The first round of the 2024 NFL Draft has come and gone, and boy, was it really entertaining. As expected, all of our mock drafts were torn to shreds, as players went much higher than expected, while others fell further than we thought. NFL teams also forgot that there were defensive players available, as the first defensive player was selected 15th overall!
We saw a record number of quarterbacks taken in the first round, with all six going in the first 12, and only nine offensive linemen going despite the NFL world expecting titans of two-digit trench are selected. There’s plenty to get going, so without further ado, here are the five biggest surprises from the first round.
5. The fall of the cornerback
If you care about mock drafts, most had the first cornerback around 13th overall. The first corner ranked No. 22 overall on Thursday. It wasn’t a great night for defensive players in general, we’ll get to that in a second, but a few teams had absolute STEALS with these cornerbacks.
I don’t know how the Philadelphia Eagles are still getting these cleats, but Quinyon Mitchell should be an immediate starter. He overcame “MAC conference questions” at the Senior Bowl by dominating and recorded the most passes defended in the FBS over the last two seasons with 37. The Eagles needed to strengthen the secondary, and that is exactly what they did, arguably taking the best. cornerback in the draft.
If Mitchell isn’t the best cornerback in the draft, it’s probably Alabama’s Terrion Arnold — who got two picks later at No. 24 overall from the Detroit Lions after a trade. Detroit was another NFC contender that needed to add secondary, especially after the Cam Sutton incident, and Arnold was responsible for the most incomplete targets among SEC players last season with 43. He also figures to start all of following.
These two players could have gone higher in the first round, and two great teams took advantage of their falls.
4. Ricky Pearsall
The Florida Gator was a draft favorite, but who saw him going in the first round? He was selected by the San Francisco 49ers 31st overall, after catching 65 passes for 965 yards and four touchdowns in 2023. Maybe he didn’t pass for more than 1,500 yards in 2023 as Malik Nabers, but there is no doubt that he is talented. . What did “commercial block resident” Brandon Aiyuk think of this choice? Apparently his words were: “Pickaxe of fire, no lie“.
All guns will have fun in San Francisco, but few have seen Pearsall sneak into the top 32.
The Chiefs and Bills have an epic rivalry in the AFC, which is why it was confusing when Buffalo allowed Kansas City to move up to 28th overall to select a player they had a clear head start on . Who was this player? Just the kid who broke the 40-yard dash record at the NFL Combine this year.
There are some concerns about Worthy being so thin, but he’s a burner that Andy Reid can probably use better than anyone. He is a two-time first-team All-Big 12 player who also led the conference in receiving yards and touchdowns during his college career. Congratulations, Patrick Mahomes. And Buffalo better hope it doesn’t score the game-winning touchdown the next time these two teams meet.
2. Defensive players ignored
We knew there was a chance this draft could tie or even break the record when it came to the last selection of a defensive player (formerly No. 8 overall), but did you imagine fourteen offensive players coming off the board to start the draft? Only nine defensive players were selected Thursday night.
There’s no doubt about it, the most shocking moment of the first round was when the Atlanta Falcons selected Michael Penix Jr. No. 8 overall. Yes, the Falcons offered Kirk Cousins a four-year contract worth $180 million in free agency, but everyone is praising the “Packers way” until it’s actually used, is not it ? It’s fair to wonder how many seasons left for a soon-to-be 36-year-old quarterback coming off a torn Achilles, but the most shocking part of this pick is that he came in at No. 8 overall. The Falcons could have gone down a bit, right? GOOD, according to NFL Media, the Seattle Seahawks, the New Orleans Saints and the Las Vegas Raiders all attempted to enter the top 10 for Penix. The Falcons had plenty of other needs to address in the top 10, but they moved to quarterback. We’ll see how it goes.
Penix wasn’t the only quarterback surprise. Michigan’s JJ McCarthy fell to the Minnesota Vikings at No. 10 even though he was constantly mocked in the top five, then Bo Nix moved to No. 12 to the Denver Broncos despite being considered a first day limit choice.
Quarterbacks were flying off the board and even breaking draft records. Four quarterbacks went into the top eight picks for the first time, and five quarterbacks went into the top 10 for the first time. This seems like good news for Spencer Rattler and Michael Pratt.
