The NFL Draft kicks off this week from Detroit as the 1st round begins Thursday in the Motor City. Last year, the Chicago Bears had the first overall pick but traded that in a package to Carolina. Due to that trade, the Bears will pick first overall in this 2024 NFL Draft. Unlike last year, Chicago looks highly unlikely to move this pick and will select a quarterback.
Hopefully, it’s not another Mitch Trubisky.
The 2024 NFL Draft
Day 1
Round 1
Thursday, April 25th
8:00 PM ET
Day 2
Rounds 2-3
Friday, April 26th
7:00 PM ET
Day 3
Rounds 4-7
Saturday, April 27th
12:00 PM ET
*TV Coverage will be on ABC, ESPN, and NFL Network for every round.
This spring, we featured scouting reports on several Notre Dame players we believe could be drafted, plus another article on the other long-shot hopefuls.
18 Stripes Scouting Reports:
Audric Estime
Joe Alt
JD Bertrand
Cam Hart
Javontae Jean-Baptiste
Blake Fisher
Marist Liufau
Fringe Prospects
18 Stripes Mock 1st Round Draft
I’ve been doing a PFF mock draft for a few years now and it runs only on vibes.
The rise of J.J. McCarthy doesn’t make a ton of sense and should be sending red flags to any respective NFL fan bases potentially in line to pick him so early. However, since I’m such a nice guy I thought going No. 2 overall to Washington would be great for him and in no way a complete death sentence to his NFL career. Best of luck!
The 3 Biggest Storylines of the NFL Draft
1) Can 6 quarterbacks go in the 1st round?
My mock draft has 5 quarterbacks going in the 1st round which has happened a couple times in recent years. Most recently, the 2021 draft had Trevor Lawrence, Zach Wilson, Trey Lance, Justin Fields, and Mac Jones off the board within the top 15 picks. Three of those players have already been traded and 1 other is probably likely to be moved sometime in the near future, as well.
We haven’t seen 6 come off the board in the 1st round since the infamous 1983 NFL Draft featuring John Elway, Todd Blackledge, Jim Kelly, Tony Eason, Ken O’Brien, and Dan Marino.
Williams, Maye, Daniels, and McCarthy appear to be locks for the 1st round. After that, it’ll come down to Bo Nix and Michael Penix, Jr. because after those 2 the drop off is massive and we might not see a quarterback taken until the 3rd round.
Most expect Minnesota to make a move for a quarterback with their first pick, possibly moving up to do so. I have them sitting patiently and picking Nix later on in the evening.
I don’t think it looks likely that Penix is gone in the 1st round, and he could drop a bit further unless teams like the Giants, Raiders, or Saints are highly interested.
2) Harbaugh in the spotlight
This deranged man is back in the NFL after modest success in college. Of course, there’s already talk out of Inglewood that Harbaugh wants a big, tough football team. Sources say executives in the building have been rolling their eyes for weeks around the front office.
Is it a smokescreen?
With his windshield ass glasses.
The Chargers released veteran wideout Mike Williams recently to save $20 million to their cap, although he’ll carry a significant $12.5 million dead cap charge to the team for 2024. Los Angeles also dealt top wideout Keenan Allen to Chicago for a 4th round pick after the long-time Charger wouldn’t agree to a pay cut with the team. That’ll keep $11.6 million of dead cap on their books for 2024.
Surely, the Chargers are going to pick a wide receiver with their first pick. Or, maybe it’ll be the receiver-esque Brock Bowers.
3) The veteran trade machine
The 3 most talked about players who could be dealt during the NFL Draft include:
WR Brandon Aiyuk
The 49ers receiver exercised a 5th-year option for 2024 as his rookie deal expires and his cap hit jumps up massively from just under $4 million to $14.1 million this year. Aiyuk has been consistently very good for San Francisco since entering the league but the thinking here is that the team might not want to sign him long-term deal that would include some massive financial numbers.
WR Tee Higgins
Higgins was in the same draft class and Aiyuk and instead of a 5th year option he signed a franchise tag for 2024 worth nearly $22 million fully guaranteed on the Bengals’ cap this year. The one feels like it’s leaning towards both sides coming to a long-term deal with Joe Burrow entering his prime, but we’ll see.
QB Daniel Jones
Who wants Danny Dimes? The Giants quarterback is entering year 6 of his NFL career and despite mostly mediocre play the team signed him to an extension in March of 2023 that brings a whopping cap hit of $47.8 million this year. The team is saying all the right things about keeping Jones with the team, and that might be due to a lack of suitors. There is an out in the contract after 2024 which could bring cap relief, but if a team is willing to take a chance on Daniel Dimes the Giants should probably pull that trigger on a deal.
A couple weeks ago, there was a whole, long thread on irishillustrated where a great majority of posters were contending that caleb would be a bust. That seemed insane to me. I think caleb has a pretty high floor and nothing about his three years is concerning to me. I mean if he was the qb at nd the last two years, nd has two playoff appearances, right?
Anyone with any hot takes on it?
I’m with you, it feels like the main data point against him is the ND game this year (nice). But, in a 3 year college career that produced 1 Heisman and about a gazillion stats, bad games happen. And in some of the breakdowns of him I’ve seen, the Oline systematically failed him; we had dudes in the backfield immediately on every play. Couple that with a not-defense, and yeah he was forcing and trying to play hero ball to win the game.
The only other QB I’ve seen who’s that slippery in the pass game was Johnny manziel, and I’ll give the benefit to williams between the two of them; he extends play, makes tons of off platform throws, is a viable run threat, and I think has a genuine desire to be a winner.
It feels like the sports media cycle just trying to make content since they have 24 hours a day and many many days of content to produce before the draft.
And definitely, if he was on NDs squad the last 2 season, I think we probably only have 1 regular season loss in that time span.
The flip from 2022 when all his heisman highlights were the nd game to now when every nitpick just refers to it as the nd game. the ringer had an article centered around that game, mcshay all those guys just describe it as the nd game. awesome
Closest thing I have to a hot take is that his high chance to be a bust is because he will be drafted by and playing for the Bears, but that’s not his fault.
Maybe even a lukewarm take, how many promising QBs got ruined by garbage organizations throwing them into a fire with little to no help?
The Cleveland Browns have entered the chat
Is this up to date?
It looks like they’re missing Deshaun Watson. Of course, I would like to forget that he plays in the NFL, too.
He’s represented by the abuse survivor flag.
Did not catch that. That’s an appropriate use of the space for his name
I saw a video yesterday that said, Terry Bradshaw threw for 6 TDs with 24 INTs his rookie season. 2.1 yds. per attempt. I vaguely remember the talk of him being a bust, after that season. Funny what great teammates can do for you.
I had to check and this is unreal:
I feel like people really want him to be a bust over other draft picks now and in the past and idk why
Maybe the reason is his fingernail polish in the ND game a couple of years ago.
Have you ever been in/on the sidelines of a football game?
Gonna be That Guy and quibble with your mock draft pick for my team. The Eagles will not draft a linebacker in the 1st round, no matter how much they need one or how good the player is. Howie does not give LBs 1st round value.
I believe the dates are Thu, Apr 25, 2024 – Sat, Apr 27, 2024, not Thursday, April 27th to
Saturday, April 29th.
I wonder if Caleb is hoping to keep sending messages to the opposing team via his manicures, or will the NFL clamp down on that like they do with uniform violations?
Updated!
I’m cool with him painting his nails
It seems like every year the media overestimate the number of first round QBs. My guess is that we will see 3 of them, maybe 4 tops.
6 in the first 12 picks!!!
Bears fan here – I’m not really sold on Caleb Williams. I’d have preferred the Bears keep Fields, trade the #1 for a few more draft picks and keep on adding to what they’re building. They’ve proven they can do pretty well with mediocre/subpar QB play (see Grossman, Rex & Orton, Kyle). They’ve also proven they can really reach for a “sure” QB and miss, hurting their near term drafts, as well (see Cutler, Jay & Trubisky, Mitch [and possibly Fields])
Also not sold on Caleb. If he’s Johnny Football 2.0, he could have some success. But unless you have an O-line that can give you time to make plays, that success is fleeting. Quick decision making, reading defenses, and making smart throws leads to sustained success. He has the talent and athletic ability but does he has the discipline and leadership to do that? That’s my skepticism
I don’t have strong feelings about Williams, but the Bears were uniquely leveraged with the Justin Fields situation given that they are already a reasonably ok team and have the #1 and #9 picks in the draft (thanks to my Panthers being idiots). I thought they should have leveraged it to sign Fields to some insanely long, mostly non-guaranteed deal where he would get paid the next year or two more than anyone else would be willing to pay him, and if he’s good he has the best contract in the league for a decade-plus and if he’s bad they just cut him after a year or two. Think like 15 years, $150M, $15M guaranteed, with no guaranteed money after Y2. He couldn’t possibly say no to that – nobody else would offer him that contract right now – and the downside is limited because the Bears could then trade off the #1 pick and have a bunch of future draft picks to take a QB if need be.
I realize that sort of thing never happens, but a franchise that is that well positioned doesn’t usually have top-10 picks! Instead they basically gave Fields away and are putting it all on Williams, which, to be fair, may very well work out.