Thanks for following along with us Thursday night during the 2014 NFL Draft. Below you can find the full text of our live blog.
12:00: That does it for the first round of the 2014 NFL Draft. In total, five ACC players and three would-be ACC players from Louisville were selected. In comparison, 11 SEC players, four Big 10 players, three PAC 12 players and two Big 12 players went in the first round.
Here’s a list of ACC players that could hear their names called on Friday, when the second and third rounds of the draft are held:
- Tim Jernigan, Florida State
- Morgan Moses, Virginia
- Kareem Martin, North Carolina
- Lamarcus Joyner, Florida State
- Jeremiah Attaochu, Georgia Tech
- Tom Savage, Pitt
- Bashaud Breeland, Clemson
- Christian Jones, Florida State
- Terrence Brooks, Florida State
- Martavis Bryant, Clemson
- Logan Thomas, Virginia Tech
- James Hurst, North Carolina
11:46: Teddy Bridgewater cracks the first round! Just ever so slightly. The Minnesota Vikings traded with the Seahawks for the 32nd pick in the first round, and they used the pick on the Louisville quarterback. Read more here.
11:40: To catch up on some picks we missed while writing about Benjamin and Smith. Deone Bucannon of Washington State went No. 27 to the Cardinals. Defensive tackle Dominique Easley out of Florida went 29th to the Patriots. Safety Jimmie Ward out of North Illinois went 30th to San Francisco. And cornerback Bradley Roby went No. 31 to the Broncos.
11:19: The Panthers go the ACC route and select Florida State wide receiver Kelvin Benjamin. He and Cam Newton must be the biggest quarterback-receiver duo in the NFL now. Read more here.
11:11: Another Louisville player gets drafted, but it’s not Teddy Bridgewater. The Philadelphia Eagles take defensive end Marcus Smith. Read more here.
11:04: The Chargers grab a cornerback, too, picking Jason Verrett out of TCU. He was 1-0 against the ACC, making four tackles to help TCU beat Virginia 27-7 in 2012. And the draft has officially reached the portion where I just want to hit “autodraft” to finish it out.
10:56: The Bengals grab cornerback Darqueze Dennard with the 24th pick. Michigan State never played an ACC team during Dennard’s four years. They did, however, play Notre Dame four times. So he would’ve played about two and a half games against ACC teams if those four years started in 2014.
10:55: A report says the Browns took the advice of a homeless man to select Manziel. Turns out it was actually just Cavs owner Dan Gilbert after watching LeBron run through the playoffs once again.
10:54: Meanwhile, Eric Ebron tells reporters that he’s seen the movie 8 Mile, and that’s all he knows about Detroit. He’ll be missed by the ACC media. Probably not as much by ACC defenses.
10:53: The Chiefs go a bit off the grid and select defensive end Dee Ford from Auburn. He had three tackles and two sacks against Florida State in the national championship game in January.
10:48: People on my Twitter timeline say this is “just like” the movie Draft Day. I wouldn’t know because I’ll never watch that movie. Ever.
10:43: Johnny Football is off the board! The Cleveland Browns traded with the Eagles to get the No. 22 pick, which they used to grab the 2012 Heisman Trophy winner. So we’re now about four years and nine months away from Cleveland fans burning Manziel jerseys on the streets after Johnny laughs his way down to Florida.
10:35: Ha Ha Clinton-Dix, he of the Alabama secondary and the greatest name in college sports, is picked by the Green Bay Packers at No. 21. He had six tackles in a win against Virginia Tech last year in his only game against ACC competition. If you hear me saying “Ha Ha,” it’s certainly because I’m talking about this pick and not reacting to one of Chris Berman’s jokes.
10:28: Johnny Manziel has now switched to water in his plastic cup. That’s probably for the best, since he’d be about a half-dozen deep at this point.
10:27: It is a receiver, but it’s not Benjamin. The Saints pick Brandin Cooks from Oregon State, who the Carolina Panthers had high on their board. Cooks never played against the ACC. It’s looking more and more like Benjamin could stay in ACC territory next year in Charlotte.
10:18: The Miami Dolphins join the party and take an offensive lineman, snagging Ja’Wuan James from Tennessee. Among the first-round ACC talents that are still on the board: FSU DT Timmy Jernigan, FSU WR Kelvin Benjamin, UVa OT Morgan Moses, FSU S Lamarcus Joyner. The New Orleans Saints just traded up to the 20th pick. They’ll likely go receiver, so let’s see if Benjamin will be their guy.
10:10: The Jets take safety Calvin Pryor out of Louisville, who just missed being the fith ACC player taken. We’ll still count him since Maryland, of course, didn’t bring anything to the table. Read more here.
10:02: The Ravens take Alabama linebacker C.J. Mosley with the 17th pick. Mosley had seven tackles in a 35-10 win against Virginia Tech in the season-opener this past year. He was 2-0 against the ACC in four years, with the other victory being a 62-13 win against Duke in 2010. He had five tackles and two pass deflections in that game.
9:55: I’d make some sort of joke about Johnny Manziel and the Dallas Cowboys, but I think Twitter has already made all of them. The Cowboys instead go with offensive lineman Zach Martin out of Notre Dame — actually a really good pick.
9:50: The ACC can’t make it three in a row, as the Steelers select an Ohio State linebacker with the 15th pick.
9:45: Two ACC players go in a row, as cornerback Kyle Fuller from Virginia Tech goes No. 14 to the Chicago Bears. Read more here.
9:38: The third ACC player is picked! Defensive tackle Aaron Donald from Pitt goes No. 13 to the St. Louis Rams. He only had one year in the ACC, but he won just about every possible award he could during that time. Read more here.
9:30: The Giants take the third wide receiver of the draft in Odell Beckham, Jr., from LSU. Beckham was 0-1 against the ACC in three years at LSU. He had three catches for 40 yards in a 2012 loss to Clemson.
9:22: With the 11th pick, the Tennesse Titans take offensive tackle Taylor Lewan from Michigan. That couldn’t get much more boring, so it’s pretty fitting for the Titans.
9:15: The Lions make their pick in less than two minutes. Now that’s a team I can get behind! Detroit takes Ebron, giving the ACC a second top-10 pick. The camera zooms in on Ebron, who is on the phone and tearing up. Read more here.
9:12: The Vikings use the ninth pick on UCLA linebacker Anthony Barr. “Whoa,” says Chris Berman. “Whoa,” says Jon Gruden. So that makes two picks in a row that leaves people scratching their heads. Barr played Virginia Tech last year in the Sun Bowl and tallied three tackles. He was 1-0 against ACC teams with the Bruins.
9:05: The Browns use the eighth pick on Oklahoma State cornerback Justin Gilbert. Kevin Costner really is in charge of the war room! Gilbert never played an ACC team in four years at Oklahoma State.
9:02: After moving down earlier, the Browns move back up to No. 8 in a trade with the Vikings. Maybe Kevin Costner actually is running their draft room.
8:59: The Tampa Bay Buccaneers select wide receiver Mike Evans with the seventh pick. Though the Bucs brought in Josh McCown to be the starting quarterback next year, the potential is still there for N.C. State’s Mike Glennon to take charge of the offense at some point. Between Evans and Vincent Jackson, he’ll have dynamic options on either side of the field. Evans caught four passes for 72 yards against Duke last season.
8:50: The second offensive tackle is off the board. It’s Texas A&M’s Jake Matthews. As the illustrious Shawn Krest pointed out on Twitter, he was 1-0 against the ACC and committed zero penalties in that one game against Duke last year.
8:49: Thinking out loud — or, well, on the Internet — here: Could North Carolina tight end Eric Ebron slide down? It was almost a consensus that the Bills would pick Ebron at No. 9. It could be in the late teens before Ebron gets selected now, most likely by one of the New York teams. Several teams have questioned his character and his hands. The Bills were one of the firmest believers, but now they’re out of the question.
8:44: The Oakland Raiders take Khalil Mack with the fifth overall pick. The Buffalo defensive end played Pittsburgh in 2012 and made 12 tackles in a loss.
8:38: The first ACCer is off the board! Sammy Watkins gets picked fourth by the Buffalo Bills, who made a trade with the Browns to move up. Read more here.
8:32: The first shocker is in! The Jaguars pick Central Florida quarterback Blake Bortles with the third overall pick. Some thought Clemson’s Sammy Watkins would wind up in this spot. Few thought it would be Bortles.
8:26: As the clock hits zero on the Rams, Chris Berman states that, “they’re not wasting any time.” The pick is Greg Robinson, an offensive tackle from Auburn. When he was going through the recruiting process, Florida State was one of the finalists for him. Imagine what the Seminoles could have accomplished if he was on their team last year.
8:16: The Texans select South Carolina defensive end Jadeveon Clowney with the first pick. Clowney played two ACC teams last year and totaled a combined six tackles and one sack. He had three tackles against North Carolina in the season-opener, and then he had two solo tackles and one sack later in the year against Clemson.
8:15: Intent on shedding his frat boy image, Johnny Manziel drinks a beer while he waits for the first pick.
Have a beer while you wait, Johnny. pic.twitter.com/mDQiu62Av2
— SB Nation GIF (@SBNationGIF) May 9, 2014
8:14: Despite knowing they had this pick for months, the Texans are using all 10 of their minutes on this pick. Makes sense.
8:05: NFL commissioner Roger Goodell takes the stage to a hefty round boos. I’m booing from my living room, too, as he opens the draft five minutes later than scheduled. There are 32 picks to be made, let’s hurry this thing up!
7:54 p.m.: We’re six minutes away from the Houston Texans going on the clock. The soon-to-be stars are in the green room, that same Aloe Blacc song is playing, Chris Berman has already made three bad jokes. It’s the NFL Draft on ESPN!