Literal fireworks go off as the NFL Draft comes to an end of Day 1. It seems like a good time to call it a day here, thanks to everyone for following along with our live coverage. Ciao!
A full report on the first round of the NFL Draft:
No. 32 N’Keal Harry, WR, Arizona State -- New England Patriots
One last round of boos for Roger Goodell and the Patriots make the final selection, it’s N’Keal Harry, a wide receiver to give Tom Brady “another weapon,” as our hosts put it. And that will do it for the first round.
And now the Super Bowl champs are on the clock with the last selection of the night, presuming that the New England Patriots also don’t trade down (let’s just say that it’s not unheard of when it comes to Bill Belichick).
No. 31 Kaleb McGary, OT, Washington – Atlanta Falcons
The Falcons choose Kaleb McGary at number 31. Just one last pick to go for tonight! Woo!
The Los Angeles Rams trade down, so the Atlanta Falcons will have the 31st pick.
No. 30 Deandre Baker, CB, Georgia – New York Giants
The Giants select the first corner of the draft in Deandre Baker. At least they didn’t take their time on this one.
No. 29 L.J. Collier, DE, TCU – Seattle Seahawks
With the pick that they did keep, the Seahawks selected L.J. Collier. We’re getting near the finish line here everybody.
There have been further trade machinations!
Seattle traded pick No. 30 to the NY Giants.
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) April 26, 2019
This first round is already 3:40 long.
— Melissa Jacobs (@thefootballgirl) April 26, 2019
It feels like that 40 mins has just been waiting for this Seahawks pick.
I feel like this is the 100th REO Speedwagon song I’ve heard them play here. It’s probably the first, but every song they’ve played might as well have been a REO Speedwagon song.
The Seattle Seahawks have the next two picks after various trade machinations. Assuming that they aren’t even more trade machinations.
No. 28 Jerry Tillery, DT, Notre Dame – Los Angeles Chargers
The Chargers select Jerry Tillery, who is not in Nashville but is chilling in Maui with a shirt covered in pineapples and is now officially my favorite player in the draft.
The Los Angeles Chargers—and man that still sounds weird to say—are selecting next.
No. 27 Jonathan Abram, S, Mississippi State – Oakland Raiders
The Raiders pick Jonathan Abram. Good luck in being compared with Amari Cooper from here on out.
The Raiders are (yes) once again on the clock, this time with the pick they got from the Dallas Cowboys for Amari Cooper.
No. 26 Montez Sweat, DE, Mississippi State – Washington
Washington pick Montez Sweat. The Colts will get the 46th pick and a 2020 second-round pick.
Washington trades with the Indianapolis Colts for the 26th pick. Now they’re doing it just to throw me off.
No. 25 Marquise Brown, WR, Oklahoma – Baltimore Ravens
Okay there we have a wide receiver! I was starting to think it was Defensive Ends all the way down here.
The Baltimore Ravens are now picking at 25, which they got when trading the 22nd pick to the Philadelphia Eagles, who also sent them the 125th and 197th pick in addition.
No. 24 Josh Jacobs, RB, Alabama – Houston Texans
Texans take Josh Jacobs. Weird that we have a running back drafted before a wide receiver.
Hey look it’s the Raiders! Remember the Raiders from earlier? Well, they are very much back, with one of the picks they got from the Chicago Bears in the Khalil Mack deal. (I think Chicago will live with the results of that one.)
No. 23 Tytus Howard, OT, Alabama State – Houston Texans
The Texans decide for some quarterback protection with their pick.
You hate to see it.
I am sorry to report that Noah Fant has problematic tweets... pic.twitter.com/6n0UhQKaZm
— Ryan Koenigsberg (@RyanKoenigsberg) April 26, 2019
No. 22 Andre Dillard, OT, Washington State – Philadelphia Eagles
The Eagles go for Washington State offensive lineman Andre Dillard with the pick nearly immediately after trading up.
The Philadelphia Eagles trade up with the Baltimore Ravens for the 22nd pick. Lots of chess moves being made here.
No. 21 Darnell Savage Jr, S, Maryland – Green Bay Packers
The Packers get the best name in the draft so far with Darnell Savage Jr.
The Seattle Seahawks trade down and the Green Bay Packers will be getting the 21st pick.
No. 20 Noah Fant, TE, Iowa – Denver Broncos
The Broncos select a tight end from Iowa. No this is not a repost. The Lions picked Hockenson earlier and now Denver has his teammate Noah Fant.
And, NOW, the Broncos are picking, after trading down with the Pittsburgh Steelers earlier tonight.
No. 19 Jeffery Simmons, DT, Mississippi State - Tennessee Titans
Goodell brings on a whole bunch of teenage football captains for the Titans pick. At least this time it prevents any boos. The Titans select Jeffrey Simmons and there’s the awkward scene of the local celebration and the announcers having to go over the fact that he once punched a woman. The NFL everybody.
And now it’s time for the local team to make a selection, adding a bit of additional drama to the Tennessee Titans’ upcoming pick.
No. 18 Garrett Bradbury, C, NC State – Minnesota Vikings
North Carolina State’s Bradbury goes at number 18. A group of Asgardian-garbed Vikings fans celebrate the choice.
No. 17 Dexter Lawrence, DT, Clemson – New York Giants
As is their thing, the NFL decides to use troops as props in the presentation of this pick presentation. Also unsurprising, yet another member of the Clemson defense gets taken in the first round.
The Giants are now on the clock again. Their first pick was not well-received by fans and this will be the first rounder they got in the Odell Beckham trade with the Cleveland Browns. So, yeah, a bit of pressure on this decision.
No. 16 Brian Burns, OLB, Florida State – Carolina Panthers
And with Carolina’s selection of Brian Burns, elite pass rusher, we’re halfway through the first round.
No. 15 Dwayne Haskins, QB, Ohio State – Washington
Washington does indeed swoop in to grab Haskins. We’re going to be comparing his career to Jones’s from here on out, one imagines.
Washington is on the clock. Have to think NOW is the time that Haskins comes off the board.
No. 14 Chris Lindstrom, OL, Boston College – Atlanta Falcons
And the Atlanta Falcons go for BC guard Christ Lindstrom, to play with former BC quarterback Matt Ryan. Meanwhile, most Bostonians remain only vaguely aware that college football is a thing.
No. 13 Christian Wilkins, DT, Clemson – Miami Dolphins
And the Dolphins instead go with defense, as has nearly everyone so far this evening.
The Miami Dolphins are on the clock. Dwayne Haskins is available at the quarterback position. Could this be the move?
No. 12 Rashan Gary, DE, Michigan – Green Bay Packers
The Packers announce Michigan DL Rashan Gary, but announce him as a defensive end, which surprises the College Gameday crew.
No. 11 Jonah Williams, OT, Alabama – Cincinnati Bengals
The Bengals choose to bolster their offensive line with Alabama tackle Jonah Williams. Not a super-sexy move.
The Broncos received the Steelers’ 2019 2nd round pick, and a 2020 3rd round pick along with the 20th pick later tonight. Meanwhile, the Bengals are indeed on the clock.
No. 10 Devin Bush, ILB, Michigan – Pittsburgh Steelers
No details on what the Broncos have received for the tenth pick, but the Steelers actually sneak in to pick up Devin Bush. Sorry Bengals.
Updated
Trade! Steelers trade up to number 10
ABC interviews Oliver’s father and brother and they are both crying. It’s hard not to be moved here. Meanwhile, the Denver Broncos – no wait, the Pittsburgh Steelers have traded up to get the 10th pick!
No. 9. Ed Oliver, DT, Houston – Buffalo Bills
The Buffalo Bills select DT Ed Oliver out of Houston. As advertised, a lot of defensive players early on here.
Updated
@HunterFelt any predictions for my Bengals Hunter? Hope Bush is still there myself
— dreams of widnes (@DWidnes) April 26, 2019
If Michigan LB Devin Bush is still available, they pick him. There’s a few more teams to go first, including the Buffalo Bills who are on the clock now.
Updated
No. 8. T.J. Hockenson, TE, Iowa – Detroit Lions
Detroit Lions pick T.J. Hockenson. A bit early in the draft for a tight end, but he’s a good one.
Alexanda Wooford writes in on the Daniel Jones pick, probably speaking for many other Giants fans:
4th season giants fan.
Daniel Jones. Really??? Gettlemoron gets more wrong than he does right. Take the best player available. Not the 3rd best QB available! (Behind Haskins and Rosen) Trade that 37 pick for Rosen and get josh Allen at 6 and the best o line player available at 17? What an idiot. Bring back mcadoofus and Jerry Reece
No. 7. Josh Allen, DE, Kentucky – Jacksonville Jaguars
The Jaguars don’t get fancy and pick Josh Allen. Congrats Jason Mendoza, your team’s got a good player.
As we try to puzzle over the Giants pic, Taylor Swift announces her new song which is called “ME.” It’s a collaboration with someone from Panic at the Disco. I don’t understand why anything is happening and the Jacksonville Jaguars on the clock.
Replacing a Manning brother with someone from Duke just feels right in a cosmic sense.
No. 6. Daniel Jones, QB, Duke – New York Giants
Well they do go with a quarterback, Duke’s Daniel Jones. Not the QB everybody expected to go second, to be honest.
Updated
“Is interested in the game of football,” seems to be the top compliment given to players here. I’m never going to fee like I’m unqualified to talk about this sport ever again. The New York Giants are on the clock. Will they make a move to move on from the Ghost Of Eli Manning?
No. 5. Devin White, ILB, LSU – Tampa Bay Buccaneers
Tampa Bay Buccaneers are on the clock. Robin Roberts and Kansas City Chiefs QB Patrick Mahomes kill time as the Gin Blossoms play in the background. I’m not sure if this is really “Nashville” music.
And the pick is in, announced by a Make-a-Wish kid. It’s LSU linebacker Devin White.
Okay the consensus on this one is that Oakland might have reached a tad here.
and yes... #listentomenow #believemelateron https://t.co/92N5bkIy6U
— Bomani Jones (@bomani_jones) April 26, 2019
Love when a pick is so surprising Roger Goodell can’t even pronounce the name correctly.
— Nicole Auerbach (@NicoleAuerbach) April 26, 2019
No. 4. Clelin Ferrell, DE, Clemson – Oakland Raiders
Nope, it’s Clemson DE Clelin Ferrell. I’m going to stop predicting things from here on out. I’m completely thrown.
Oakland Raiders with their first pick (of three) in the first round now. Maybe now is the time for Josh Allen?
Quinnen Williams with the strong Young Pastor look
— BUM CHILLUPS (@edsbs) April 26, 2019
No. 3. Quinnen Williams, DT, Alabama – New York Jets
Or they could go with Quinnen Williams. Welp, my mock draft is busted already.
@HunterFelt No surprises to start. Intrigue starts now. Will the Jets stay here? I think Allen if they do but 3 legit options (Williams / Oliver)
— Dr. George Claw (@MAD_Plc) April 26, 2019
New York jets are indeed on the clock. I like Josh Allen here too. Beyond this, I don’t really have any idea but that’s the fun of it!
Nick Bosa, of course, made some waves by uh doing some curating of this social media accounts in order to prepare for possibly playing in San Francisco, as our Oliver Connolly wrote earlier today:
No. 2. Nick Bosa, DE, Ohio State – San Francisco 49ers
And yup, it’s indeed Bosa.
Updated
The San Francisco 49ers are now on the clock. Ohio State defensive end Nick Bosa is the favorite to land second here. In fact, this first round is expected to be defense-heavy.
Not even close. You cannot out-boo Philadelphia.
@HunterFelt was the booing aimed at Goodell on a par with Philly? Always my favorite part of the draft. Also his cowardice, needing that human shield
— dreams of widnes (@DWidnes) April 26, 2019
Kyler Murray goes first overall!
No. 1. Kyler Murray, QB, Oklahoma – Arizona Cardinals
“Life Is A Highway” plays for three hundred years as College Gameday’s Lee Corso wears a frightening gigantic head of Dwayne Haskins. Finally, Goodell comes out and confirms it: Kyler Murray will be picked first overall!
The College Gameday people all seem to think the first pick is going to be Kyler Murray. Arizona obviously knows who they’re going with, but we’re still going to wait out this entire period just for the sake of the drama. Murray, it has to be noted, is looking dapper in a pink suit based on the one worn by Leonardo DiCaprio in The Great Gatsby, a movie which everyone else has forgotten even existed.
Roger Goodell comes out, with Marcus Mariota acting as a human shield at avoid boos. It doesn’t work. They raffle off 100-years of season tickets to a lucky fan and then, finally, the Arizona Cardinals are on the clock.
Oh hey it’s Taylor Swift who is teasing whatever she is dropping on midnight. She is also dressed like a packet of fruit gum.
NFL Draft begins now
Alright we’re about to start things off now. I’m most looking forward to hearing how loudly Nashville fans boo Commissioner Roger Goodell. Booing sports commissioners is always the most fun part of draft night.
Sometimes on draft day teams like to put a little twist on how they announce their picks (last year there was a parrot involved). Here’s something cool that’s apparently going to happen on Saturday.
Mo Gaba, a blind 13-year-old Ravens fan who is battling cancer, will become the first person to announce an NFL draft pick off a card written in Braille when he calls out Baltimore’s fourth-round pick (No. 123 overall) on Saturday.https://t.co/VMRMSGvZb0
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) April 25, 2019
Nike also seems to think that it’s Murray going at number one.
"Honestly, I want to be the best that ever played the game."
— Sports Illustrated (@SInow) April 24, 2019
New Nike ad featuring Kyler Murray drops ahead of the NFL draft 👀
(via @TheKylerMurray) pic.twitter.com/yqJpb04xym
My ability to read between the lines suggests that there’s a possibility that the experts saying that Murray wasn’t going number one might have been manipulated by their sources.
Please feel free to consider this a tipped pick: Any remaining people saying this week that Kyler Murray isn't going #1 are about to feel really used.
— Charles Robinson (@CharlesRobinson) April 25, 2019
Right now, the current order for teams in this first round goes as follows:
1. Arizona Cardinals
2. San Francisco 49ers
3. New York Jets
4. Oakland Raiders
5. Tampa Bay Buccaneers
6. New York Giants
7. Jacksonville Jaguars
8. Detroit Lions
9. Buffalo Bills
10. Denver Broncos
11. Cincinnati Bengals
12. Green Bay Packers
13. Miami Dolphins
14. Atlanta Falcons
15. Washington
16. Carolina Panthers
17. New York Giants (From Cleveland Browns)
18. Minnesota Vikings
19. Tennessee Titans
20. Pittsburgh Steelers
21. Seattle Seahawks
22. Baltimore Ravens
23. Houston Texans
24. Oakland Raiders (from Chicago Bears)
25. Philadelphia Eagles
26. Indianapolis Colts
27. Oakland Raiders (from Dallas Cowboys)
28. Los Angeles Chargers
29. Seattle Seahawks (from Kansas City Chiefs)
30. Green Bay Packers (from New Orleans Saints)
31. Los Angeles Rams
32. New England Patriots
Preamble
Welcome everybody for the Guardian’s live coverage of the first round of the 2019 NFL Draft. It’s time for one of the most exciting sports events of the year as representatives for a bunch of teams will gather around to… read 32 names over the course of a few hours. Okay, that description makes this whole thing sound a lot more dreary than it actually is. Draft Day is full of drama, as NFL teams will be choosing the most talented (or most intriguing) eligible college football players. A good draft can position a team for a Super Bowl run and a disastrous draft can set a franchise back years.
The big question, as always, is Who Will Go Number One. The Arizona Cardinals, by virtue of their 2018 campaign, have the first round pick. The most likely scenario seems to be that they will choose undersized Oklahoma quarterback Kyler Murray although there have been a few reports that this might not necessarily be the case. Murray, you may remember, had the choice between declaring for the Draft or signing with MLB’s Oakland Athletics. It turns out, he was more interested with the fame and fortune that came with potentially being a top overall pick rather than the idea of toiling in the minor leagues for the next few years. If the Cardinals are out on Murray, they could go for Ohio State DE Nick Bosa, which would throw things off for the San Francisco 49ers, who own the second pick in the draft. Kentucky linebacker Josh Allen and Alabama lineman Quinnen Williams could be in the mix as well.
The fun of draft night, of course, is that it’s unpredictable, especially as there’s always the possibility of trades. Sometimes teams will make shocking picks that most experts had going in the second or third rounds. Sometimes no-doubt Top 10 selections end up stuck in the green room, watching helplessly as their draft stock (and rookie contract value) plummets. As we said early, there’s a lot of drama here even if you haven’t been obsessively following NCAA football over the last few years.
So, stick with us at the Guardian as we try to keep up with all the Draft Day machinations. If you want to contribute to the liveblog, you can email us at Hunter.Felt.Freelance@theguardian.com or tweet @HunterFelt and we’ll include your commentary along the way. The 2019 NFL Draft, coming straight out of Nashville, will be starting on ABC in roughly a half-hour, but we’ll be back before then.
Updated
Hunter will be here shortly, in the meantime here’s Oliver Connolly on the best five players available tonight:
Note: these are the most talented players available, not a prediction of the order in which they will be picked.
1) Nick Bosa, edge, Ohio State
Questionable social media strategy aside, Bosa is widely considered the best player in this year’s draft class on either side of the ball. Bosa missed most of this junior year after undergoing a core-muscle surgery. Yet his place atop draft boards was already assured thanks to a dominant sophomore campaign, in which he had the highest “pass rush wins” percentage in all of college football. Bosa finished the season with 25 hurries, 15 hits, nine sacks and three batted passes. It was a non-stop highlight package. Bosa will be really, really good, really, really fast. No one is a can’t-miss prospect, but Bosa is about as close as you can get.
2) Quinnen Williams, defensive line, Alabama
Pass rushers and pass blockers, that’s what this draft is all about. Either get someone who can hit the other team’s quarterback or grab someone who can protect your guy. Watch Williams play, and you will instantly be awed by the sheer spectacle of someone so big being able to move so fast. He is damn-near unstoppable off the snap. Talent wise, he would be a top-five pick in anyyear.
3) Josh Allen, edge, Kentucky
Yes, Allen is an excellent pass rusher. But he’s so much more than that. He is a defensive chess piece who drifts between a bunch of different positions and makes plays all over the field. He has a turbocharged get-off and has been compared to Chicago’s Khalil Mack.
4) Ed Oliver, defensive line, Houston
If you listen hard enough, you can hear the sound of 32 NFL defensive coordinators cajoling their general manager to find any way possible to grab Oliver in the upcoming draft.
Thanks to the dominance of Aaron Donald, small, twitchy, defensive linemen are all the range. The 287lbs Oliver is still considered small by the Donald-standard. He was even asked to perform linebacker drills by the Titans at this year’s combine. “I’d ask myself to play linebacker too,” Oliver said at the time. He will play inside, outside, and stood up on Sundays. And he will be a potent force for years to come.
5) Kyler Murray, quarterback, Oklahoma
The likely No1 pick is the most electric player in the draft, regardless of position. He is the only quarterback in 20 years who comes close to matching the athleticism of Michael Vick. In the right offense, he can be a special weapon.
Two of the major concerns about Murray have been answered: his commitment; his slender frame. He spurned baseball to concentrate on being a quarterback full-time and he turned heads at the combine turning up at a bulked up 207lbs.
There’s no disputing his on-field performance or production. He wasn’t as methodically brilliant as Baker Mayfield at Oklahoma but his highs were just as high – “wow” throws delivered from the most bonkers of body positions; game-breaking runs. Someone will take him first overall. Will it be the Cardinals or the Raiders?
