NFL Draft 2024: 6 winners and loosers from the talent lotteryterie

People were flooding into Downtown Detroit! No, the notoriously unsuccessful basketball team, the Pistons, based here, didn't get a wildcard for the NBA playoffs. Also, the kick-off for the next NFL season will still be in September instead of the end of April. However, that didn't stop 775,000 fans - in words, seven hundred seventy-five thousand - from embarking on the trip to the NFL Draft.

Only in one metropolis, the TV images from the flooded Campus Martius Park (Detroit) might have been received less euphorically. Just ask in the home of the Tennessee Titans. In 2019, Nashville hosted the draft event and subsequently boasted a record attendance (600,000 fans) that was supposed to last for decades... At least not the only misconception of this draft week. Our analysis of the winners and losers at the NFL Draft 2024:

NFL Draft 2024: The Winners

Pittsburgh Steelers

Anyone starting in the AFC North Division is living dangerously. Even a regular season with nine or ten wins only gets you to fourth place here - as in the case of the Cincinnati Bengals. For another three- or four-way battle for the division title, the Steelers seem well positioned after the draft. Three of the first five picks went to the porous offensive line, where Troy Fautanu from the defeated National Championship finalist Washington Huskies and Zach Frazier go through as clear Day 1 starters.

Including fourth-round pick Mason McCormick could make the QB experiment started in free agency with Russell Wilson/Justin Fields work out. If the also fourth-round pick Payton Wilson (College Defensive Player of the Year 2023) stays fit despite his injury history, Pittsburgh may have also landed one of the biggest steals on the defensive side of the ball.

Kansas City Chiefs

The fate of a Super Bowl champion looking at the NFL Draft is tough: in each of the seven draft rounds, the team holds the very last pick. To emerge as a winner from this position, you need either trades at affordable prices or heaps of luck. And the Chiefs apparently had both. From the 32nd position, the team, which was a guest in Frankfurt as part of the NFL International Series last year, traded up for Xavier Worthy.

What many draft analysts see in the #28 pick? A speedster like Tyreek Hill (until 2021 with the Chiefs), who stretches the field at will with star quarterback Patrick Mahomes and drives a defense crazy. The new "bodyguard" Kingsley Suamataia also gives him the necessary time for deep touchdown passes to Worthy or Marquise Brown (newcomer from the Arizona Cardinals). The offensive tackle, who was ranked higher on many draft boards, fell into Kansas City's hands at the end of the second round.

J. J. McCarthy

The quarterback who led the Michigan Wolverines to their first national college title since 1997 divided opinions in the run-up to the draft. For some, he's not far from the top 3 QBs (Caleb Williams, Jayden Daniels, Drake Maye), while in other mock drafts, he's not even found in round 1.

The Minnesota Vikings picked J. J. McCarthy after a safety-first trade (from #11 to #10). Perhaps a stroke of luck from the player's perspective. Equipped with receiving weapons like Justin Jefferson and Jordan Addison, and in the scheme of highly regarded play caller Kevin O'Connell, he's likely to have a stronger rookie season here than, for example, 2nd overall pick Jayden Daniels in Washington.

NFL Draft 2024: The Losers

Defensive Prospects

Quarterbacks, receivers, and offensive tackles were the darlings of all NFL scouts. But who would have thought that in the rush for these positions, the defensive talents would be consistently spurned... Top 5? Not a chance? Top 10? Still no one! It wasn't until 15th place that - some say pitied - the Indianapolis Colts finally picked up Laiatu Latu.

The edge rusher is now the latest first-round pick on the defensive side of the ball. Whether the choice of the two-time Super Bowl champion would have fallen on the 23-year-old if tight end Brock Bowers hadn't found his way to the Raiders in Las Vegas two positions earlier is one of the hottest topics of discussion after the NFL Draft.

Las Vegas Raiders

At this point, the Raiders themselves also come into play. The franchise's plan, which also has a growing fanbase here, for the offseason: to acquire Gardner Minshew (previously Indianapolis Colts), perhaps the best backup quarterback in the league, and wait in the draft to see which QB talent might fall to position 13.

When both J. J. McCarthy and Michael Penix Jr. (Atlanta Falcons) and Bo Nix (Denver Broncos) were off the board, the Raiders' draft war room looked grim. Brock Bowers may still be a top-notch alternative or target for Minshew. At the same time, this raises uncomfortable questions regarding last year's first-round pick (Michael Mayer, also TE).

Kirk Cousins

More questions than answers are provided by the "Penix posse" around the Atlanta Falcons. Why shell out 180 million dollars to a quarterback over four years and switch to win-now mode when his successor (Michael Penix Jr.) reaches NFL-ready age at almost 24? Why ignite a powder keg in the QB room before Kirk Cousins has thrown his first touchdown pass?

As of today, "Captain Kirk" is arguably the biggest loser of the draft. The "I knew nothing" statements spread by his agent dominate all the headlines in the football world these days.