What is record for most offensive players picked in first round of NFL draft? Will it be broken?
NFL prospects will anxiously await the moment league commissioner Roger Goodell calls their name at the 2024 NFL Draft. There's an embarrassment of riches for franchises to choose from on both sides of the ball, but defensive players may be waiting a little longer for their phones to ring this year.
Why, you may ask? The 2024 NFL Draft, which kicks off Thursday in Detroit, has the potential to set a record for the most offensive players ever taken off the board in the first round. The record is 19, which happened three times before, most recently in 2009.
USA TODAY Sports' latest mock draft by Nate Davis has 23 offensive players drafted in the first round, made up of 10 offensive lineman, six receivers, six quarterbacks – including four in the top five – and one tight end.
Las Vegas is even in on it. The over/under for total offensive players drafted in the first round is set at 21.5, according to BetMGM, while the over/under for total defensive players drafted in the first round is 10.5.
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How many quarterbacks will be drafted in the first round in 2024?
The first three players off the board are expected to be quarterbacks. That last happened in 2021.
USC standout and 2022 Heisman Trophy winner Caleb Williams is presumed to be the No. 1 overall pick, followed by LSU's Jayden Daniels and North Carolina's Drake Maye to round out the top three.
Michigan's J.J. McCarthy, Oregon's Bo Nix and Washington's Michael Penix Jr. are also in the mix to go in the first round.
The record for the most quarterbacks ever selected in the first round is currently six, set at the 1983 NFL Draft. That QB class included future Hall of Famers John Elway, Jim Kelly and Dan Marino along with Todd Blackledge, Tony Eason and Ken O'Brien.
Five quarterbacks were taken in the first round three times – 2021, 2018 and 1999.
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How many defensive players will be drafted in the first round in 2024?
In the 2022 NFL Draft, defensive players made up the entire top five. In the last decade, a defensive player was selected with the No. 1 overall pick three times – in 2022 ( LB Travon Walker), 2017 (DE Myles Garrett) and 2014 (LB Jadeveon Clowney). This year, however, is expected to be the opposite.
The first defensive player to come off the board in USA TODAY Sports' latest mock draft is UCLA DE Laiatu Latu to the Atlanta Falcons at No. 8 overall.
USA TODAY Sports' Nate Davis predicts only nine defensive players will go in the first round, including Alabama's Dallas Turner (DE/OLB) and Terrion Arnold (CB), Toledo CB Quinyon Mitchell, Texas DT Byron Murphy II, Florida State DE Jared Verse, Penn State DE Chop Robinson, Missouri DL Darius Robinson and Illinois DT Johnny Newton.
How many receivers will be drafted in the first round in 2024?
This year's draft features a deep receiver class, with Ohio State WR Marvin Harrison Jr. predicted to go to the Arizona Cardinals at No. 4 overall as the first non-quarterback off the board.
LSU's Malik Nabers and Brian Thomas Jr., Washington's Rome Odunze, Georgia's Ladd McConkey and Texas' Adonai Mitchell round out the six receivers selected in the first round of USA TODAY Sports' latest mock draft.
Georgia TE Brock Bowers, the sole tight end predicted to go in the first round, is predicted to crack the top 10 by landing with the New York Jets.
How many offensive linemen will be drafted in the first round in 2024?
Quarterbacks are at a premium in the 2024 NFL Draft and so are the offensive linemen tasked with protecting them. Ten offensive linemen are predicted to go in the first round, the most of any position.
Notre Dame OT Joe Alt, the son of former Chiefs lineman John Alt, is expected to be the first offensive lineman to be selected at No. 7 by the Tennessee Titans. He's widely regarded as the best blocker in the draft.
The linemen that could go in the first round include Oregon State OL Taliese Fuaga, Penn State OT Olumuyiwa Fashanu, Washington OL Troy Fautanu, Duke OL Graham Barton, Alabama OT JC Latham, Oregon OL Jackson Powers-Johnson, Oklahoma OT Tyler Guyton, Georgia OT Amarius Mims and Arizona OT Jordan Morgan.