Day one of the 2024 NFL Draft is in the books. It was a record night, with 23 offensive players coming off the board, including six quarterbacks in the top half of the first round. But there are still two days of the draft and more than 200 players have yet to be selected.
Friday night brings rounds 2 and 3, and there’s a lot of intrigue about what’s going to happen. That’s why we’re here with our bold predictions for Day 2. Enjoy.
Wide receiver’s first run
While there may have been a few surprising(ish) wide receivers selected late in the first round, Ricky Pearsall from Florida and Xavier Legette from South Carolina, there are still a ton of wide receivers on the board who should be selected early and often during the day. 2. We should expect AD Mitchell, Ladd McConkey and Keon Coleman to leave the board early, while Troy Franklin, Roman Wilson, Malachi Corley, Ja’Lynn Polk, Jermaine Burton, Jalen McMillan, Malik Washington , Devontez Walker, Brenden Rice, Javon Baker and Johnny Wilson could also go at some point. Receiver is arguably the deepest position in the draft, and we’ll see that throughout Friday night.
Only one quarterback off the board
There were SIX incredible quarterbacks selected on day one, with each of Caleb Williams, Jayden Daniels, Drake Maye, Michael Penix Jr., JJ McCarthy and Bo Nix among the first 12 picks. That leaves some pretty slim pickings at quarterback. In the CBS Sports NFL Draft prospect rankings, we only have two quarterbacks identified as Day 2 picks: South Carolina’s Spencer Rattler and Tulane’s Michael Pratt. But with so many teams moving on to QB early, there just aren’t as many looking for one on a Friday night. The assumption here is that Rattler goes off the board in the third round, while Pratt has to wait until Day 3 to hear his name called.
No running back in the second round
In a slight change of pace, the running back market in free agency this offseason has been quite robust. Saquon Barkley, Josh Jacobs, Tony Pollard, D’Andre Swift and many others got pretty decent sized contracts. At least part of that was because this isn’t a particularly strong running back draft class and the player who would have been the consensus top prospect at the position (Texas’ Jonathon Brooks) emerges from a torn situation. LCA. So, despite strong speculation that we could see a move back toward the back half of the second round, we believe it won’t happen until the third round.
So many defensive backs
Go take a look at our Day 2 Mock Project. You will see 11 cornerbacks and six safeties. That represents 17 of the 68 picks scheduled for Friday night – or 25% of all available picks. And obviously, it’s entirely possible that we’ll see more of it. But we each have Max Melton, TJ Tampa, Tyler Nubin, Kool-Aid McKinstry, Cooper DeJean, Jaden Hicks, Kris Abrams-Draine, Mike Sainristil, Kamren Kinchens, Cole Bishop, Renardo Green, DJ James, Javon Bullard, Caelen Carson. , Andru Phillips, Ennis Rakestraw and Dadrion Taylor-Demerson all heard their names called Friday night.
Many expected Philly to move up in the rankings in the first round, likely to land a quarterback. But Quinyon Mitchell fell into their tricks, so the Eagles didn’t have to do that. Armed with picks Nos. 50 and 53, Howie Roseman can move up the ranks to land either Lane Johnson’s eventual successor at right tackle or a linebacker to help what is now the team’s weakest position group after filling his need at the corner.
Despite all the rumors surrounding Aiyuk, it actually seems more likely that it will be Samuel who gets traded. If Aiyuk were to leave, he likely would have cost a first-round pick. Due to Deebo’s contract, age, style of play, and injuries, he can likely be acquired cheaply. And with the Niners selecting Ricky Pearsall (Aiyuk’s former college teammate) on Thursday, it appears the writing is on the wall for one of them to be moved. Meanwhile, the Bengals insisted they wouldn’t trade Higgins, and with one of the most receiver-needy teams (the Panthers) going into the first round and with few obvious fits remaining, it is assumed here that he will play the 2024 season on the franchise tag before hitting the open market in a year.
