Inside the 2024 NFL draft's strange 14-pick offensive frenzy - ESPN

AS QUARTERBACK CHAOS played out before them Thursday night, the Las Vegas Raiders' 2024 NFL draft room held all of the emotions. There was surprise, bemusement, maybe a hint of resignation within the team's Henderson, Nevada, headquarters. Eventually optimism.

In a room where coach Antonio Pierce, general manager Tom Telesco and team owner Mark Davis were joined by more than 20 scouts, the Raiders, picking 13th, had expected to consider a «second wave» of first-round QB prospects that included Michigan's J.J. McCarthy, Washington's Michael Penix Jr. and Oregon's Bo Nix.

Once Las Vegas found itself on the clock, that wave had already crashed ashore.

Six quarterbacks, including McCarthy, Penix and Nix were gone in the first 12 selections, the highest concentration of QBs ever taken in a 12-pick stretch of the draft. What's more, the first 14 picks all came from the offensive side of the ball — including the Raiders taking Georgia tight end Brock Bowers at No. 13. Never in the NFL draft's nearly 60-year history had 14 straight offensive players been selected, much less 14 straight at the top of the draft.

«I was surprised by the [offensive] run and how it happened, to be honest,» a Raiders team source said.

The headline, as is usually the case in the draft, was about the quarterbacks. The run on QBs said plenty about the premium nature of the position in the modern NFL, coupled with the rookie wage scale's low barrier to entry in selecting one. A lot of quarterbacks at the top of the first round? Sure, NFL insiders said, it could be repeated.

But 14 straight offensive players? NFL scouts and executives who spoke to ESPN expressed emotions such as bewilderment and surprise over the way that played out, even while relaying a