What happened in the NFL Draft first round: Full recap, picks by team, grades and trades

Here's everything you need to know about the Los Angeles Rams entering Thursday's draft:

• Rams NFL Draft 2024 guide: Picks, predictions and key needs
• Rams 7-round NFL mock draft: Arguing for and against Dane Brugler’s picks
• Rams big board: 36 prospects with plenty of edge rushers, D-linemen to consider

The 49ers have had conversations with teams, including one picking in the top 10, about trading either of their prized wide receivers — Brandon Aiyuk or Deebo Samuel — in an effort to move up in the first round, league sources said.

49ers general manager John Lynch said earlier this week he had been receiving phone calls about Aiyuk, who is entering the final season of his contract. But he said the team was "really focused on BA being part of us."

Aiyuk, 26, is coming off the most productive season of his career — 75 catches, 1,342 yards and seven touchdowns. Samuel, 28, was fourth on the team with 60 catches and third with 892 receiving yards.

San Francisco is slated to pick 31st in Thursday's draft.

The networks broadcasting the NFL Draft have always considered the event an offseason Super Bowl. The Draft is a massive content industry and you can see that in the coverage plans for both ESPN and NFL Network.

As we have witnessed in recent years, ESPN’s presentation will focus on the NFL teams, the prospects and how the selections will impact the play on the field. ABC focuses on more on storytelling and the prospects’ backgrounds. NFL Network attempts to provide a hybrid of both.

Traditionally, what draws big viewership for the NFL Draft is a combination of star players at the quarterback position, frequent trades, and a player of note falling down the draft board. The broadcasters of the draft root for one thing — chaos.

Always remember — this is a television show above all.

Last year's opening round of the NFL Draft averaged a combined 11.29 million viewers across ESPN (5.62 million), ABC (4.11 million) and NFL Network (1.56 million), up 13 percent from 2022 (10.03 million). Per Sports Media Watch: The combined audience was the third-highest on record for night one of the draft, trailing 2020 (15.26 million), which was unique because of COVID-19 and the absence of live sports, and 2021 (12.52 million viewers). As always: out-of-home viewing was not included in Nielsen’s final nationals prior to 2021, so the apples-to-apples comparisons don't exist from yesteryear. The entire three-day NFL Draft last year averaged a combined 6 million viewers across the ESPN networks and NFL Network. That was up 12 percent from 2022.

The expectation among those who study viewership is that this NFL Draft will be among the most-watched in history, especially for the opening round. The top of the draft is loaded with quarterbacks, with the real possibility of five QBs in the first 15 picks. There are skill players throughout the opening round and the prospect of trades is robust. In a conversation I had this week with the executive producers of ESPN and NFL Network's coverage, they said look for Detroit to play a central role for night one, especially at the top of tonight's show. Bottom line: It will be yet another big viewership night for the NFL.

Reader Daniel L. asks: In the scenario where Malik Nabers and Joe Alt are both available at No. 7, what will the Titans do?

That scenario is reminiscent of the Cincinnati Bengals in the 2021 NFL Draft, when they had clear needs on the offensive line, but opted for the receiver (Ja’Marr Chase) over the tackle (Penei Sewell). Obviously, both turned out to be star NFL players, so I don’t think there was a wrong choice to make, but Cincinnati doesn’t have any regrets about drafting the pass catcher.

Could the Titans follow the same path? New head coach Brian Callahan was the offensive coordinator for the Bengals in 2021, so he is familiar with the conundrum. Nabers is the higher-ranked player on my board and that is probably the direction I would go. But the idea of selecting the top offensive lineman in the draft is extremely enticing for Tennessee. With Calvin Ridley, DeAndre Hopkins and Treylon Burks slated to start, wide receiver is more of a moderate than glaring need. And wide receiver is a deep position this year while it will be harder to find tackles later in the draft.

Here's everything you need to know about the San Francisco 49ers entering Thursday's draft:

• 49ers NFL Draft 2024 guide: Picks, predictions and key needs
• 49ers 7-round mock draft: Loading up on linemen and adding another McCaffrey
• 49ers big board: Amarius Mims, Darius Robinson, Johnny Newton are top options

The Chicago Bears are very open for business at No. 9 and telling teams they are ready to move for the right price, a league source said.

Chicago is expected to select USC quarterback Caleb Williams No. 1 with the first of its two Thursday picks.

Every April, a handful of NFL teams make trades involving some combination of draft picks for another team’s package of draft picks.

The deals seem straightforward on paper, right? Say one team trades its second- and third-round picks for another team’s first-round pick. How do they determine how much each pick is worth? Is the quantity of two lower picks worth the quality of one higher selection? And with no players yet attached to those picks, which team is getting better value?

Enter the trade value chart.

The most famous trade value chart was designed by legendary Dallas Cowboys coach Jimmy Johnson. Successors have sought to fine-tune the formula of determining the value of each pick, but Johnson’s remains the most popularly referenced, even if it’s not exactly what NFL front office folks are using these days inside their draft war rooms.

Let’s take a look at Johnson’s original trade draft chart to see how it works, how reliable it is and why others have made changes.

Continue reading.

People can't stop talking about Marvin Harrison Jr. But what other wide receivers in this year's class can provide needed value for teams around the NFL? The Athletic's Dane Brugler provides a giant deep dive into the best wide receiver prospects of 2024.

Here's everything you need to know about the Las Vegas Raiders entering Thursday's draft:

• Raiders NFL Draft 2024 guide: Picks, predictions and key needs
• Raiders 7-round NFL mock draft: Impact defensive player and later answer to the QB question
• Raiders big board: Jayden Daniels, Joe Alt, Terrion Arnold near the top

Reader Andrew D. asks: Would it be more surprising if the Raiders took Michael Penix Jr. at 13, or if the Rams did at 19?

It would be more surprising if the Rams drafted Penix because Los Angeles has an established starting quarterback on the roster. Matthew Stafford has battled injuries and is nearing the end of his career, but the Rams don’t feel as much pressure to invest a first-round pick at the position — especially when this team hasn’t drafted in the first round since the Obama administration.

Meanwhile, the Raiders have more obvious question marks at the quarterback position. I think ideally, the Raiders would prefer to trade back into the first round to get Penix, but with plenty of buzz about other interested teams, there is a realistic chance Las Vegas decides to take him at No. 13.

The Rams are pursuing a trade into the top 10 with a specific player in mind and it's not a quarterback, league sources said.

Los Angeles is currently slated to pick No. 19 — which would mark its first first-round pick since 2016.

If you stand 10 feet from Quinyon Mitchell while he’s in a full sprint, you can actually hear how fast he is. If you stand 10 feet away and ask him a question, you might not hear his reply.

A cornerback of world-class speed, Mitchell plays football with power and force — pretty much the opposite of his personality. The No. 11 prospect on Dane Brugler’s updated top-100 board for the 2024 NFL Draft, Mitchell has topped 23 miles per hour on the GPS, has 4.3 speed and has defended more passes (44) over the last two years than any defensive back in college football. He’s also careful about his language in front of children, polite to strangers, loyal to the people he loves and completely aware of everything around him.

He showed up on Earth with the physical stuff. The rest of it? That came from his two guardian angels.

Mitchell grew up in tiny Williston, Fla., a town of fewer than 3,000, a half-hour south of Gainesville near the Nature Coast. He has five siblings, including three younger sisters. He calls his mother, Mashona Solomon, his “rock.” He calls his grandmother Marilyn Johnson his “best friend.”

Mashona had Quinyon at a young age. For the first nine years of his life, he lived at his grandma’s house.

And come to think of it, she might’ve helped with some of the speed stuff, too.

“He loved to run so much. Sometimes, he and I would race,” Johnson recalls with a laugh. “He always won.”

Johnson had just three rules for Quinyon, the last of them golden: Be honest, be respectful and treat others the way you’d want to be treated. These are the tenets Mitchell lives by today. When he turned down high-major scholarship offers out of high school to stick with the mid-major coach who truly first believed in him, he thought of his grandma’s rules. When those same schools tried to coax his transfer with name, image and likeness money three years later, he had the same thought.

As a football player, Mitchell is confident, consistent and at times a dominant weapon — a defender with enough speed, length and balance to take away the opposition’s top weapon in just about any circumstance. He also holds the on-field awareness of a much older player, alternating between poise and intensity quietly and immediately. Like flipping on a light switch.

We are all a product of our environments. Quinyon Mitchell, arguably the top defender in the 2024 NFL Draft, comes from a unique one. Which makes sense, because there’s very little normal about him.

Continue reading.

The Arizona Cardinals, Green Bay Packers, Los Angeles Rams could be the busiest teams in terms of selecting players in the 2024 NFL Draft.

Arizona, Green Bay and Los Angeles, as of now, will walk into the draft with a league-high 11 picks each. The Buffalo Bills, Cincinnati Bengals and San Francisco 49ers will enter with 10 selections each.

Arizona's 11 picks include two in the first round — Nos. 4 and 27. The Rams make their first selection at No. 19, while the Packers pick at No. 25.

As far as we know, quarterback Caleb Williams only made one pre-draft visit — to the Chicago Bears, the team holding the No. 1 pick.

The Athletic's Kalyn Kahler explains how that differs from past traditions.