The NFL draft began on Thursday, April 24, where a total of 257 college football players’ dreams came true. NFL teams are also in the hopes of finding another star to have on their franchise for many years to come.
The draft contains a total of seven different rounds that take three days. The first round is day one, day two is rounds two and three, and rounds four through seven are on the third day. In the first round, each team gets 10 minutes to make their selection, and after each round, the time decreases for each pick.
During the whole draft, there are commentators and sports analysts who talk about the draft while it is going on. They give their thoughts and opinions on each pick and cover if any trades are happening.
In the first round, there were a total of four trades. The biggest one was the Jacksonville Jaguars moving up from the five spot with the Cleveland Browns to acquire the second overall pick. In this trade, the Browns received the fifth overall pick, a second-round pick, a fourth-round pick, and a 2026 first-round pick. Aside from the second overall pick, the Jaguars also received a fourth and sixth-round pick. With the second pick, the Jaguars selected Travis Hunter, and with the fifth pick, the Browns took Mason Graham.
The top three picks were no surprise because everyone knew Cam Ward, Travis Hunter, and Abdul Carter would be drafted first. Some surprises were running back Ashton Jeanty going to the Raiders with the sixth pick and tight end Colston Loveland getting drafted to the Bears over Tyler Warren.
The Detroit Lions made a surprising pick to some people. They selected Defensive Tackle Tyleik Williams from Ohio State. Mock draft experts considered this to be a reach for the Lions, but did agree that he was a good player; they just had him being drafted a little later than where he was selected.
Some first-round projections slid into the second round, and some into even later rounds. For example, Cornerback Will Johnson was drafted by the Cardinals with the 47th overall pick. Some people think he may have been drafted so late due to his recent injuries. Another example is Edge Rusher Mike Green from Marshall, who was drafted by the Baltimore Ravens with the 59th overall pick.
The biggest surprise of the whole draft was where Shedeur Sanders got selected. Mel Kiper and other analysts had him being selected in the first round. Sanders is a Quarterback for Colorado who had his jersey retired at the end of the year. He fell all the way to the fifth round, where the Cleveland Browns decided they would give him a shot. Many people have speculated on why he may have fallen so far. Could it have been bad interviews?
The last pick of the draft is called Mr. Irrelevant. This is a popular name that the NFL has gone with for many years. The New England Patriots had the last pick this year, and they selected Kobee Minor, allowing him to make his dreams come true and giving him a shot to be a star in the NFL.
