FORT WORTH, Texas — After acquiring the first two draft picks in the 2023 PBR (Professional Bull Riders) Team Series Draft courtesy of a pair of trades leading into the league’s second season, the Carolina Cowboys selected seven-time PRCA champion Sage Kimzey (Strong City, Oklahoma) with the first overall selection, followed by three-time National Finals Rodeo qualifier Josh Frost (Randlett, Utah), another veteran rider who recently won the 2023 PBR Pendleton Whisky Velocity Tour Championship, with the second overall pick.

“I think PBR Teams is the future of the sport,” Kimzey said. “To be the No. 1 pick and go to a great organization like the Carolina Cowboys, I couldn’t be happier. This team has a lot of punches to throw.”

While the Cowboys elected to roll with two decorated veterans, complete with championship buckles, the Missouri Thunder opted to welcome young talent with tremendous potential. 

With the third overall pick, the Thunder selected 2023 PBR Velocity Tour Finals event champion Joao Lucas Campos (Porto Feliz, Brazil). After making his Unleash The Beast debut last weekend during the opening rounds of the 2023 PBR World Finals, he caught the Thunder’s attention and will look to contribute throughout the summer alongside Kade Madsen (Honeyville, Utah), whom Missouri selected with the fourth overall pick.

The 18-year-old, younger brother to the Oklahoma Freedom’s Briggs Madsen (Tremonton, Utah), joins Missouri as a member of its protected roster and will likely see action in July, when the PBR Team Series begins its second season in Cheyenne, Wyoming, on July 24-25.

Picking fifth, the Kansas City Outlaws selected 2022 PBR Brazil Champion Cassio Dias (Sao F. de Sales, Brazil)

The Oklahoma Freedom used the No. 6 pick in the first round to select rising star Brady Turgeon (New River, Arizona). The talented 19-year-old had three Top-10 finishes in six Unleash The Beast events in 2023 and is amidst his first PBR World Finals, with a qualified ride in Round 1 at Dickies Arena on the biggest stage in Western sports. 

With the final first-round selection, the Texas Rattlers used the seventh overall pick to draft Creek Young (Springfield, Missouri). The 22-year-old is a two-time NFR qualifier and finished 11th in the PRCA in 2022. He’ll look to make an impact with the Rattlers under the watchful eye of PBR co-founder and Rattlers Head Coach Cody Lambert, who’s had a knack for identifying and developing elite talent.

Thirteen draft selections were made overall Wednesday night inside Cowboy Channel Studios in Fort Worth, Texas, during the three-round protected roster draft.

These riders are guaranteed a place on their respective teams’ Protected Rosters for the first two events in the 2023 PBR Team Series season in Cheyenne July 24-25 and Oklahoma City, Oklahoma Aug. 3-5. 

The Austin Gamblers did not have a selection in the 2023 Protected Roster Draft because their Protected Roster was full prior to the start of the protected roster draft.

In all, 147 new riders declared for the draft this year. The 115 who did not get selected automatically become unrestricted free agents.