Inside the drafts offensive frenzy....

[purplefaithful]

AS QUARTERBACK CHAOS played out before them Thursday night, the Las Vegas Raiders' 2024 NFL draft room held all of the emotions. There was surprise, bemusement, maybe a hint of resignation within the team's Henderson, Nevada, headquarters. 

Eventually optimism.

In a room where coach Antonio Pierce, general manager Tom Telesco and team owner Mark Davis were joined by more than 20 scouts, the Raiders, picking 13th, had expected to consider a "second wave" of first-round QB prospects that included Michigan's J.J. McCarthy, Washington's Michael Penix Jr. and Oregon's Bo Nix.

Once Las Vegas found itself on the clock, that wave had already crashed ashore.

Six quarterbacks, including McCarthy, Penix and Nix were gone in the first 12 selections, the highest concentration of QBs ever taken in a 12-pick stretch of the draft. What's more, the first 14 picks all came from the offensive side of the ball -- including the Raiders taking Georgia tight end Brock Bowers at No. 13. Never in the NFL draft's nearly 60-year history had 14 straight offensive players been selected, much less 14 straight at the top of the draft.

"I was surprised by the [offensive] run and how it happened, to be honest," a Raiders team source said.

The headline, as is usually the case in the draft, was about the quarterbacks. The run on QBs said plenty about the premium nature of the position in the modern NFL, coupled with the rookie wage scale's low barrier to entry in selecting one. A lot of quarterbacks at the top of the first round? Sure, NFL insiders said, it could be repeated.

But 14 straight offensive players? NFL scouts and executives who spoke to ESPN expressed emotions such as bewilderment and surprise over the way that played out, even while relaying a knowing sense of the factors that caused the feeding frenzy to occur.

It just happened, they said, and is unlikely to happen again anytime soon.

"There are really no dots to connect," one NFL executive said. "The better players were on that side of the ball this year."

THE 2024 DRAFT is destined to be viewed through history's lens as a quarterback draft, but it was elite talent at wide receiver and offensive tackle that NFL evaluators hold up as the critical factor in the 14-pick anomaly.

Rest is here: 
https://www.espn.com/nfl/draft2024/story...pth-charts

[StickierBuns]

The NFL has shifted the advantage so heavily to the offense, I don't think this is an anomaly moving forward. Every year it seems the NFL tweaks rules to hinder the defense in some manner. Why some NFL teams continue to ignore their offensive lines is beyond me or draft O-linemen higher. Give your QB time and he can rule the world.

[JimmyinSD]

Yes the rules have shifted to favor the O, but this will prove to be an anomaly simply due to the covid year cramming so many high level offendive players into one draft, and having so many QB needy teams at the top as well allowing some better prospects to fall as teams grabbed those QBs.

It could happen again, I just don't expect to see it, hell I wonder how much longer we have CFB the way it is now and what those changes will do to the pre pro process.

[MaroonBells]

Yes the rules have shifted to favor the O,  but this will prove to be an anomaly simply due to the covid year cramming so many high level offendive players into one draft,  and having so many QB needy teams at the top as well allowing some better prospects to fall as teams grabbed those QBs. 

It could happen again,  I just don't expect to see it,  hell I wonder how much longer we have CFB the way it is now and what those changes will do to the pre pro process.

Agree. It's just one of those strange classes where the three strongest positions in the draft were QB, WR and OL. The talent at all of those positions was almost unprecedented.

[Montana Tom]

Don't forget that those that were picking at the top of the draft were generally in dire need of offensive players. Multiply need x available offensive players and it was somewhat predictable.

[purplefaithful]

Don't forget that those that were picking at the top of the draft were generally in dire need of offensive players.  Multiply need x available offensive players and it was somewhat predictable.

Its clear as day now...

But I dont recall many mocks (and I am completely mocked-out) where I didnt see a Turner, Murphy a Laitu in the top 10 or 12.

[medaille]

While I think it’s a pretty rare set of conditions that led to so many QBs and offensive players all coming off in a row, I think a typical year will probably be offensive heavy by default.  On the defensive side of the ball, I really only think it makes sense to draft edge players in the top 10 and maybe the top of the top of DTs.  In general, I wouldn’t touch a defensive player at the top of the draft until I had my QB properly supported with blocking and weapons and if you have that are you drafting at the top of the draft?  I wouldn’t touch a traditional LB early.  I wouldn’t touch a safety early.  CB maybe, but they bust a lot, so …?

[Havoc]

I agree that COVId played a major role in it by essentially combining 2 years worth of QB prospects into 1. Obviously most of the top teams understood that and took the QB’s, but it was funny to see so many struggle to understand that it wasn’t your average draft.

QB’s capable of becoming franchise players were all going at the top just like any other draft. There were 6, and as I said before the draft, you’d have to be in the top 15 to get one as that is where their actual talent dictates they go. There are many dumb/poor evaluators of QB’s in the league and media, but there are not THAT MANY! When you looked at the QB’s and offensive side of the ball, no one should be surprised at how it unfolded (other than Penix - that was bizarre).