The first round of the 2024 NFL Draft has come and gone, and boy, was it sure entertaining. As predicted, all of our mock drafts were torn to shreds, as players went much higher than anticipated, while others fell further than we thought they would. NFL teams also forgot there were defensive players available, as the first defender was selected at No. 15 overall!
We saw a record-tying amount of quarterbacks taken in the first round, with all six coming in the first 12, and just nine offensive linemen go despite the NFL world anticipating double-digit trench titans being selected. There’s plenty to jump into, so without further ado, here are the five biggest surprises of the first round.
5. The cornerback fall
If you care about mock drafts, most had the first cornerback going somewhere around No. 13 overall. The first corner went No. 22 overall on Thursday. It wasn’t a big night for defensive players at large, we will get into that in a second, but a couple of teams got some absolute STEALS with these cornerbacks.
I’m not sure how the Philadelphia Eagles are always gifted these studs, but Quinyon Mitchell should be an immediate starter. He shook off “MAC conference questions” at the Senior Bowl by dominating, and recorded the most passes defensed in the FBS over the past two seasons with 37. The Eagles needed to boost the secondary, and they did just that by taking arguably the best cornerback in the draft.
If Mitchell isn’t the best cornerback in the draft, it’s probably Alabama’s Terrion Arnold — who went two picks later at No. 24 overall to the Detroit Lions after a trade up. Detroit was another NFC contender that needed to add in the secondary, especially after the Cam Sutton incident, and Arnold was responsible for the most incomplete targets among SEC players last season with 43. He figures to start right away, too.
These two players could have gone higher in the first round,…
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