the Cardinals would get in this scenario is breathtaking. They drafted Josh Rosen in the 2018 NFL Draft with the 10th overall pick, hoping that he'd be "the guy" to lead the franchise forward. He was almost immediately deemed a bust, but lucky enough for the Cardinals, they went into the 2019 draft with the first overall pick and were able to pivot to Kyler Murray — who was coming off a Heisman Trophy win in his own right.

Murray has been a franchise quarterback for Arizona, but there are questions about his ability to stay healthy, as well as his overall football buy-in. Remember, he reportedly had a clause in his new contract that required study time.

Things would have to go horribly wrong for the Cardinals to end up drafting No. 1 overall in 2024 and deciding to move off Murray in the third season of a five-year, $230.5 million contract, but stranger (and bolder) things have happened in the NFL — especially in Arizona.

Per 247Sports' mock draft, North Carolina quarterback Drake Maye goes No. 3 overall to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.