Fortuna Files: Fun facts, takeaways and more from the NFL Draft

Round 1 broke all sorts of records. QBs are very popular. And does anyone play defense?

Apr 26, 2024

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Twenty thoughts from Night 1 of the NFL Draft, where defense was an afterthought.

1. Six quarterbacks getting taken among the first 12 picks made the draft must-see TV. The QB-heavy night will put a spotlight on this year’s rookie class like never before this fall. But what’s that say about next year’s QB class? Shedeur Sanders and Carson Beck look like they’ll be the headliners right now, but next year’s draft is a long ways away, and if this year’s first round taught us anything, it’s that we all know nothing.

2. Did no one see any value in defensive players? I get that the NFL is a QB league, but history tells us that at least half of these six first-round signal callers will be busts. It’s crazy that no defensive player was drafted till the Colts took UCLA’s Laiatu Latu at No. 15. There are more sure things on the defensive side of the ball, and the market was there to be exploited on Thursday night.

3. With USC, Washington and Oregon playing in the Big Ten this fall, this draft made you really wonder what it would have been like to have Caleb Williams, Michael Penix Jr., J.J. McCarthy and Bo Nix all play in the Big Ten together for one year in 2024.

4. This draft was a bittersweet way for the Pac-12 to go out. It is still tough to wrap my head around the fact that a 108-year-old conference has essentially collapsed. Watching the league get a national finalist, two Heisman finalists, the No. 1 pick and six of the top 15 picks all at once is tough to swallow knowing that the grim reaper is right around the corner.

5. When I asked Dan Lanning recently why he thought Nix was a first-round pick, the Oregon coach said: “Turn the film on, right? Turn the film on, talk to him and I think those are the reasons you'll see OK, this is a guy that certainly deserves to be a first-round pick. I know Bo’s handled this process extremely well and he certainly deserves every bit of attention coming his way. He's worked his tail off to be in this position since he was a little kid and it's fun to see it come to fruition.”

6. All of the immediate focus in Atlanta has been on Kirk Cousins and the Falcons’ front office, but am I the only one a little concerned about Penix in this situation? Being a top-10 pick is nice, but Penix will be 24 come Week 1 and Cousins seems to have a few years left in him. Just how old will Penix — who is far from a project relative to most QBs drafted — be when the job is finally his?

7. Nice week for USC, which broke the record for most No. 1 picks (six) one day after Reggie Bush got his Heisman back, giving the Trojans a record eight winners. And Lincoln Riley became the first coach to have three QBs picked No. 1.

8. And yet, the best Riley-coached QB in the NFL right now is probably Jalen Hurts, who was a second-round pick and, unlike Riley’s three No. 1 picks, did not win the Heisman. (Although he finished second in 2019.)

9. There was something poetic about McCarthy becoming Michigan’s first first-round QB since Jim Harbaugh in 1987. Harbaugh’s fondness for McCarthy was evident. (When I asked Jack Harbaugh after the Rose Bowl who was a better Michigan QB between his son and McCarthy, the 84-year-old smiled and said: “Rick Leach.”)

10. Harbaugh’s new team made the obvious move by taking Joe Alt at No. 5. Alt became Notre Dame’s highest pick since Rick Mirer went No. 2 in 1993. Each of the Irish’s last five full-time left tackles have been first- or second-round picks, and three were taken in the top-10.

11. There was a lot of healthy debate in 2022 when Brock Bowers beat out Michael Mayer for the Mackey Award. Now the two are teammates, after the Raiders drafted Bowers at No. 13. I love both players, but I’m not sure I understand this pick.

12. I would not have guessed that the ACC has the most first-round QBs of any conference since 2015, but it does. Just don’t ask how most of those guys are doing right now. (Outside of Lamar Jackson and Trevor Lawrence, at least.)

13. The biggest recruiting miss among first rounders? It has to be Jared Verse, who went 19th to the Rams. Verse didn’t even have a 247 or Rivals profile coming out of Central Columbia (Pa.) High and spent two years at FCS Albany before becoming an All-American at Florida State.

14. Quinyon Mitchell is probably second, as the Toledo corner went to the Eagles at No. 22. Mitchell was a two-star, unranked recruit on Rivals and a three-star on 247, which had him as the No. 146 player … in the state of Florida.

15. Mitchell ended up being so special at Toledo that an alum by the name of Nick Saban openly tampered with him. That’s according to Saban himself, who admitted as much during his full-time broadcasting debut Thursday. (Gee, I wonder what else we can get him to open up about if he’s going to be this talkative.)

16. My biggest first-round surprise was that Cooper DeJean didn’t get drafted. Is he a corner? A safety? Who cares. Anyone who watched him play at Iowa knows he is an athlete and will make his team better.

17. Xavier Worthy and his 4.21 40-time going to the Chiefs at No. 28 seems just perfect. And petrifying for the rest of the NFL as KC seeks a three-peat.

18. I’m not mistaking the Bears for the Chiefs just yet, but seeing all of those offensive names together on paper gets me excited about the charter franchise in a way I never have before.