Finally, defense! The Colts pick at 15th overall ends a record drought

The 2024 NFL Draft will be remembered for all the offensive players who fly off the board in the first round. There were enough quarterbacks and receivers to keep everyone excited.

It meant that the defensive players had to wait a while.

The first defensive player taken in the 2024 NFL Draft was UCLA edge rusher Laiatu Latu. He went with the 15th pick to the Indianapolis Colts, making history. The last first-team defensive player ever taken off the board in the NFL Draft before this year was eighth overall, which happened in 2021. The 2024 NFL Draft not only broke the record for most consecutive offensive players to draft a ​​to start the draft, but also blew away. the old record.

(On iOS? React to NFL Draft picks in real time with our experts in the Yahoo Sports app)

It’s not that teams don’t need defensive stars anymore. This just wasn’t the plan to find one early in the first round.

A tough attack

It was no secret that this design would be heavily offensive, especially at the top. There were a lot of top quarterbacks, a lot of good offensive players and it was considered a relatively weak defensive class. The record for offensive players taken in the first round of a draft was 19, and that record was expected to be broken Thursday night.

Is this indicative of a trend? Defense has become an afterthought for much of college football, and perhaps that will reflect in the draft. Or it could be a one-off year where the best players happened to be on offense.

There were good defensive players in the 2024 draft. Alabama edge rusher Dallas Turner, Toledo cornerback Quinyon Mitchell, Iowa cornerback Cooper DeJean, Alabama cornerback Terrion Arnold, Texas defensive tackle Byron Murphy, Florida State edge rusher Jared Verse and Latu were among those taken considered first-round talents.

They just weren’t as coveted as many of the offensive stars at the top of the first round.

A late call for defensive players

In the regular draft era, starting in 1967, No. 8 in 2021 was the last defensive player off the board. That was Jaycee Horn, drafted by the Carolina Panthers. Then Patrick Surtain II went ninth to the Denver Broncos. Before thatthe record for the last pick of the first defensive player in the NFL Draft was cornerback Champ Bailey, who went No. 7 to Washington in 1999.

The Atlanta Falcons were considered a candidate for a defensive player with the eighth pick in this year’s draft, but they selected Michael Penix Jr. in a shocking move. That broke the record for the longest defensive players had to wait until one was selected. The Chicago Bears also have defensive needs, but selected receiver Rome Odunze with the ninth pick.

The offensive run continued, with six quarterbacks among the 14 consecutive offensive players selected to start the draft. Latu had a great 2023 season and the Colts jumped at the opportunity to acquire him. However, Indianapolis probably didn’t expect him to be the first defensive player off the board.

EMEA Tribune is not affiliated with this news article, it comes from our partners and/or news agencies. Copyright and credit goes to the news agencies, email (email protected) Follow our WhatsApp verified channel