What an evening from Radio City Music Hall in New York City. Not for the media members in attendance, including SB Nation Philly’s editor Jason Brewer, who had to deal with an internet outage all evening. But for the rest of us watching from home or elsewhere, it was certainly an entertaining first night of this year’s draft. There was a major trade early on — Atlanta moving all the way up from the 27 hole to acquire AJ Green with the sixth overall pick; there were two quarterbacks taken within the first 12 picks (Jake Locker and Christian Ponder) that almost everybody thought would go later in the first at the very earliest; there was a botched trade that led to Baltimore not getting its pick in on time; and finally, for fans of the Philadelphia Eagles, there was the acquisition of Danny Watkins, the player with arguably the best story of any top prospect in this year’s draft.
There’s plenty of time to dig even deeper into all the interesting facets of round one, as well as what to expect in rounds two and three tomorrow evening, but for the time being, let’s make sure we’re all caught up to speed on who was selected with the first 32 picks. Here’s the list:
1. Carolina Panthers — Cam Newton, QB, Auburn
2. Denver Broncos — Von Miller, LB, Texas A&M
3. Buffalo Bills — Marcell Dareus, DT, Alabama
4. Cincinnati Bengals — AJ Green, WR, Georgia
5. Arizona Cardinals — Patrick Peterson, CB, LSU
6. Atlanta Falcons (via Cleveland) — Julio Jones, WR, Alabama
7. San Francisco 49ers — Aldon Smith, LB, Missouri
8. Tennessee Titans — Jake Locker, QB, Washington
9. Dallas Cowboys — Tyron Smith, OT, USC
10. Jacksonville Jaguars (via Washington) — Blaine Gabbert, QB, Missouri
11. Houston Texans – J.J. Watt, DE, Wisconsin
12. Minnesota Vikings – Christian Ponder, QB, Florida State
13. Detroit Lions – Nick Fairley, DT, Auburn
14. St. Louis Rams – Robert Quinn, DE, North Carolina
15. Miami Dolphins – Mike Pouncey, C, Florida
16. Washington Redskins (via Jacksonville) – Ryan Kerrigan, DE, Purdue
17. New England Patriots – Nate Solder, OT, Colorado
18. San Diego Chargers – Corey Liuget, DT, Illinois
19. New York Giants – Prince Amukamara, DB, Nebraska
20. Tampa Bay Buccaneers – Adrian Clayborn, DE, Iowa
21. Cleveland Browns (via Kansas City via Atlanta) — Phil Taylor, DT, Baylor
22. Indianapolis Colts — Anthony Castonzo, OT, Boston College
23. Philadelphia Eagles — Danny Watkings, OG, Baylor
24. New Orleans Saints — Cameron Jordan, DE, California
25. Seattle Seahawks — James Carpenter, OT, Alabama
26. Kansas City Chiefs** — Jonathan Baldwin, WR, Pittsburgh
27. Baltimore Ravens** — Jimmy Smith, CB, Colorado
28. New Orleans Saints (via New England) — Mark Ingram, RB, Alabama
29. Chicago Bears — Gabe Carimi, OT, Wisconsin
30. New York Jets — Muhammad Wilkerson, DT, Temple
31. Pittsburgh Steelers — Cameron Heyward, DE, Ohio State
32. Green Bay Packers — Derek Sherrod, OT, Mississippi State