NFL draft offensive players rail (e-edition asset)
Published 5:44 pm Thursday, April 18, 2024
The NFL draft will be offensive.
We’re not talking about hurt feelings. This draft has the potential to set a record for most offensive players selected in the first round.
No draft has seen more than 19 players on offense chosen in the first round. That happened three times, most recently in 2009.
Many draft experts are predicting more than 20 offensive players will go in the first round and some have up to 25.
The AP’s final mock draft had 22 going in the first round, including 10 offensive linemen, six wide receivers, five quarterbacks and one tight end.
Quarterbacks get the most attention, of course. Caleb Williams is ticketed for the Chicago Bears with the No. 1 pick.
Beyond him, there are plenty of questions. The Washington Commanders need a franchise QB and will choose from Jayden Daniels, the 2023 Heisman Trophy winner, and Drake Maye at No. 2. J.J. McCarthy’s stock has soared since leading Michigan to a national championship and he could end up in the top five, with some analysts even putting him ahead of Daniels and Maye.
Michael Penix Jr. and Bo Nix are in the second tier, but could end up drafted in the latter part of the opening round.
The Las Vegas Raiders own the 13th pick, so they’d have to move up to secure one of the top four guys. They enter the draft with veteran Gardner Minshew and Aidan O’Connell and could stay put to take the best player available and still end up with Penix or Nix later.
“There’s really no consensus boards, at least since I’ve been in the league,” Raiders GM Tom Telesco said. “You’ve got 32 different teams that look at things 32 different ways. So our ranking may be different than other rankings, so I don’t know if there’s necessarily a top three and a next two or a next three. It’s going to be a little bit different for everybody. …”