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NFL draft 2024: Winners and losers, from J.J. McCarthy to creme pies to Kirk Cousins
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- NFL draft 2024: Winners and losers, from J.J. McCarthy to creme pies to Kirk Cousins
We did it, Detroit .
More than two years of NFL draft planning culminated in, well, more than a little weirdness wandering the streets downtown. From purple-and-gold stormtroopers —"SKOL Troopers," we guess — to countless suits made of NFL-branded fabric to, well, whatever the super fans in the front rows of the draft theater were wearing all weekend, the Motor City spent its weekend cosplaying as the center of the NFL universe.
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Oh, and 257 players found out where they'll be starting their NFL careers, from USC QB Caleb Williams at No. 1 to the Chicago Bears to Alabama safety Jaylen Key at No. 257 to the New York Jets . In all, there were plenty of winners and losers from the weekend; here's a few that stuck out to us:
Winners
City of Detroit
Motown's week went almost flawlessly — other than a too-full first day, a couple of arrests and a few wind-induced broadcast flubs on Saturday afternoon — complete with a pizza competition (between Detroit-style and NYC-style, of course), a giant rendition of the Tamia Hustle and, most importantly, an NFL draft record for attendance ( 775,000, nearly 30% more than the 600,000 who attended the 2019 draft in Nashville, Tennessee ) that showed just how eager the city is to witness football success. (You're on the clock, Lions.)
Detroit set a final attendance tally of 775,000 for the 2024 NFL draft, a record and another reason for the crowd to celebrate Saturday night.
Jared Goff
The icon of the Lions' resurgence got even more love with the impromptu "JA-RED GOFF!" chants led just before Thursday's Round 1 (and the chants that popped up all over downtown during the weekend). He also got to show off his L.A. roots — and his comedic timing — with a starring role in the hype reel for Netflix's "Beverly Hills Cop" sequel, "Axel F." We're just waiting for next season's chant: "JA-RED (EXPLETIVE) GOFF!"
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J.J. McCarthy
Michigan's star — arguably the program's best QB ever, by his college numbers — didn't go in the top five, as some mock drafts had him, but he did wind up in the top 10, as the fifth of six first-round QBs . The Midwesterner should feel right at home with the Minnesota Vikings , with two games a year against the Chicago Bears and the Detroit Lions — and right at home throwing to Pro Bowlers T.J. Hockenson and Justin Jefferson , plus up-and-comer Jordan Addison .
Parking lot owners
The pedestrian-only status for most of the main streets in the Central Business District — and the takeover of most of Greektown's parking lots by draft production crews — made for a bonanza for the surface-street flagwavers, with prices hitting $100 in spots . At that rate, they could actually afford to grab a drink within the draft area.
Lions pass defense
Just in case taking an All-American cornerback (Alabama's Terrion Arnold ) in the first round wasn't enough, Lions GM Brad Holmes went back to the well with another corner in Round 2, Missouri's Ennis Rakestraw Jr. (Holmes also grabbed a safety, Utah's Sione Vaki , in Round 4, but he may play running back instead.) Rookie cornerbacks can be hit or miss — for every Devon Witherspoon or Sauce Gardner (both Defensive Rookie of the Year finalists), there's a Jeff Okudah (who lasted just three seasons in Detroit as the 2020 No. 3 pick) — but with a defense that ranked 27th in passing yards allowed last season, every bit helps.
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Little Debbie oatmeal crème pies
When it came time for the ABC on-air crew to refuel late in Friday night's broadcast, they passed on Motor City delicacies like coneys or Detroit-style pizza in favor of a Down South staple from Little Debbie. Blame former Alabama (and Michigan State) coach Nick Saban, who reportedly fueled his legendary reign in the SEC with a couple of oatmeal crème pies every morning , and shared the treats with the crew. What, they couldn't get any Crazy Puffs delivered?
Texas & Washington
Well, we all expected a huge draft class from ONE of the CFP teams in the College Football Playoff, right? It just turned out to come from the soon-to-be-SEC squad from Austin, as 11 Longhorns were nabbed by NFL squads. That's the program's most since 1984 and tied for sixth-most in any draft. And then there was the not-quite-yet-Big-Ten squad from the Pacific Northwest; The CFP title game losers sent 10 players to the NFL (including three first-rounders). Of course, the Huskies also lost their head coach to Alabama and their offensive coordinator to the crosstown Seahawks , so that August entry into the Really Big Ten could be a little, uh, rocky.
University of Michigan defensive end Derrick Moore raises up and shows off the National Championship trophy with other members of the Michigan football team before the start of the second round of 2024 NFL draft in Detroit on Friday, April 26, 2024.
Losers
The Wolverines
Hey, didn't anyone remember who WON the CFP title game? With great success comes great expectations, and former U-M coach Jim Harbaugh's belief that his Wolverines would set a draft record for picks from one program — set by Georgia's 15 in 2022 — wasn't quite validated; U-M sent only 13 players to the next level. (Though we'll note that Harbs did his part; his L.A. Chargers nabbed linebacker Junior Colson in Round 3 and wideout Cornelius Johnson in Round 7.) That was still tied for No. 1 this year, and the fourth-most ever, behind Georgia, Ohio State (14 in 2004 and LSU (14 in 2020) — but far short of the 18 players U-M had in March's scouting combine.
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J.J. McCarthy
Wait, can the Michigan QB be on both lists? Hey, if the NFL draft can come to Detroit, anything can happen. And so we'll note that it was a bit of a bummer for the state's top prospect not to make an appearance downtown during the weekend. (And no, we're not counting his appearance on the big screen to introduce his national championship teammates before Round 2 on Friday night.) It also stings a bit that his visit to Minneapolis brought a resurgence of his love of hockey — and an ignored phone call from Wayne Gretzky. J.J., we get it: They're the "State of Hockey." But this is Hockeytown .
Kirk Cousins
What about the Spartans? Everyone's favorite ex-Michigan State QB ( Philadelphia excepted ) was blindsided by Atlanta's use of the No. 8 overall pick on Washington QB Michael Penix Jr. , just a few weeks after Cousins signed a $180 million deal with the Falcons. Then again, Cousins is still due $100 million guaranteed over the next two seasons, regardless of whether he or Penix is throwing passes for the Dirty Birds — that's a lot of Crazy Puffs.
NFL fans inside the NFL Draft Theater hold up the flashlights on their phones during a break between picks in the second round in the 2024 NFL Draft in Detroit on Friday, April 26, 2024.
Drivers
For one weekend, at least, we became the (Un)Motor City, with road shutdowns snarling traffic on the outskirts of downtown, and those parking lot costs encouraging footpower over horsepower.
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Pizza contests
OK, there was only one of these — on the main stage in the middle of Day 3 of the draft, featuring Mootz Pizzeria + Bar's New York-style 'za vs. Detroit Pizza Bar's, ahem, Detroit-style 'za — but at least we'd finally get an answer to the age-old debate, right? Not so much, even with the Lions' Alim McNeil and New York Giants QB Tommy DeVito judging. Instead, we got this no-decision: "While there was no 'winner,' both local businesses took center stage to show their stuff in front of tens of thousands of fans and both restaurants received high praise by the judges." C'mon, even the NFL at least tries to avoid ties.
Detroit Lion Alim McNeill, left, takes a big bite out of Detroit-style pizza made by the Detroit Pizza Bar while New York Giants quarterback Tommy DeVito also digs in. It was part of a battle between Detroit-style pizza and New York-style pizza on the NFL draft's main stage on Saturday, April 27, 2024 in downtown Detroit.
Saban haters
There's still more than a few Michigan State fans sore about the coaching legend's departure from East Lansing for LSU back at the turn of the century. Hopefully they had their TVs turned to NFL Network, as ABC & ESPN's coverage of the first two days heavily featured the seven-time national champion's breakdowns of prospects — a harbinger of his future role on ESPN's "College GameDay" this fall.
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Green Bay
Nothing against Detroit's NFC North rival — beyond the usual, cheeseheads— but next year's draft hosts will have a lot to live up to, and a lot less space to fit hundreds of thousands of people into, with the draft set for the area surrounding Lambeau Field beginning April 24, 2025.
Contact Ryan Ford at rford@freepress.com . Follow him on X (which used to be Twitter, y'know?) @theford .
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: NFL draft 2024: Winners and losers, from J.J. McCarthy to Kirk Cousins
