Why NFL draft in Detroit could go down as 'one of the great draft classes of all time'
Nothing will top 1983 as the best class of quarterbacks in NFL draft history.
John Elway, the first pick of the 1983 draft, Dan Marino (No. 27) and Jim Kelly (No. 14) are Hall of Famers who combined to start 10 Super Bowls and make 23 Pro Bowls, and Ken O’Brien (No. 24) was a respected starter for most his 10 NFL seasons.
The 2005 class may join 1983 as the only drafts to produce three Hall of Fame signal callers in Ben Roethlisberger, Eli Manning and Phillip Rivers, and the 2020 class is the best in recent memory with Joe Burrow, Justin Herbert, Tua Tagovailoa and Jalen Hurts all making Pro Bowls four years into their careers.
But the NFL draft in Detroit today through Saturday could feature a football first: Quarterbacks going 1-2-3-4 for the first time in modern draft history, and a collection of arms that could make it one of the best quarterback drafts of all time.
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“I think it’s a really good group,” NFL Network analyst Daniel Jeremiah said Wednesday. “I’m not saying it’s the best group of all time, but I think it’s a really good group and I think there just so happens to be a ton of teams that have a need so that’s why we see a bunch of them go.
“My mock draft comes out (Wednesday night) and if you’d have told me I’d have that many quarterbacks going, I wouldn’t have believed you at the beginning of the process. But as you kind of go through it, it feels like there’s kind of like playing matchmaker, there’s kind of a perfect match for each of these quarterbacks.”
While none of this year’s top quarterbacks compares to Elway as a prospect, all four are all bona fide first-round talents with impressive resumes who could tilt the balance of quarterback star power back the NFC’s way in time.
Caleb Williams is a virtual lock to go No. 1 overall to the Chicago Bears after a star-studded career at USC and Oklahoma. He won the Heisman Trophy in 2022, threw for more than 10,000 yards in his career and has been touted as a 1-1 since his freshman year.
He likely will be booed — or serenaded by chants of “Jar-ed Goff” by hometown Detroit Lions fans — when walks across stage to shake NFL commissioner Roger Goodell’s hand somewhere around 8:10 tonight, but some think he’s a generational talent who will vault the Bears into NFC North contention.
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Chicago traded Justin Fields, the ninth pick of the 2021 draft and its starter most of the past three seasons, to the Pittsburgh Steelers this offseason, clearing the way for Williams to take over under center.
“Chicago, if that’s the place for me tomorrow, I can’t wait,” Williams said Wednesday after taking part in a football clinic with local Special Olympics athletes and other draft prospects at the Corner Ballpark. “All I heard is great things about you all and I’m ready to go.”
The Bears were so sold on Williams as the future face of their franchise he was the only one of the draft’s top quarterbacks the team brought to Halas Hall for a pre-draft visit.
He’s not the only star-caliber quarterback in this draft, though, Jeremiah said.
LSU’s Jayden Daniels and North Carolina’s Drake Maye are the favorites to go second and third, respectively, to the Washington Commanders and New England Patriots (or whoever trades up for the No. 3 pick), Michigan’s J.J. McCarthy almost certainly will be a top-12 choice, and two more quarterbacks – Bo Nix of Oregon and Michael Penix Jr. of Washington — could make their way into the first round.
Daniels won the Heisman Trophy last year as a dual-threat star with 3,812 yards passing and 1,134 yards rushing, Maye threw for more than 8,000 yards in two years as starter at North Carolina, and McCarthy went 27-1 in his two seasons starting at Michigan and led the Wolverines to the national championship in January.
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“I think (Williams is) extremely gifted and I would say does he have the upside, the potential of being a top-five to 10 quarterback in the NFL? He does,” Jeremiah said. “He’s got that type of ability. Now, there’s a lot that goes into that. There’s what he needs to do to get better and develop. They’re supporting him with the right pieces in terms of personnel as well as the coaching staff. But in terms of what you have to work with, it’s really good. I mean, you have a lot to work with where you could potentially have a superstar player.”
Jeremiah said Daniels and Maye have “huge ceiling(s)” that put them in a class just below Williams but slightly above McCarthy as a prospect, while McCarthy has a comparable skill set with less polish that makes him more of a risk.
The New York Giants (No. 6), Minnesota Vikings (No. 11) and Denver Broncos (No. 12) are among other quarterback-needy teams near the top of the draft who could be interested in drafting and/or trading up for McCarthy.
“I’ve used the analogy that he’s got the same ingredients that these other guys have, they’ve just been able to show more that they’ve been allowed to,” Jeremiah said. “I’ve used the analogy, they’ve produced a wedding cake, he’s produced a cupcake. It’s the same ingredients, he’s got all the same tools, he just wasn’t asked to do it as much. So, I’ve used the acquired taste as well. Like I think you’ve got to spend a lot of time on him because he just doesn’t have the volume that the other guys have. But he’s really young, he’s really talented and I don’t think people hate all the winning that he did.”
If six quarterbacks go in Round 1 — a number that would tie the record set in 1983 (Todd Blackledge and Tony Eason also were first-round choices that year) — that could push a more talented player down to the Lions with the 29th pick of the first round.
The Lions, by virtue of their 12-5 record last season and trip to the NFC title game, have never entered the draft with a later first-round pick. They have depth needs at wide receiver, cornerback, safety and on both lines, and could add a player at one of those positions to a roster that’s one of the best in the NFL.
“Look, there’s good players all through this draft like any, it’s just a matter of where they’re at, how long is it going to take for them to develop, some of those,” Lions coach Dan Campbell said Wednesday in an interview on WXYT-FM (97.1). “But look, I know that you get one of these players in the top 15, you’re going to get a heck of a player. And then after that, there’s a good little run there of potential starters, guys you think can come in and compete to start, things of that nature, grow into it.”
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The Lions might have to trade up to land one of those top-15-caliber players, and both Campbell and general manager Brad Holmes have said they’re comfortable trading down if none of their top targets makes it to 29.
But if the 1983 draft is any indication, good players will be available throughout the first round and teams enamored with quarterbacks will leave future stars on the board.
In addition to Elway, Marino and Kelly, the 1983 draft produced five more future Hall of Famers: First-rounders Eric Dickerson, Jimbo Covert, Bruce Matthews and Darrell Green, and eighth-rounder Richard Dent.
“(This is going to be) one of the great draft classes of all time,” Alabama cornerback Terrion Arnold said Wednesday. "We have a lot of talent in this class and a lot of guys who I think will be future all-pros.”
Contact Dave Birkett at dbirkett@freepress.com. Follow him on X and Instagram at @davebirkett.
Feeling a draft?
What: 2024 NFL draft.
Where: Campus Martius Park, Hart Plaza, Detroit.
The schedule: Round 1 — 8 p.m. Thursday; Rounds 2-3 — 7 p.m. Friday; Rounds 4-7 — Noon Saturday.
TV: ABC, ESPN, NFL Network.
Lions’ picks (with overall pick in parentheses): Round 1 — No. 29 (29); Round 2 — No. 29 (61); Round 3 — No. 9 (73), No. 29 (92); Round 5 — No. 29 (163); Round 6 — No. 23 (201), No. 27 (205); Round 7 — No. 29 (247).
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Caleb Williams headlines QB-heavy NFL draft with star power in Detroit
