2024 NFL Draft: Three Bold Predictions For Unpredictable Day 1

Caleb Williams’s peers in Jayden Daniels, Drake Maye, and J.J. McCarthy are immediately behind him in the rankings. Never before in another NFL Draft has four quarterbacks been taken with the first four selections, yet all four players can make that history happen. What remains unclear is what order they’ll go in after Williams, and who will be drafting the fourth of these four.

The particulars of this potential record-breaking order surround the Arizona Cardinals’ fourth-overall selection. The widespread consensus is for the Cardinals to draft Marvin Harrison Jr. with the selection, but several teams behind the Cardinals will jockey for that position, ostensibly to draft McCarthy. The Minnesota Vikings, at this juncture, appear the likeliest to make the move happen after they acquired Houston’s #23 overall pick last month.

NFL Draft Bold Prediction #2: Offensive Bonanza

The current record of players taken at offensive skill positions was most recently set in the 2009 NFL Draft. Then, 19 players, headlined by Super Bowl LVI champion Matthew Stafford, were selected on day one. In 2024, there is an opportunity for over 20 of the 32 selections to be used on the offensive side of the ball.

It doesn’t hurt that the first four quarterbacks may just get taken with the first four selections. The much-hyped wide receiver group should also see no less than five players at the position be taken, including 40-yard-dash champion Xavier Worthy. Georgia’s Brock Bowers and the offensive tackles, including Bowers’ college teammate in Amarius Mims should pitch in to this potential record.

With just the four quarterbacks, six wide receivers, Bowers, and a potential seven tackles, the 2024 NFL Draft’s first round would already push the record, barring any trades back into the first round.

NFL Draft Bold Prediction #3: A Wide Receiver Trade On Day One

Stefon Diggs being traded to the Houston Texans earlier this month makes this scenario more palatable than it had been prior. In the first round of the 2022 draft, A.J. Brown was traded in the middle of day one to the Philadelphia Eagles, then Marquise Brown followed not long after.

Brandon Aiyuk and Tee Higgins lead the way in trade speculations among incumbents in the NFL. While Higgins received a franchise tag earlier this offseason, while Aiyuk remains “far apart” on any such new deal with the 49ers. Come Thursday night and the opening of the NFL Draft, it could be entirely plausible to see one, if not both of these players get moved to new employers.