2024 NFL Draft First Round Analysis: Every Pick From the College Football Perspective

2024 NFL Draft First Round Analysis

Another year, another NFL Draft, another round of my self-serving, pretentious stream-of-consciousness musings for the first round with comments and thoughts during and after each and every pick.

Happy NFL Draft night. Enjoy it all. It's as silly fun as the football offseason gets. | @PeteFiutak

2024 NFL Draft: Pre-Draft

- I haven't been this jacked for an NFL Draft in a while. Lots of quarterbacks, lots of franchise talents, lots of trades and moves to come. Buckle up. This should be one of the wildest drafts in a long, long time.

- If I could mix and match the talent, give me the guys who know college football mixed with the total draft wonks and leave out the emcee hosts. I'll just leave it at that.

- NFL Network. That's where I start and let's go from there.

- It'll be a stunner if it's not Caleb Williams, Jayden Daniels, and Drake Maye going 1-2-3. I'm not totally sold it's Marvin Harrison Jr. to Arizona at the 4 to Arizona.

- It's all about JJ McCarthy. I'm not a fan, but he's going early somehow. There are too many desperate teams that need a quarterback. He's the key to the entire thing. My call? The six to either the Giants or someone who traded to the spot to grab him.

- And, like clockwork, every member of my family - who knows the NFL Draft about as much as I know the latest show on whatever streaming service is your flavor - decides RIGHT NOW to call and say hello.

- Quarterbacks will get all of the headlines, but the wide receivers should be the most intriguing of the bunch. The pecking order will get more post-draft talk than the QBs.

- Three last second crazy calls. 1) Bo Nix or Michael Penix Jr. will fall out of the first round. 2) The offensive tackles will go earlier than normal. 3) No true linebacker - not a hybrid edge rusher - will go in the first round for the first time ever.

- Finally, for the 25th year straight year of doing this ... HAVE FUN. The world is a stupid/awful place in so many ways. For all of its problems and goofiness, the NFL Draft is a joyous occasion. Let's go ...

1 Chicago Bears (from Carolina)

2024 NFL Draft Pick: Caleb Williams QB USC
Final Mock Draft Call: Caleb Williams QB USC

Draft Pick Thoughts: OF COURSE it had to be Caleb Williams. The franchise has its shot at a superstar of superstars, and even if Justin Fields never had all the parts around him and should've still been around as a top backup, this is the upgrade I've yelled about for years. Even if you have a good quarterback, if you have a shot at a better one, YOU GET HIM.

- I like Caleb. All of this stuff about his style, his different personality, his eccentric style - leave that to the old, farty analysts. The guy can play, and he's got the heart to go with the style.

- Let me put it this way when it comes to Caleb Williams. His teammates would go to his birthday party. (Yes, I went Draft Day on Draft Day.)

- NO, Bears. Don't keep going for more draft picks. Load up on stars. Get more GUYS.

- I live in Chicago. God help me, and God help us all, if Jayden Daniels and/or Drake Maye are better.

2 Washington Commanders

2024 NFL Draft Pick: Jayden Daniels QB LSU
Final Mock Draft Call: Jayden Daniels QB LSU

Draft Pick Thoughts: It's not bad to get THIS guy at the 2. I'm not 1000% sold that he's the sure-thing playmaker whose game totally translates, but you can't not take him here if you're Washington, if that makes any sense.

- I don't like the idea that he wants to be the "greatest running quarterback of all-time." Running quarterback eventually leads to dead quarterback - you want him to be one of the most dangerous quarterbacks who just so happens to run.

- I actually liked Sam Howell and still think he can play. But for a franchise that desperately needed a refresh, someone with Daniels' style, personality, and play is exactly the shot to take at the new start.

- If nothing else, at least so far, NFL Draft coverage has given me a much-needed respite from the AT&T "What A Pro Wants" and the wing-family Jenga ads playing on a non-stop loop during the NBA Playoffs.

3 New England Patriots

2024 NFL Draft Pick: Drake Maye QB North Carolina
Final Mock Draft Call: Drake Maye QB North Carolina

Draft Pick Thoughts: Drake Maye would be Washington's Matt Ryan? NFL Network's Daniel Jeremiah actually said that when he thought Maye might go at the 2. They're NOTHING like each other in playing style.

- New England didn't mess around. It HAD to take a quarterback, and in just about any other year, he'd be the No. 1 overall pick.

- Maye is going to sit behind Jacoby Brissett for about ten minutes. Get him in there, let him go. He needs the at-bats, and it's not going to be pretty when that happens. The talent is all there, but he's not consistent. Call him a smaller, poor man's Justin Herbert, and call him a great get at the three.

- The pressure is a wee bit off, relatively speaking. It's on Chicago and Washington now for not taking Maye.

- I'm flipping around, and I'm not going to out anyone because I like all these guys, but did ANYONE actually watch Drake Maye play college football this year?

4 Arizona Cardinals

2024 NFL Draft Pick: Marvin Harrison Jr. WR Ohio State
Final Mock Draft Call: Marvin Harrison Jr. WR Ohio State

Draft Pick Thoughts: So much for my thought that Arizona might have gone Malik Nabers or Rome Odunze here.

- Okay, Marvin Harrison. Just be another Larry Fitzgerald for Arizona. No big whoop.

- Ehhhhhhhhh, praising the idea of not running the 40 and not working out in the process. Because he's a "football player." If you have a blazing 40 and have zero issues with your workouts, you do it.

- But he is really, really fast for that size. I'm not totally sold that he's the best receiver in this draft, but sort of like Caleb Williams to Chicago, Arizona needed a receiver, and it HAD to take him.

5 Los Angeles Chargers

2024 NFL Draft Pick: Joe Alt OT Notre Dame
Final Mock Draft Call: Joe Alt OT Notre Dame

Draft Pick Thoughts: I am so smart ... S-M-R-T.

- EVERYONE was screaming that the Chargers were going to trad this pick, and everyone else was assuming it would be a wide receiver. Nope.

- To start the Jim Harbaugh era, they need more linemen. That's how he built up Michigan and turned it from meh to champion - and for other reasons - and that's what he's doing here. Infrastructure.

- Alt is safe - he's a clean pick. There aren't any major issues with his game on either the left or right side.

6 New York Giants

2024 NFL Draft Pick: Malik Nabers WR LSU
Final Mock Draft Call: J.J. McCarthy QB Michigan

Draft Pick Thoughts: This is going to be a whole lot of fun ... eventually.

- The Giants needed weapons. They needed a quarterback and passed on JJ McCarthy. They needed to come up with a great receiver who can fly, and this is the exact right pick at the right time.

- An LSU wide receiver with the Giants? It's going to work. He can really, really move.

- With that said, it's a DEEP receiver draft. The Giants could have found a way to trade down and get a great one.

7 Tennessee Titans

2024 NFL Draft Pick: JC Latham OT Alabama
Final Mock Draft Call: JC Latham OT Alabama
Draft Pick Thoughts: Sort of shocked at how chalky this draft is. If I have six of the first six picks right, that's too easy.

- He's so big and so powerful. He's not quite as smooth or solid Joe Alt, but for a team that needed an offensive lineman, this is a strong pick.

- With that said, even though he's a great athlete, being a left tackle after working so much at right isn't quite as automatic as everyone will make it sound.

8 Atlanta Falcons

2024 NFL Draft Pick: Michael Penix Jr. QB Washington
Final Mock Draft Call: Dallas Turner EDGE Alabama

Draft Pick Thoughts: The $100 million deal for Kirk Cousins is now officially the dumbest deal EVER.

- Don't get me wrong. I'm a huge Michael Penix Jr. fan, but he's not young. He's already 24. That's a BIG shot you're taking on a guy for a succession plan to have a chance to play in a few years ...

- Unless Cousins gets hurt, in which case that deal is even dumber if injuries are baked into this. They didn't need to give Cousins that $ in the first place, and now ... a quarterback?

- What happens when Michael Penix Jr. is the better quarterback in camp? There's a short-circuit here.

9 Chicago Bears

2024 NFL Draft Pick: Rome Odunze WR Washington
Final Mock Draft Call: Malik Nabers WR LSU

Draft Pick Thoughts: I wanted the Bears to take Brock Bowers, but no beef here. Odunze is fantastic.

- For the third wide receiver off the board, Odunze is a great get. WITH THAT SAID, this is such a deep class of receivers there was room to move down. There are plenty of speedsters and lots of talents still around late into first round.

10 Minnesota Vikings (from NY Jets)

2024 NFL Draft Pick: JJ McCarthy, QB Michigan
Final Mock Draft Call: Rome Odunze WR Washington

Draft Pick Thoughts: I'm not the biggest fan of McCarthy as a prospect, but I fully get this. The Vikings had to make sure it locked in on a quarterback prospect to build around. This makes total sense.

- Minnesota gave away the 11, and a 4th and 5th rounder for this pick. Basically, the Jets just gave away an NFL starting quarterback prospect for a handful of spittle.

- As the fifth quarterback off the board, okay. No pressure compared to the others. The Vikings didn't have to give up much to get him, and it's a decent chance at the stars worth taking.

NEXT: First Round Analysis Picks 11 to 20