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The 2024 NFL Draft
The NFL Draft kicked off last night and there was a lot of action that needs to be addressed. The Chicago Bears had the first overall pick and added to their newly built offense with a generational talent, quarterback Caleb Williams out of USC. Williams was a heisman winner as a sophomore at USC in 2022, and had a great season to back up his trophy. Williams in the season that he won the heisman, was absolutely outstanding. Williams and USC had an impressive 12-1 record that year, losing to a tough Utah team in the PAC-12 Championship. Even though they did not make the college football playoffs, Williams' stats gave him the unanimous title over Max Duggan, the quarterback from TCU who had brought his team to the National Championship, but they would end up losing to Georgia by an outstanding amount of points. Williams threw for 4,075 yards and had an outstanding 66.1% completion rate. He threw for 37 touchdowns and only would end with 4 interceptions on the year. He added on around another 400 rushing yards and also had a solid 10 rushing touchdowns to close out the year. Many hoped he would have similar numbers last year, but unfortunately his supporting cast was not as great as expected. Williams still ended up coming out of college as one of the most highly anticipated prospects in NFL history. The next three picks were in the order of what many experts had projected. After Williams, came 2023 Heisman winning quarterback Jayden Daniels, out of LSU. He was selected second overall by the Washington Commanders and will get to work with new head coach Dan Quinn this offseason. Daniels was absolutely sensational at LSU last year. He came into the season not being anticipated to do nearly as well as he did, and he ended up taking the collegiate football world by storm. Daniels had an outstanding 72.2% completion rate, better than Williams in 2022, and was known to be one of the most versatile quarterbacks in college football. He ran for an outstanding 1,134 yards and also tacked on 10 touchdowns with his legs. Following him was yet another quarterback by the name of Drake Maye, out of UNC. Maye was also projected to be chosen high by many and was selected by the New England Patriots. He came into the season being the second projected quarterback to get taken. Even though he did not have any outstanding stats at UNC, he was still loved by most evaluators and had some pretty impressive numbers to back his hype up. This past year was his sophomore year, meaning he was taken pretty early out of college. Maye was known to be more of a passing threat and threw for around 3,600 yards this past year. He had what most claimed to be a down year, but still was taken in the top three. With the head coaching change to Jarod Mayo in the offseason, the patriots look to refresh on what was a very disappointing season, and they think they have just the guy to do so in Maye. The Arizona Cardinals were up next and we had finally seen our first non-quarterback off the board. The choice at number four for the Cardinals was who many call the best wide receiver to ever come out of college, and his name is Marvin Harrison Jr, out of Ohio State. Harrison put up back to back 1,200 yard seasons and tallied 14 touchdowns in both years at Ohio State. Harrison’s dad was also a NFL receiver and was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2016. He will hope to do big things in Arizona alongside star quarterback Kyler Murray. This is where things got a bit interesting with the Chargers selecting offensive tackle Joe Alt, from Notre Dame. Many projected that the Chargers would choose Brock Bowers, who many claim to think was the best player to ever play the tight end position in college football. This pick was sort of a 50/50 split between fans who were in support, and disagreed with the pick. Many who liked the pick tend to go back to the new head coach Jim Harbaugh and the way that he likes to run his offense. Alt fits the Chargers scheme perfectly. He was the best performing offensive lineman in college football and only allowed 4 sacks in his career. Others who disagree with the pick think that with the Chargers losing their two star wide receivers Keenan Allen and Mike Williams this offseason they would surely need to add to their receiving core. The Giants were up next and selected who many projected wide receiver Malik Nabers, also out of LSU. Nabers played alongside Jayden Daniels this past season and the two were absolutely electric on the field. This pick was liked by most and will surely help struggling quarterback Daniel Jones get back on his feet this upcoming season. This selection helps what many think was the biggest Giants need. With recent pro bowl tight end Darren Waller announcing his retirement, Nabers will hope to put up big numbers in his first season. The Tennessee Titans were up next and went with a surprise to most. They ended up selecting offensive tackle JC Latham. The rest of the first round came to a close with many stars being taken. There was an unimaginable amount of quarterbacks who were chosen in the first round this year. 6 of them were selected tying the most in the common draft era since 1967. Some star names were taken towards the end of the first round. Brock Bowers, who many hoped the Chargers would take, fell to 13 and was selected by the Las Vegas Raiders. Two star edge rushers were taken at 17th overall by the Vikings, and 21st by the Dolphins. The rest of the first round went pretty similar to what was projected with some stars falling into the later rounds. CB Cooper DeJean was one of the highest projected stars to fall into the second round. He would eventually be selected by the Eagles shortly into round number 2. This seemed to be a great pick for the Eagles, as they had taken another CB in round one. These two young corners will hopefully perform on day one for the Eagles. The draft came to a close on Saturday and many teams seem to have drafted surprisingly well. One at the top of many peoples lists were the Minnesota Vikings. Even though they might have reached a bit on QB JJ McCarthy, they recovered well in the later rounds with what many think were some sleeper selections. One team who many think did not have as well of a draft was the Atlanta Falcons. The Falcons had a super surprising first round selection and went with quarterback Michael Penix Jr. from Washington. This was shocking because the Falcons just signed 35 year old veteran quarterback Kirk Cousins to a large, long term deal. Fans across the league will be interested to see how new head coach Raheem Morris can use both of them in this upcoming season.
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basic coverage about the draft