The First Read: Winners and losers from Round 1 of the 2024 NFL Draft
The major question before the first round of the 2024 NFL Draft started was whether we would see teams going crazy for quarterbacks. Well, it didn't take long to find an answer to that one. The idea of "crazy" was four quarterbacks possibly going in the first five picks, which is something that had never happened. We ended up with six being selected in the first 12 picks, which set a new record in the common-draft era.
To understand how wild this first round was, just consider that the last time six QBs were chosen in Round 1 of a draft, in 1983, the sixth QB didn't come off the board until pick No. 27. This tells you how desperate franchises are to find signal-callers and how much over-drafting has become an accepted practice at this position. We all expected certain players to go in the top 10, namely USC's Caleb Williams, LSU's Jayden Daniels, North Carolina's Drake Maye and Michigan's J.J. McCarthy. It was far more stunning to see Washington's Michael Penix Jr. land in Atlanta with the eighth overall pick and Oregon's Bo Nix go to Denver at No. 12.
That's also why this year's first round was so entertaining so early. It represented the urgency that plenty of franchises feel to improve under center when the league is filled with talented young quarterbacks. The clock is now ticking on this current group.
As for the other moves that were made on Thursday, here is The First Read's take on the winners and losers in this year's first round ...
1) Ryan Poles, general manager, Chicago Bears: Poles came into this draft armed with the ammunition to significantly alter this long-struggling franchise. He wound up doing exactly what he had to do in the first round to move closer to that goal. The first overall pick was a no-brainer,
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