2024 NFL Draft: Top 5 players at each position

WCG’s lead draft analyst shares his top 5 players at each positions in the 2024 NFL Draft.

The 2024 NFL Draft is just one week away, and after a long pre-draft process, rankings for most analysts have finalized.

I love looking at the draft as a year-round process, with my scouting on this year’s underclassmen starting in April of last year. Though most of my tape watching this month has gone towards the 2025 class, I’ve still been making a few minor tweaks to my board. Now, I’ve decided to publish my finalized rankings over a series of articles.

I’ll get around to publishing my final top 100 prospects in the 2024 draft, but I’m going to start with my top 5 players at each position — including special teamers! You can find the entirety of my draft board on my Patreon, but this provides an understanding of which positional groups feature more of the top prospects in the class.

Here are the top 5 prospects from each position on my big board for the 2024 NFL Draft.

Quarterback

1. Caleb Williams, USC
2. Drake Maye, North Carolina
3. J.J. McCarthy, Michigan
4. Jayden Daniels, LSU
5. Michael Penix Jr., Washington

The only major surprise in my rankings compared to the consensus is McCarthy coming in as my QB3. Though Daniels is a likely top-3 pick, I don’t view him in the same light as many expects the league to. He has a skinny frame, an average arm, and his decision-making under pressure scares me a lot. McCarthy isn’t a perfect prospect, either, but to me, he has a better arm and offers better poise under duress. Penix would likely be my QB3 were it not for his laundry list of past major injuries.

Running back

1. Jonathon Brooks, Texas
2. Blake Corum, Michigan
3. Trey Benson, Florida State
4. Jaylen Wright, Tennessee
5. MarShawn Lloyd, USC

I don’t have any running backs in my top 60 this year, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t players who could contribute in the league. Brooks is narrowly my RB1 with his combination of ball-carrier vision, speed and elusiveness, while Corum has a much smaller frame but a much larger sample size of impactful play in college. I didn’t get to Wright until after the season, but he’s someone whose elite speed I have been wowed by.

Wide receiver

1. Marvin Harrison Jr., Ohio State
2. Rome Odunze, Washington
3. Malik Nabers, LSU
4. Adonai Mitchell, Texas
5. Brian Thomas Jr., LSU

My receiver rankings are fairly close to the consensus, save for Odunze being slightly above Nabers. I have that ranking in place due to Odunze’s size and route-running IQ, but both would be the top receiver in most draft classes without a near-generational talent like Harrison. The gap between WR3 and WR10 in this class is very thin to me, and while some players like Ladd McConkey and Ricky Pearsall are better route runners at this stage, the tools and unlimited ceilings of Mitchell and Thomas are undeniable.

Tight end

1. Brock Bowers, Georgia
2. Theo Johnson, Penn State
3. Ja’Tavion Sanders, Texas
4. Ben Sinnott, Kansas State
5. Cade Stover, Ohio State

Save for Bowers — one of the best tight ends I’ve ever scouted at the collegiate level — I’m not very high on this tight end class. Johnson is raw but has elite physical tools, and Sanders’ testing didn’t live up to his YAC ability on tape. I almost put Sinnott as my TE2, and while I didn’t end up doing that, the gap between the three isn’t huge for me.

Offensive tackle

1. Joe Alt, Notre Dame
2. Olu Fashanu, Penn State
3. Taliese Fuaga, Oregon State
4. JC Latham, Alabama
5. Troy Fautanu, Washington

This list doesn’t even include Amarius Mims or Tyler Guyton, two inexperienced tackles but players with immense amounts of potential. All five of these listed offensive tackles seem like immediate starters at the next level, and I wouldn’t be shocked if two tackles go in the top 10. To that point, all five of these tackles are in my top 21.

Offensive guard

1. Cooper Beebe, Kansas State
2. Jordan Morgan, Arizona
3. Christian Haynes, UConn
4. Zak Zinter, Michigan
5. Dominick Puni, Kansas

I’m one of the few projecting Morgan as a guard due to a lack of length, but his athleticism and demeanor still gets him a Round 2 grade on my board. I’m higher on Beebe than the consensus, too; a powerful, intelligent, technically-sound guard who tested very well seems like a no-brainer to become a high-impact starter. Haynes and Zinter would have similar grades for different reasons if Zinter didn’t get hurt near the end of the year, but I could see any of the last three in my top 5 becoming solid starters as mid-to-late Day 2 selections.

Center

1. Jackson Powers-Johnson, Oregon
2. Graham Barton, Duke
3. Zach Frazier, West Virginia
4. Sedrick Van Pran, Georgia
5. Beaux Limmer, Arkansas

This list didn’t even include Tanor Bortolini or Hunter Nourzad, two guys I think could be decent starters early in their NFL careers. JPJ and Barton have high-end starting upside, and I think Frazier carves out a nice career for himself as an 8-year starter or so. Van Pran is a steady, powerful center with a good collegiate resume, and Limmer is someone whose play strength and demeanor wowed me, but whose athletic testing surprised me in a positive light.

Defensive lineman

1. Byron Murphy II, Texas
2. Jer’Zhan Newton, Illinois
3. Kris Jenkins, Michigan
4. Darius Robinson, Missouri
5. Ruke Orhorhoro, Clemson

The gap between Murphy and Newton is extremely close, and that’s more of props to Newton than it is a disrespect to Murphy. I see as many as 12 defensive tackles I’d like at various stages of Rounds 1 through 3; it’s a deep class. Robinson is your versatile tweener type with much better tape than recent failed experiments like L.J. Collier and Marlon Davidson, and both Jenkins and Orhorhoro bring the speed and power up the middle.

Edge rusher

1. Dallas Turner, Alabama
2. Jared Verse, Florida State
3. Laiatu Latu, UCLA
4. Chop Robinson, Penn State
5. Chris Braswell, Alabama

I’ve rotated my top three edge rushers in various spaces — all three have very similar grades on my board — but I’ve been bullied into going with Turner, the highest-upside player of the bunch, as my EDGE1. Robinson’s a bit more raw than the top three but also offers elite athleticism. There’s a drop at EDGE for me after them, but guys like Braswell, Marshawn Kneeland and Bralen Trice offer intriguing upside on Day 2.

Linebacker

1. Edgerrin Cooper, Texas A&M
2. Payton Wilson, NC State
3. Junior Colson, Michigan
4. Jeremiah Trotter Jr., Clemson
5. Cedric Gray, North Carolina

This linebacker class doesn’t amaze me, but there are some traits-based prospects at the position I like in the group. Cooper, Wilson and Colson all offer elite athletic traits, while Trotter is more of your high-floor thumper type of prospect. I see several potential high-end special teamers and toolsy developmental picks, but I don’t think there are any superstars in the bunch.

Cornerback

1. Quinyon Mitchell, Toledo
2. Terrion Arnold, Alabama
3. Nate Wiggins, Clemson
4. Cooper DeJean, Iowa
5. Kool-Aid McKinstry, Alabama

This cornerback class is deep in high-end CB2 types with potential to grow into quality CB1s. Mitchell is my favorite of the bunch with his competitiveness, high football IQ, elite ball skills and tremendous athleticism. If he played the way he did at Toledo and did so at a Power 5 school, the media would likely be talking about him as a lock for a top-10 pick. The tools are obvious with everyone else in the top five, particularly physicality with Arnold and athleticism with the other three. It’s a deep class outside of the top five, though, as I have at least Day 2 grades on 13 corners in the group.

Safety

1. Tyler Nubin, Minnesota
2. Javon Bullard, Georgia
3. Calen Bullock, USC
4. Cole Bishop, Utah
5. Dadrion Taylor-Demerson, Texas Tech

The tape with Kamren Kinchens was impressive to me, but given his poor athletic testing and the slim margin between the top safeties in this draft, he falls just out of the top 5 at the position. Nubin is the highest-floor option of the bunch, and while Bullard and Bullock each have frame concerns — length and bulk, respectively — they’re both rangy playmakers. Keep an eye on Taylor-Demerson, whose instincts, motor, athleticism and ball skills in coverage could end up making him the best safety in the class.

Special teamers

1. Tory Taylor, Iowa punter
2. Will Reichard, Alabama kicker
3. Joshua Karty, Stanford kicker
4. Austin McNamara, Texas Tech punter
5. Harrison Mevis, Missouri kicker

Taylor is one of the best special teamers I’ve ever scouted. His leg talent and downfield touch are second to none. McNamara is another well-rounded punter with starter value. There isn’t a superstar kicker of the bunch, but none of them are particularly bad by any means. Mevis has the strongest leg of the group, Reichard is the most mechanically-sound, and Karty is a nice middle ground between the two.

My 2024 NFL Draft Guide is live now on my Patreon! You’ll receive access to my 440-player big board, scouting reports, a 7-round mock draft, positional rankings, player comparisons, and player superlatives! Half of the proceeds for the month of April will be send in a donation towards the Multiple Sclerosis Association of America.