Detroit Michigan- This year’s 2024 NFL Draft is taking place in the Motor City (Home of the Detroit Lions) and on day #1 over 275,000 people (record) are attending the opening round of the National Football League Draft with the Chicago Bears having the 1st selection.
Some early news that just broke, the Philadelphia Eagles signed WR A.J Brown to a 3 year extension with 96 million dollars. The Eagles have the 22nd pick in the 1st round of this year’s NFL Draft. Chicago, Washington, New England have the first 3 picks in the 1st round.
The Bears drafted #1 overall QB Caleb Williams out of USC, 30 TD passes, 11 rushing TD last season for USC and 3,633 passing yards. The Washington Commanders picking #2 overall took, Jayden Daniels QB, out of LSU the 2023 Heisman Trophy Winner. The New England Patriots also took a QB at #3 with Drake Maye out of North Carolina, 2022 ACC player of the year, and is being compared to Buffalo QB Josh Allen.
The Arizona Cardinals select WR Marvin Harrison JR out of Ohio State with the 4th pick, the son of NFL Hall of Fame Receiver Marvin Harrison, 1,200 plus receiving yards the past 2 season’s and one of the best receivers in college football. The Los Angeles Chargers picking #5 took Joe Alt, OT from Notre Dame.
With the 6th overall pick the New York Giants select WR Malik Nabers from LSU. The Tennessee Titans with the 7th pick select JC Latham, tackle out of Alabama a good choice for the Titans who need help on their offensive line, who started all 14 games for Alabama in 2023. The Atlanta Falcons picking #8 took QB Michael Penix Jr, out of Washington State.
The Chicago Bears with their second draft pick in the 1st round took Rome Odunze WR out of Washington with the 9th pick. The Minnesota Vikings with the 10th pick took QB J.J McCarthy, from the National Champion Michigan Wolverines who led Michigan to a perfect 15-0 season and their 1st National Championship since 1997.
The New York Jets with the 11th pick took OT from Penn State Olumuyiwa Fashanu. The Denver Broncos with the 12th pick select QB Bo Nix out of Oregon. The Raiders with the #13 pick took Tight End Brock Bowers out of Georgia and the Saints picking #14 took Taliese Fuaga, and picking #15 the Indianapolis Colts drafted Laiatu Latu, edge rusher out of UCLA.
Selecting with the 16th pick DT Byron Murphy out of Texas is heading to the Seattle Seahawks, a solid pick for Seattle. The Vikings made another trade via Jacksonville Jaguars, Minnesota selects EDGE Dallas Turner out of Alabama.
Cincinnati with the 18th pick took Amarius Mims, OT from Georgia to add depth to their O-line. The Los Angeles Rams looking to replace Aaron Donald, took Jared Verse, edge rusher from Florida State with the 19th pick of the evening in downtown Detroit. The Pittsburgh Steelers select Tackle from Washington Troy Fautanu with the 20th pick of the draft. With the 21st selection the Miami Dolphins select linebacker Chop Robinson from Penn State.
Philadelphia Eagles with the 22nd pick select CB Quinyon Mitchell out of Toledo, who had 6 interceptions in his career with Toledo and is very good at pass break up’s. 1st time since 2002, the Eagles drafted a cornerback in the 1st round. Jacksonville with the 23rd pick selected WR Brian Thomas Jr, out of LSU. The Dallas Cowboys completed a trade with Detroit and the Lions selected with the 24th pick Terrion Arnold, cornerback out of Alabama and Dallas will now select at 29 towards the end of the 1st round.
Green Bay Packers with the 25th pick selected from Jordan Morgan OT from Arizona, and Tampa Bay with the 26th pick choose Graham Barton center from Duke. Edge rusher Darius Robinson from Missouri was taken by the Arizona Cardinals as the 27th pick of the 1st round.
Kansas City & Buffalo switch draft picks with KC now picking 28th, and Buffalo with the final pick at 32 in the 1st round of the 2024 NFL Draft. The Chiefs take WR Xavier Worthy out of Texas who are looking for more receiver help for QB Patrick Mahomes.
With the 29th selection the Dallas Cowboys select tackle Tyler Guyton out of Oklahoma, former tight end and a solid addition to Dallas’s offensive line. Baltimore selecting 30th took CB Nate Wiggins out of Clemson. San Francisco and Buffalo finish off the 1st round of the 2024 NFL Draft with the final two picks. The Niners selected Ricky Pearsall, athletic wide receiver from Florida which will be a good addition to the SF 49’ers offence in 2024.
The 32nd and final pick belongs to the Buffalo Bills who traded down earlier with the Kansas City Chiefs, now traded their 1st round pick to the Carolina Panthers, who will select Xavier Legette, WR with South Carolina to conclude the 1st round of the NFL Draft in downtown Detroit.
For my 1st time ever at a NFL Draft this was quite the experience with over 1,000 other media members than and I’ve never seen so many camera’s at a media press conference before. I decided to take a Uber from Taylor, Michigan to downtown Detroit and special thanks to my Uber driver “Johnny” for going a little extra for me to get me as close as possible to the One Campus Martius building where I had to go to pick up my NFL Draft media pass and go through a security check. I ended up walking 6 blocks before finally arriving at my media destination at the OCM building. Parking in downtown Detroit for opening night was at a premium and very expensive rates going from $75-$100.00.
Downtown Detroit has been developed into a thriving city again and I could not believe how many NFL fans where at the opening night of the 2024 NFL Draft (275,000 fans) a record and of course there was a lot of Police, FBI, and even police officer’s from the Windsor Police at this event which was well organized. Unfortunately with a lot of major street’s closed for the NFL draft it was hard to get a Uber pick up after the opening night event ended and I ended up having to take an expensive taxi ride back to my hotel in Taylor, Michigan. If you have not been to Detroit recently, I would highly recommend it as the City is alive and well again with prospering business’s downtown and not to mention Ford Field, Comerica Park and Little Caesars Arena all within 4 minutes walking distance of each other.
Please check out my social media pages for photo’s, video’s and I was able to attend the post draft media conference with player’s Jayden Daniels QB drafted #2 by Washington, Drake Maye drafted #3 by the New England Patriots, WR Marvin Harrison Jr out of Ohio State taken #4 overall by the Arizona Cardinals and of course the Philadelphia Eagles 1st round draft pick Quinyon Mitchell, cornerback out of Toledo was taken by the Eagles #22 overall, 1st time Philadelphia has taken a cornerback in the 1st round of the draft since 2002, and I like this selection by Philadelphia Eagles GM Howie Roseman.
You can view the post draft media conference interviews with Daniels, Maye, Harrison Jr, Mitchell from my You Tube channel and the links are below here:
Here are some NFL notes below courtesy of the NFL Media Communications Department:
OFFENSE AT THE TOP: The first 14 selections in the 2024 NFL Draft were on the offensive side of the ball, surpassing the previous record of seven set in 2021 for the most consecutive offensive players chosen to begin an NFL Draft.
The 2024 NFL Draft saw 23 offensive players chosen in the first round, surpassing the previous record of 19 (three times: 1968, 2004 and 2009) for the most offensive players ever in the first round of an NFL Draft.
QUARTERBACKS GO FIRST: Quarterbacks CALEB WILLIAMS (No. 1 overall, Chicago), JAYDEN DANIELS (No. 2, Washington) and DRAKE MAYE (No. 3, New England) were selected with the first three picks in the 2024 NFL Draft, while MICHAEL PENIX JR. (No. 8, Atlanta), J.J. MCCARTHY (No. 10, Minnesota) and BO NIX (No. 12, Denver) were each selected in the first round of the 2024 NFL Draft.
The six quarterbacks selected in the first round ties the 1983 NFL Draft (six) for the most quarterbacks chosen in the first round of an NFL Draft all-time and the 2024 NFL Draft is the first Draft ever with five quarterbacks selected in the top-10 picks.
Since 1967, a quarterback has been selected first overall on 28 occasions, the most among all positions.
The 2024 NFL Draft is the fourth in the common-draft era to have quarterbacks chosen with each of the top-three selections, joining 2021, 1999 and 1971.
With the selection of quarterback Caleb Williams, the University of Southern California is the first college all-time to produce six No. 1 overall selections, breaking a tie with Auburn (five), Notre Dame (five) and Oklahoma (five).
Williams, the 2022 Heisman Trophy winner, is the 11th quarterback to win the Heisman Trophy and be chosen No. 1 overall since 1967.
Special thank you to the National Football League Media Communications Department for this amazing opportunity to cover the 2024 NFL Draft (Opening Night) in Detroit, Michigan and overall it was a great learning experience (little overwhelming at times for this rookie) and as well as connecting with a lot of other media member’s from across the USA and ever getting a selfie with Indianapolis Colts 1st round pick (15th overall) from UCLA Laiatu Latu the 1st defensive player taken in this year’s NFL draft.
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