Lauren Ceballos / Sports Editor

 The   NFL   draft   occurred in three rounds beginning on Thursday, April 24. The draft took place in Detroit, Michigan, allowing 32 teams to each have a pick, selection, in the seven rounds. 

   The first pick went to the Chicago Bears. In theory, the team making the first pick is whoever  did  the  worst  during the previous season. Then, it climbs  the  ladder to the  winners of the Super Bowl, with this year’s winners being the Kansas City Chiefs. However, teams like the Bears  traded five  out of seven of their draft picks. Instead of using all seven of their picks, the Bears gave up five selections to get just two new players, as opposed to seven players. This shows the confidence that the Bears have in their current team, given  their apparent need for just two more players. 

  The Atlanta Falcons, Los Angeles Chargers, Minnesota Vikings, Philadelphia Eagles, Pittsburgh Steelers and Washington Commanders also traded their picks. Finding and trading  picks  is a  way  for coaches to strategically draft their teams.

  Teams  that didn’t make the playoffs had slots 1-20, leaving 21-32 for the playoff qualifiers. On Thursday, there was one round with 10 minutes allotted for each team to make their pick. The second and third rounds  were on Friday with seven minutes allotted. As the rounds and days go on, the pick time shortens.

   Pro-Football Hall of Famers Isaac Bruce, Darrell Green, Calvin Johnson, Warren Moon and Barry Sanders announced each pick.

Caleb Williams was the first overall draft pick for the 2024 NFL Draft. During the phone call to Williams to offer him a spot in the NFL, his new coach, Matt Eberus, expressed his excitement. 

  “My guy… Hey this day is gonna go down as an iconic day in Bears history my friend. I’m super excited for you that you realized your dream of being the first pick in the NFL draft. That’s so cool… but I’m more excited about our football team starting this process and achieving our next goal and [I am] looking forward to our journey together. And I love you and God bless you,” Eberus said.

    Jaylen Key was the  final pick for the draft selected by the New York Jets, becoming this year’s “Mr. Irrelevant.” In 1976, Paul Salata coined the term “Mr. Irrelevant,” crowning the final pick in the draft. 

  Salata played football at USC   as a wide receiver. Before getting drafted, Salata served in  World War II in the Army Air Corps in 1945 then returned to USC for his last season. Following his time as a Trojan, Salata played for the San Francisco 49ers and the Baltimore Colts.

  “We established ‘Irrelevant Week’ to drive home  an important message: that it’s not a negative to be picked last in the NFL Draft; rather, it’s  an  honor to be  drafted  at  all,” Salata said on his website. “The last draft pick’s demonstration of  perseverance is a  lesson  that  resonates not   only with NFL players and fans, but also with  people  everywhere,” his website states.

  University of Michigan, this past season’s College Football National Champions, provided the most NFL draft picks for 2024, bringing forth 13 players.

 Whatever number among the picks, players are now eager to start working with their new teams for the upcoming NFL season.

Pick 1-32 are pictured above from the 2024 NFL Draft. Photo courtesy of @nfl/Instagram