Mega draft cheat sheet
The Chicago Bears are nearly on the clock at No. 1, kicking off the 2024 NFL draft. It will be the first of 257 total selections over a three-day period from Thursday to Saturday.
The big questions heading into the draft: Which quarterback will the Commanders take at No. 2? Will the Patriots trade the No. 3 pick or take a QB of their own? How many receivers will be taken in the first two rounds? Which teams could shake up the first round?
To get you ready for all the action, here is a one-stop shop for everything you need to know about the draft -- times, location, draft order, top prospects, rankings, mock drafts, stats to know and more. Read about the draft's best players, your team's pressing needs and how things might play out. Let's start with some of the basics.
ESPN Draftcast | Best available players
Round 1: Thursday at 8 p.m. ET (ESPN, ABC, ESPN App, ESPN Radio, ESPN Deportes, NFL Network)
Rounds 2-3: Friday at 7 p.m. ET (ESPN, ABC, ESPN App, ESPN Radio, ESPN Deportes, NFL Network)
Rounds 4-7: Saturday at noon ET (ESPN with ABC simulcast, ESPN App, ESPN Radio, ESPN Deportes, NFL Network)
The 2024 draft will be held in Detroit around Campus Martius Park and Hart Plaza. Some of the players who will be on-site: USC QB Caleb Williams; LSU QB Jayden Daniels, WRs Malik Nabers and Brian Thomas Jr.; North Carolina QB Drake Maye; Ohio State WR Marvin Harrison Jr.; Washington WR Rome Odunze; Alabama's EDGE Dallas Turner, CB Terrion Arnold and OT JC Latham; UCLA EDGE Laiatu Latu; Toledo CB Quinyon Mitchell; and Missouri DL Darius Robinson.
There will be 257 picks in this year's draft. The Bears -- who acquired the pick from Carolina last year for the 2023 No. 1 pick -- have the first selection, while the Jets have the final spot to take Mr. Irrelevant. The Cardinals, Packers and Rams have the most picks in the draft with 11 each, while the Bears have the fewest with four picks (including two in the first round). The Panthers, Browns and Texans currently do not have a pick in the first round.
Top 10:
1. Chicago Bears (from CAR)2. Washington Commanders3. New England Patriots4. Arizona Cardinals5. Los Angeles Chargers6. New York Giants7. Tennessee Titans8. Atlanta Falcons9. Chicago Bears10. New York Jets
More: Full draft order ... Draft needs for all 32 teams (ESPN+)
Mike Tannenbaum, Jeff Darlington and Domonique Foxworth debate whether the Patriots should stay at No. 3 or trade the pick.
How you classify this draft is a matter of the criteria you prioritize. It's not often we see a group that is likely to include three quarterback picks to begin the proceedings, so that alone makes this a strong draft. Quarterbacks move the needle more than any other position in the sport, and there could be five or six taken in Round 1. Wide receiver and offensive tackle (two additional premium positions) also have great depth this year.
However, the overall depth of this class does not stack up to recent drafts, which in part traces back to several high-profile prospects opting to return to college given the existence of NIL. Particularly weak positions in this year's class include running back, tight end (beyond Georgia's Brock Bowers) and safety. My opinion is that the quarterback, receiver and offensive tackle depth alone is enough to make this a rock-solid draft, though. -- Field Yates, NFL draft analyst
Scouts Inc.'s top 10 prospects:
1. Caleb Williams, QB, USC (Highlights)2. Marvin Harrison Jr., WR, Ohio State (Highlights)3. Malik Nabers, WR, LSU (Highlights)4. Joe Alt, OT, Notre Dame (Highlights)5. Jayden Daniels, QB, LSU (Highlights)6. Drake Maye, QB, North Carolina (Highlights)7. Dallas Turner, EDGE, Alabama (Highlights)8. Rome Odunze, WR, Washington (Highlights)9. J.J. McCarthy, QB, Michigan (Highlights)10. Quinyon Mitchell, CB, Toledo (Highlights)
Scouts Inc.'s top six quarterbacks:
1. Caleb Williams, USC (Highlights)2. Jayden Daniels, LSU (Highlights)3. Drake Maye, North Carolina (Highlights)4. J.J. McCarthy, Michigan (Highlights)5. Bo Nix, Oregon (Highlights)6. Michael Penix Jr., Washington (Highlights)
Our analysts' personal boards:
Mel Kiper Jr.: Big Board, best 150 prospects
Field Yates: Top 200 prospects, position rankings
Jordan Reid: Top 400 prospects
Matt Miller: Top 474 prospects
Jeff Legwold: Top 100 prospects
Steve Muench: Scouts Inc.'s full board, grades
More about the standout players: Position rankings and our consensus board ... College football coaches pick draft sleepers (ESPN+) ... Louis Riddick's favorite prospects, sleepers ... Best prospects at 90 different traits (ESPN+) ... 13 prospects who could impact new kickoff rule ... Our favorite prospect-to-pro comps ... Biggest risers of the year
Dan Graziano and Robert Griffin III give their predictions for what the Commanders will do at No. 2.
Kiper, who has analyzed the draft for ESPN since 1984, recently released a list of his favorite prospects in the class -- at every position. Here's what Kiper wrote about Tennessee running back Jaylen Wright:
Wright made my list of risers after the combine, where he put up a 4.38-second 40-yard dash, an 11-foot-2 broad jump and a 38-inch vertical leap, all of which ranked close to the top at his position. He is a supreme athlete, and his tape matches that too. In 2023, he averaged 7.4 yards per carry, which ranked third in the FBS, and 4.1 yards after contact per carry, which ranked ninth. How did he have only four touchdowns?
Wright hits the hole decisively, but I also love that he is a stellar pass-blocker. He can handle blitzers and play on third downs in the NFL. He caught only 30 passes in three seasons for the Vols, but he has the tools to develop as a pass-catcher.
Wright is my second-ranked running back, but I projected only one back (Texas' Jonathon Brooks) in the first two rounds of my latest mock draft, just based on the value of the position. I see Wright being picked early in Round 3 and making an impact as a rookie.
Read Kiper's full list of prospects here (ESPN+).
Are you looking for the most up-to-date mock drafts from all of our draft analysts? Well, you found them. See whom each analyst has going to every team in the first round (and in some cases, beyond). Here's the latest from ESPN+:
Kiper: Mel's predictions for Rounds 1 and 2
Yates: Field's 64-pick predictions
Miller: Complete seven-round, 257-pick mock
Reid: Final seven-round mock
NFL Nation: Reporters make their picks
NFL scouts: Predicting the top 10 picks
Kiper and Yates: Alternating three-round mock
You can find every mock draft here.
More: Debating need, value for Round 1 picks (ESPN+) ... Barnwell's All-trades mock draft ... Bowen's perfect fits for 20 prospects (ESPN+) ... Roster hole solutions for nine teams ... 10 realistic team fits for top prospects
This QB class could end up as the best of the past decade -- and I expect there to be around 11 signal-callers drafted this year. Williams is the presumed No. 1 pick, but the pecking order gets interesting after that point.
It's widely expected that Washington will stay at No. 2 and pick between Daniels and Maye. The Patriots at No. 3 have multiple options (including trading back), but they still have major question marks under center themselves. Whoever doesn't hear their name called at No. 2 between Maye or Daniels will likely be selected with the next pick. Other QB-needy teams such as the Vikings, Raiders and Broncos are also likely to be in the running for a QB in Round 1, perhaps McCarthy, Penix or Nix. The top six quarterbacks figure to be gone by midway into the second round.
For teams that aren't able to get a top quarterback early, Spencer Rattler (South Carolina) and Michael Pratt (Tulane) could be late-Day 2 or early-Day 3 picks. -- Jordan Reid, NFL draft analyst
More: Scouts, execs stack 11 draft QBs (ESPN+) ... Try to match Round 1 QBs to new teams ... Seven clichés about trading up in the draft ... Why don't top QBs force their landing spots? ... Pick ranges for the top passers (ESPN+) ... Statistical comps for six QBs (ESPN+)
Adam Schefter explains to Pat McAfee why Michael Penix Jr. could be selected as early as the first round in the NFL draft.
What are our experts hearing in the rumor mill ahead of Thursday's draft?
Second tier of WRs: Texas wide receiver Xavier Worthy is a sneaky favorite to be the fourth wide receiver off the board, according to conversations with NFL teams over the past week. He set a combine record (since at least 2003) with his 4.21-second run in the 40-yard dash, coming on the heels of three great seasons of production as a receiver and punt returner for the Longhorns.
With Harrison, Nabers and Odunze all expected to be drafted inside the top 10, Worthy's range starts at No. 15 with the Colts. They met with Worthy at the combine and then brought him back to the facility -- using one of the 30 slots each team is given to bring prospects to its facility for private meetings -- during the pre-draft process, according to team sources. The love for Worthy is real around the league, and I don't expect he'll have a long wait on draft night. -- Matt Miller, NFL draft analyst
Vikings' level of activity: Execs around the league are closely watching Minnesota, which has actively worked the phones leading into Thursday. I've spoken to multiple teams in the top 10 that say Minnesota -- which owns the 11th and 23rd picks -- has called about a potential trade up.
It appears the Vikings have a quarterback target in mind, and most teams think it's either Maye or McCarthy. But with no picks on Day 2, the Vikings will stay nimble. And maybe they decide to stay put, taking the best player available with one of their picks and the best quarterback available with the other. But they are prepared to do something. -- Jeremy Fowler, NFL national writer
Here are the latest rumblings via ESPN+:
Fowler and Graziano: Last-minute buzz
Schefter: Draft notes and latest intel
Miller, Reid and Yates: Prospect buzz, risers from one week out
Yates: Teams that could trade up,
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6 of May 2024
