2024 NFL draft: Historical records for QB, WR, OL, defense - ESPN

The 2024 NFL draft has been offense-heavy, as teams jumped at the chance to draft quarterbacks, wide receivers and offensive linemen early and often. But just how good is this signal-caller class historically? How does the sheer number of pass-catchers and blockers drafted compare to recent years?

We've seen a handful of records and trends to watch over the course of three days of the draft. So we asked our ESPN Stats & Information team to help add some context to the QB, WR and OL positions, along with the defensive side of the ball. Here's a closer look at how things stack up.

Note: All records and trends are for the common draft era (since 1967).

The quarterback class featured a few highly graded prospects at the top, starting with USC's Caleb Williams. Six quarterbacks ultimately went in Round 1, with Williams (Bears), LSU's Jayden Daniels (Commanders) and North Carolina's Drake Maye (Patriots) going 1-2-3 to get things started. Washington's Michael Penix Jr. went to Atlanta (No. 8), Michigan's J.J. McCarthy was taken by Minnesota (No. 10) and Oregon's Bo Nix was selected by Denver (No. 12).

The total of six first-round passers ties the 1983 class, which included Hall of Famers John Elway, Jim Kelly and Dan Marino, along with Todd Blackledge, Tony Eason and Ken O'Brien.

However, six QBs going within the first 12 picks is the fastest that many passers have ever been selected, including the 1983 class (27 picks).

We didn't see any QBs drafted on Day 2. That's the third time that zero signal-callers were selected in the second or third rounds, joining the 1994 and — interestingly — 1983 draft classes.

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