Historic First Night Of NFL Draft With Quarterbacks Galore: But Who's Going To Succeed, Who Will Fail?

DETROIT – If there was ever a question about NFL teams needing and desperately wanting a quarterback, then consider this draft.

The 2024 NFL Annual Selection Meeting, as the league officially calls the draft, will be remembered for the dominance of quarterbacks the first three picks. And then the first dozen picks.

Caleb Williams to the Chicago Bears with the first pick.

Jayden Daniels to the Washington Commanders with the second pick.

Drake Maye to the New England Patriots with the third pick.

Quarterbacks Are Story Of The Day

Quarterback No. 1.

Quarterback No. 2.

Quarterback No. 3.

That's not all, folks. 

The Atlanta Falcons selected Michael Penix Jr. with the No. 8 overall pick and the Minnesota Vikings traded from No. 11 to No. 10 overall to assure themselves they pick J.J. McCarthy. Then the Denver Broncos selected Bo Nix with the No. 12 overall pick.

So of this draft's first 12 picks, six were used on quarterbacks. 

And that ties the record for most QBs drafted in the first round, set in 1983. That 1983 draft, you'll recall, included John Elway and Dan Marino.

Try convincing someone the NFL is not a quarterback league.

"I'm excited about all the QBs that went after me," Williams said afterward before going through the long list. "It's an awesome draft class. It's got great guys in it and I'm excited for everybody's future." 

UNITED STATES - JANUARY 20:  Football: Super Bowl XIX, Miami Dolphins QB Dan Marino (13) and Dwight Stephenson (57) in action vs San Francisco 49ers, Stanford, CA 1/20/1985  (Photo by Tony Triolo/Sports Illustrated via Getty Images)  (SetNumber: X31009 TK2 R2 F14)

Quarterback history repeats itself

This becomes the fourth draft ever with quarterbacks going with the top three picks, joining the drafts from 1971, 1999 and 2021.

And like those past drafts we can guess this almost with a good chance of being correct: Somebody is probably going succeed. And the other guys will battle to keep from being labeled as failures.

That's kind of how it played it with the ‘21 draft so far with Trevor Lawrence, Zach Wilson and Trey Lance – although we’re probably being kind to Lawrence as a total success and Lawrence is a so-so player.

The 1999 draft had Donovan McNabb as a success, and Tim Couch and Akili Smith were left to keep from being named the utter failure although neither lived up to expectations.

And for the ‘71n draft, it’s fair to say Jim Plunkett was good, at least for the Raiders when they won the Super Bowl. Dan Pastorini in Houston and Archie Manning in New Orleans had their highs and lows.

So where does that leave us this draft?

PASADENA, CALIFORNIA - NOVEMBER 19: Caleb Williams #13 of the USC Trojans is selected No. 1 by the Chicago Bears in the NFL Draft. (Photo by Harry How/Getty Images)

Let's just agree right now Maye in New England is the leading candidate to struggle – especially if he plays as a rookie.

That's because the Patriots have very little infrastructure to help a young quarterback succeed. 

The team that dominated the first two decades this century currently have an unremarkable receiver corps, a middling offensive line and a rookie head coach. Other than that, the Patriots are set to win championships.

No, seriously, the Patriots might want to do Maye a favor and let him sit behind veteran Jacoby Brissett.

Maye told OutKick earlier this week he was open to the idea.

"Patrick Mahomes sat for a year, Josh Allen didn't play right away," Maye said. "I would be open to that if that's what anybody wants."

The quarterbacks that seem most ready to play of the trio are Williams and Daniels – the Heisman Trophy winners the past two years.

Williams is a two-year starter and has thrown 72 touchdown passes and run for another 21 touchdowns in that time. 

That's a lot of touchdowning.

But Williams will be fighting history. The Bears have never had a 4,000-yard passer. Or a 30-touchdown quarterback.

That's in 105 years of football.

And Williams is likely to get an early start because neither Tyson Bagent nor Brett Rypien – the other two quarterbacks on Chicago's roster – are likely to beat him out.

Williams also have veteran receivers Keenan Allen, D.J. Moore and tight end Cole Kmet available to help the young quarterback along.

BATON ROUGE, LOUISIANA - NOVEMBER 11: Quarterback Jayden Daniels #5 of the LSU Tigers was selected second in the NFL draft. He was selected by the Washington Commanders. (Photo by Jonathan Bachman/Getty Images)

The Commanders have an interesting situation awaiting Daniels. By all accounts the franchise has been boosted by the purchase of Josh Harris who replaced Daniel Snyder as the club's owner and has the entire region and fan base expecting good things.

Daniels joins that sense of optimism and does it with an ability to both run and pass. But there is obviously growing to do.

The Commanders yielded 65 sacks last season – tied for second-worst in the league – and have done some but not a dynamic work to the offensive front.

The good news is Daniels will have young and productive receivers Terry McLaurin and Jahan Dotson to help him.  

The non-quarterback portion of the draft began with the No. 4 pick, as the Cardinals did not trade down but rather picked Marvin Harrison Jr. That helps quarterback Kyler Murry – a lot – because Harrison is considered the best receiver in the draft.

The Chargers, picking No. 5, then selected Ohio State offensive tackle Joe Alt. And again, that was meant to help protect quarterback Justin Herbert's blind side.

It's all about the quarterbacks, folks.