The NFL draft begins tonight! The Carolina Panthers are on the clock with the No. 1 pick and likely will choose between quarterbacks Bryce Young and C.J. Stroud. The events at Kansas City’s Union Station start at 1 p.m. Eastern and will include a red carpet and musical acts highlighted by Fall Out Boy. The draft will begin at 8 p.m. EST and can be viewed on NFL Network, ABC, ESPN and ESPN Deportes. Follow for live updates from Associated Press reporters across the country (all times EST).
The NFL draft has begun! The Carolina Panthers kicked off Thursday night’s proceedings by taking quarterback Bryce Young with the No. 1 pick. The draft can be viewed on NFL Network, ABC, ESPN and ESPN Deportes. Follow for live updates from Associated Press reporters across the country (all times EST).
What to know:
— Panthers make Bryce Young top pick in the NFL draft
— Eagles select Georgia’s Jalen Carter, who had role in fatal crash
FIRST TIGHT END, WIDE RECEIVER FINALLY SELECTED
Buffalo’s Josh Allen has a red-zone option now in Utah’s Dalton Kincaid, the first tight end off the board in the NFL draft.
Five picks before Kincaid heard his name called as the 25th selection, the Seattle Seahawks made Ohio State’s Jaxon Smith-Njigba the first wide receiver taken on Thursday night.
The Bills jumped ahead of the Dallas Cowboys to get Kincaid, who along with Notre Dame’s Michael Mayer are considered the best of a crop of tight ends that’s the deepest in the last decade.
Seattle’s selection of Smith-Ngiba was the start of a run of four consecutive wideouts being chosen for the first time in the first round. Quentin Johnson went to the Chargers. Zay Flowers was chosen by Baltimore and the Vikings selected Jordan Addison.
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TRADING PLACES AT NFL DRAFT
NFL teams are wheeling and dealing on the first night of the draft.
After selecting quarterback C,J. Stroud with the second overall pick, the Houston Texans kicked off a flurry of draft-day trades by getting the third overall pick from Arizona and selecting linebacker Will Anderson Jr.
The Cardinals got the 12th pick from the Texans but quickly sent that selection to Detroit for the sixth overall selection so they could draft tackle Paris Johnson.
The Lions selected running back Jahmyr Gibbs at No. 12 after the Eagles and Bears swapped picks so Philly could take Jalen Carter at No. 9. Chicago, which once owned the No. 1 overall pick before sending it to the Panthers, drafted tackle Darnell Wright at No. 10.
Then, the Steelers and Patriots swapped picks. Pittsburgh got tackle Broderick Jones at No. 14 and the Patriots grabbed cornerback Christian Gonzalez with the 17th overall pick.
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ROLL TIDE: ALABAMA PLAYERS GO EARLY
Alabama is the early leader on NFL draft night.
Crimson Tide quarterback Bryce Young was the top overall pick by the Carolina Panthers and linebacker Will Anderson Jr. went third to the Houston Texans. No major surprises there, but then Alabama running back Jahmyr Gibbs going 12th overall to the Detroit Lions.
Gibbs is the second running back selected so far. Bijan Robinson of Texas went eighth overall to the Atlanta Falcons.
And while Gibbs was considered the next best running back behind Robinson, he was widely expected to get drafted in the middle of Friday’s Round 2.
Running back is a position that teams are usually reluctant to spend first-round picks on, much less at the top of Round 1.
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EAGLES TAKE JALEN CARTER AT NO. 9
Carter is a 313-pound defensive-stopper with power and quickness who collapses pockets as deftly as he splits double-teams. The Eagles selected him ninth overall but he might have gone even higher were it not for questions about his maturity and legal problems. He’s on probation after pleading no contest to reckless driving and racing, charges related to an auto accident that killed a Georgia teammate and a football staffer.
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ANTHONY RICHARDSON’S DECLARATION
“I’m going to be a dynamic player for the franchise. I’m going to work hard and I’m going to be a leader. But it’s time to make my own legacy now. No more Cam-Jacksons. It’s Anthony Richardson now.” – new Colts QB Anthony Richardson, who has called himself Cam Jackson, a combination of Cam Newton and Lamar Jackson, in describing his stature and style.
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SEAHAWKS TAKE DEVON WITHERSPOON AT NO. 5
As a senior, Witherspoon is a rarity by being selected this high in the NFL draft. He’s a physical and disruptive defensive back who is aggressive on the field but patient in life. He didn’t play football until midway through high school and spent a year at a junior college before going to Illinois, where he took a huge leap as a senior to become one of the nation’s best players.
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ANTHONY RICHARDSON GOES NO. 4
Some things to know about the quarterback the Indianapolis Colts selected out of Florida. Richardson is 6-foot-4 and just shy of 250 pounds. He’s the most intriguing quarterback prospect in the class with Cam Newton-tipe size, athleticism and arm strength. But he’s still very raw. He had 13 career starts and only 393 pass attempts in three seasons at Florida. He’ll need to work on his mechanics and become a more accurate passer in the pros like Josh Allen did in Buffalo.
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TEXANS TRADE UP, TAKE WILL ANDERSON JR.
After the Houston Texans got their franchise quarterback in C.J. Stroud they made a blockbuster trade with the Arizona Cardinals to move up and took Alabama’s Will Anderson Jr.
