On Friday, we’ll kick off voting for the Best Draft Award for 2024. It will be the eighth year we’ve presented the award (in order, the Saints, Colts, 49ers, Bucs, Broncos, Seahawks and Lions have won it, going back to the 2017 trophy), and it’s usually a tight vote.

While we at Inside the League don’t have a vote — only active NFL scouts get one — we do have to determine the finalists, and that’s not an easy task. It’s a cliche, but even getting selected as a finalist is a big deal, and we always go back and forth on the best five teams (we even took more than five finalists in 2021 and 2024).

Anyway, our job now is to determine which five teams did best last April, and we’re struggling with the choices. Here are 12 teams that we think have a pretty strong case, along with their best picks/UDFA signings.

Who should we pick? Obviously, there are some pretty strong choices here. It’s something we take seriously; we’d never want to omit a team that might have a case for winning it.

49ers Puni, Dominick (3/86) Mustapha, Malik (4/124) Guerendo, Isaac (4/129)
Buccaneers Barton, Graham (1/26) Smith, Tykee (3/89) Irving, Bucky (4/125)
Chargers Alt, Joe (1/5) McConkey, Ladd (2/34) Still, Tarheeb (5/137)
Colts Latu, Laiatu (1/15) Goncalves, Matt (3/79) Bortolini, Tanor (4/117)
Commanders Daniels, Jayden (1/2) Sainristil, Mike (2/50)  
Eagles Mitchell, Quinyon (1/22) DeJean, Cooper (2/40)  
Giants Nabers, Malik (1/6) Nubin, Tyler (2/47) Phillips, Dru (3/70)
Packers Morgan, Jordan (1/25) Cooper, Edgerrin (2/45) Bullard, Javon (2/58)
Panthers Legette, Xavier (1/32) Wallace, Trevin (3/72) Sanders, Ja’Tavion (4/101)
Raiders Bowers, Brock (1/13) Powers-Johnson, Jackson (2/44)  
Rams Verse, Jared (1/19) Fiske, Braden (2/39) Kinchens, Kam (3/99)
Steelers Frazier, Zach (2/51) Wilson, Payton (3/98) McCormick, Mason (4/119)

The conflict I struggle with every year is figuring out what’s better: one or two true impact players, or several players that contribute? My impression is that scouts value really hitting on Day 1 and Day 2, based on previous voting, though the award has been a funny thing. For example, the Jets had both the OROY (WO Garrett Wilson) and the DROY (DC Ahmad Gardner) in the 2022 draft, yet the Seahawks (who drafted starters at both tackle positions plus OH Kenneth Walker and DC Tariq Woolen) took home the trophy.

DMs are open at @insidetheleague. To find out who we chose, check out tomorrow’s Friday Wrap. If you aren’t registered yet, do that here.