USA Today

NFL draft week has arrived, the first round of the league's 88th 'Player Selection Meeting' set to begin Thursday night in Kansas City, Missouri. And the air of mystery surrounding the 2023 draft has become as thick as the smoke that has recently billowed and been inhaled by draftniks (and league personnel) across the country. Whether it's indicative of sending mock drafts like this one up in flames will be clear soon enough, but even Colts GM Chris Ballard fueled the conjecture last week. 'Nobody knows. Nobody is giving out information,' said Ballard, who holds the fourth overall pick, which may provide him with unexpected options if the division rival Texans pivot from months-long speculation that they would take a quarterback second overall. “Oh, everybody is lying,” Ballard said, while also disputing his organization had narrowed its focus to a specific player. “I might be the most honest one, unfortunately. But everybody is lying.