257 players declared for the draft after their collegiate football careers, and 32 of them had their names called on day one to continue their journey into the league.
The first overall pick went to the Las Vegas Raiders, who took 257 seconds to call and draft Indiana quarterback, Fernando Mendoza.
After finishing as the College Football National Champion and Heisman Memorial Trophy winner, Mendoza was projected as the first overall pick, which came to fruition.
“I’m just looking forward to get to work, prove it at the next level,” Mendoza told ESPN, “College was fantastic. I’m so blessed to have that career. But now I step into a great game in the NFL. Look forward to proving it and earning it every single day.”
A well-deserved accomplishment for Mendoza, one he can add to his LinkedIn profile.
The Raiders have already named Kirk Cousins, whom they signed in early April, as the starter—this can change as training camp approaches in July.
Cousins could serve as a good influence and leader for Mendoza to further develop his on-field performance and be the QB of the future for the Raiders.
Anything can happen.
With the third overall pick, the Arizona Cardinals were on the board.
Although the public was under the impression of their need for a QB, edge rusher, or an offensive tackle, the pick was in, and they made the choice of grabbing the best running back in the draft class, Notre Dame’s Jeremiyah Love.
An added threat to their backfield with RB’s Tyler Allgeier, James Conner, and Trey Benson.
As it rolled onto pick 13, it was a shock when the Los Angeles Rams were put on the clock and eventually called upon Alabama QB Ty Simpson.
With the current Rams’ QB Matthew Stafford having led the team to one Super Bowl, playoffs in four of five seasons with the Rams, and making it to the NFC Championship game last season, where they fell to the later Super Bowl LX champions, the Seattle Seahawks, their decision to draft a rookie QB in the first round surprised fans, but after several successful drafts, they decided to “trust the process.”
“Our head coach and front office aren’t wrong very often, so I’m gonna trust the process,” Rams fan Michael Keyman said.
The Ohio State Buckeyes led the way in draft picks, with four of the top-11 picks being former Buckeyes, while no other school was drafted more than once until picks 12 and 13, where Alabama’s offensive tackle Kadyn Proctor and Simpson were selected back-to-back.
There were six teams that didn’t hold a single first-round draft pick, but that became seven after the Buffalo Bills traded out of the first round and ended up with a haul of draft picks in rounds to follow.
The Bills had originally traded their 26th overall pick with the Houston Texans and moved back to pick 28, but after trading with the New England Patriots and Tennessee Titans, they gave away their first round entirely in exchange for picks No. 35 (Round 2), No. 101 and 125 (Round 4), and No. 167 (Round 5).
The start of the draft was offensive-heavy, as more than half of the first-round picks —18 of the 32 drafted were offensive.
With day one of the draft complete, teams have started to take their shots and take the biggest names off the board, but there are still two days left, and the draft is just getting started.
Day two of the draft held rounds two and three, and teams were ready to draft any hidden gems and add more to their rosters.
Round two was kicked off with the San Francisco 49ers’ first pick of the draft, where they drafted Ole Miss wide receiver De’Zhaun Stribling.
Stribling will have the opportunity to work with the 49ers’ experienced WR room, which includes veterans Mike Evans and Christian Kirk, both acquired during the offseason.
Most first-ranked position players were drafted in the first round, but two managed to slip by and were drafted in the second round.
Early in the second round, Ohio State’s first-ranked defensive tackle Kayden McDonald was drafted by the Texans.
The addition of McDonald will further cement them as one of the best defenses against the run, with his 91.2 run-defense grade.
The other was Florida’s first-ranked center, Jake Slaughter. The Los Angeles Chargers signed Slaughter late in the second.
During the offseason, the Chargers also acquired veteran C Tyler Biadasz, but if Slaughter can handle the heat from NFL-caliber defensive linemen, the Chargers will be better off starting him at center, where he has a 84.1% pass-protection rate, while Biadasz has a 67.1%.
The Miami Dolphins have been making consistent, smart moves since the first round, and continued this trend by obtaining the fifth-ranked linebacker, Texas Tech’s Jacob Rodriguez.
Rodriquez is known for being an excellent ball hawk after transitioning from QB to LB, and for diagnosing and anticipating an offense. He will add a much-needed fear factor to the Dolphins’ defense and team as a whole after losing a majority of their key players this offseason.
The third round began with the Cardinals finally taking a QB off the board; however, it was an unexpected choice when Miami’s Carson Beck was called.
The Cardinals’ QB room is questionable at best, and drafting a known, inconsistent QB who struggles with pressure and has a high turnover rate was an interesting choice on their part.
Though Beck does have his perks, including his pro-style pocket passing and elite accuracy, as well as leading the Miami Hurricanes to the National Championship, where they inevitably fell to Mendoza’s Indiana Hoosiers.
Although Beck was a questionable choice, it is not expected for him to be named the starter unless he proves himself during training camp. If he does not start, he will be able to learn from veteran QBs Gardner Minshew and Jacoby Brissett.
The first round saw a high number of offensive players taken off the board, but the third round had 23 offensive players among the 36 drafted.
WR’s were the most popular position to draft within the third, with nine being drafted.
One more day and four more rounds of drafting to go, there are still plenty of players to choose from that will either shine amongst some of the biggest names in the NFL, or others who may take time to find their roles. Either way, making it to the point is an accomplishment in itself.
