2014 NFL Draft: Round 1 recap
The Houston Texans put all the rumors and reports to rest leading up to the NFL Draft, as they wasted little time in making South Carolina defensive end Jadeveon Clowney the first overall selection Thursday.
Clowney will now pair with J.J. Watt to give the Texans one of the most feared defensive lines in football.
The St. Louis Rams followed that up by taking offensive tackle Greg Robinson second overall, and the Jacksonville Jaguars found their quarterback of the future in Blake Bortles with the third selection.
The first trade of the evening came surrounding the No. 4 pick, as Buffalo moved up to take Sammy Watkins and Cleveland moved down to No. 9, while receiving the Bills' first-round pick in 2015, as well as their fourth-round pick that same year.
The Oakland Raiders ended up with a potential steal in linebacker Khalil Mack at No. 5, who some people had pegged as a top-three selection. The Atlanta Falcons improved Matt Ryan's protection by drafting tackle Jake Matthews at No. 6, and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers grabbed explosive receiver Mike Evans seventh overall.
The Browns weren't done trading as they moved up a spot from nine to eight so they could grab the Minnesota Vikings' pick, and select corner Justin Gilbert. The Vikings in turn took linebacker Anthony Barr and added a fifth-round pick from Cleveland.
Detroit rounded out the top 10 by giving Matthew Stafford another target in explosive tight end Eric Ebron.
Later in the first round, the New Orleans Saints made a splash by trading with Arizona in order to move up seven spots to No. 20 and added wide receiver Brandin Cooks. Drew Brees and the Saints' offense should be even more explosive next season with the speedy Cooks in the fold.
As many predicted, the quarterbacks did fall, but not all the way out of the first round. Cleveland made its third trade of the day, this time with the Philadelphia Eagles, moving up from 26 to 22 to take Johnny Manziel, which brought quite the ovation from Browns' fans in attendance.
It looked as though Teddy Bridgewater was going to have to wait another day to hear his name called, but the Vikings moved back into the first round, trading with the Seattle Seahawks to snag the Louisville product. A signal caller that many felt was the consensus No. 1 pick just a few short months ago, was still there for the taking with the final pick on Thursday.
In all, there were three quarterbacks, five receivers, and nine defensive backs taken in round one, further confirming the NFL is now a pass-first league.
To view all the picks from Thursday night and the rest of the draft, check out theScore's NFL Draft Tracker.