The Chicago Bears drafted quarterback Caleb Williams out of the College of Southern California with the primary total decide within the 2024 NFL draft on Friday (AEST).
5 quarterbacks went within the first 10 picks of the draft with no defensive gamers chosen.
All three of the highest draft picks have been used to pick quarterbacks, with the Washington Commanders selecting Jayden Daniels from Louisiana State College and the New England Patriots choosing North Carolina signal-caller Drake Maye.
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The Bears’ selection of Williams was extensively anticipated, with the 2022 Heisman Trophy winner seen as the reply to the franchise’s long-running drawback on the place.
Final month, the Bears traded their quarterback Justin Fields, a first-round decide in 2021, to the Pittsburgh Steelers.
Williams started his school profession at Oklahoma earlier than switching to USC and in 37 video games, with 33 begins, he threw for 9,782 yards and 93 landing passes with an extra 27 speeding touchdowns.
“It took a variety of sacrifice, love, look after successful the sport of soccer and my teammates, my coaches and my household,” mentioned Williams, when requested how he had develop into the highest draft decide.
The Bears supplied Williams with a wide-receiver with the ninth decide choosing Washington’s Rome Odunze.
Daniels performed a complete of 55 video games in school soccer, starting with Arizona State earlier than becoming a member of LSU and in 55 video games he threw for 12,750 yards and 89 touchdowns and added 3,307 speeding yards and 34 speeding touchdowns.
However the spotlight of the night time got here when Brian Thomas Jr’s mother and father have been interviewed after the huge receiver out of Louisana was taken with decide 23 by the Jacksonville Jaguars.
“Sondra, how far has this household come?,” Thomas Jr’s mom was requested by ABC TV reporter Laura Rutledge after her son was drafted in a lifechanging second.
She replied instantly: “We got here from Baton Rouge, Louisiana.”
The hilariously harmless response predictably did the rounds on social media, with many viewers labelling it the “greatest reply of the night time”.
Watch the video of the change within the video under
Australia’s Jordan Mailata, who performs offensive deal with for the Philadelphia Eagles, introduced Quinyon Mitchell as their first decide through video hyperlink from the Gold Coast.
The Patriots have been collaborating within the draft with out Invoice Belichick as their head coach for the primary time since 1999 and they’re going to hope Maye can finish their seek for a quarterback to lastly substitute Tom Brady.
In a quarterback heavy prime of the draft, the Atlanta Falcons surprisingly opted for Michael Penix Jr out of Washington with the eighth decide regardless of just lately signing a quarterback in Kirk Cousins.
Penix is a highly-rated quarterback however was anticipated to have fallen down the draft because of issues over a sequence of accidents he has suffered together with two anterior cruciate ligament knee accidents.
To interchange Cousins, the Minnesota Vikings moved up a spot within the draft to take Michigan quarterback J.J. McCarthy with the tenth decide.
There had been hypothesis that the New York Giants may make a transfer for a quarterback with their sixth decide however they opted for a large receiver in Malik Nabers from LSU.
The Los Angeles Chargers took an offensive deal with in Joe Alt out of Notre Dame and the Tennessee Titans additionally took a participant in that function, drafting Alabama’s JC Latham.
