NFL draft 2024: All you need to know

Follow live text coverage of the first round of the NFL draft on the BBC website from 23:30 BST on Thursday

After months of scouting and hours of interviews, NFL teams are set to select which players they hope will be the future of their franchise.

Thousands of college graduates are available in this weekend’s NFL draft and over three days, 257 of them will see their dreams of becoming an NFL player come true.

The league has picked a good time to take the draft to Detroit for the first time, as the Motor City and its NFL team are enjoying a resurgence.

Hometown boy Aidan Hutchinson was the second overall pick by the Detroit Lions in 2022 and helped turn them into Super Bowl contenders last season.

Which players from this year’s draft class will be given the opportunity to have a similar impact in the NFL?

How does the NFL draft work?

All 32 teams have one pick in each of the seven rounds, going in the reverse order of the previous season’s standings – so the team with the worst record goes first and the Super Bowl winners last.

However, previous trades mean that is not strictly the case as NFL teams use future draft picks to acquire players from other teams or move up in the draft.

Not content with just the second overall pick last year, the Houston Texans traded up to get the third too, and the move paid off.

Those two picks – quarterback CJ Stroud and defensive end Will Anderson Jr – were named the Offensive and Defensive Rookies of the Year after leading the Texans into last season’s play-offs.

As a result of that trade, the Texans’ first pick this year is not until the 42nd overall while other trades mean the Cleveland Browns’ first pick is the 54th and the Chicago Bears have two of the first nine.

Which team has the first pick?

Chicago had last year’s first pick but the Carolina Panthers traded up to select quarterback Bryce Young, a deal which included the Panthers’ first-round selection for 2024.

While Houston’s draft move paid off, Carolina continued to struggle and finished with the league’s worst record, meaning Chicago again have the first overall pick.

Last year they kept faith with young quarterback Justin Fields by trading it away. This year they have kept hold of it, though, trading Fields to the Pittsburgh Steelers last month.

Now the Bears have the ideal opportunity to choose a guy capable of leading their franchise long term as the most promising prospects in this year’s draft are quarterbacks.

Who will be the first pick in the NFL draft?

Caleb Williams (right) has found that chatting with team officials is all part of the draft process

As many as six quarterbacks could be selected in the first round and five in the first 10 picks, with Caleb Williams favourite to be first off the board.

After starting his college career at Oklahoma, the 6ft 1in quarterback transferred to the University of Southern California (USC) in 2022 and won the Heisman Trophy – the annual award for best college player.

Like most modern-day quarterbacks, the 22-year-old is a threat with both his arm and his legs. From 33 starts across three seasons in college, he racked up 9,782 passing yards, 93 passing touchdowns and 27 rushing touchdowns.

The Bears have had positive talks with Williams at the NFL Combine, USC’s Pro Day and his team visit to Chicago.

“They have been fairly engaged with him for the last few months and not necessarily with some of the other quarterbacks,” the New York Jets’ senior football advisor Phil Savage told BBC Sport.

“It’d be the greatest smokescreen in NFL history if they turn a different name in. But if that does happen, he won’t fall far. He’ll go number two.”

The Washington Commanders and New England Patriots have the second and third picks, respectively, and have also traded away their starting quarterbacks from last season.

They are set to choose between last year’s Heisman Trophy winner Jayden Daniels (LSU) and Drake Maye (North Carolina).

2024’s other top draft prospects

Jayden Daniels, Marvin Harrison Jr, Bo Nix and Michael Penix Jr were the finalists for the 2023 Heisman Trophy

That trio are the only quarterbacks among the 13 prospects who accepted invitations to this year’s draft, but JJ McCarthy (Michigan), Michael Penix Jr (Washington) and Bo Nix (Oregon) are also highly rated.

Those set to stride out on stage include four wide receivers – Marvin Harrison Jr (Ohio State), Rome Odunze (Washington), Malik Nabers and Brian Thomas Jr (both LSU).

The first big man to celebrate by lifting NFL commissioner Roger Goodell off his feet could be Dallas Turner (Alabama) or fellow edge rusher Laiatu Latu (UCLA), while offensive tackle Joe Alt (Notre Dame), tight end Brock Bowers (Georgia) and cornerback Quinyon Mitchell (Toledo) are also expected to be early picks.

Where is the NFL draft?

Detroit had been downtrodden for decades while the Lions had been in the doldrums too.

But Michigan’s state capital has undergone significant redevelopment and the city’s pride in the Lions was restored last season.

Detroit hosted its first play-off game in 30 years and the Lions claimed their first play-off wins in 32, getting within one game of the Super Bowl.

The feelgood factor is finally back in Motown and hundreds of thousands will be heading to free events dotted around the downtown area this weekend.

The draft stage will be situated in Campus Martius park, half a mile from the Lions’ Ford Field, with the draft site stretching to Hart Plaza on Detroit’s riverfront.

When does the draft start? How to follow?

Detroit’s fan events will be open some nine hours before the draft starts on Thursday, 25 April, with the Chicago Bears ‘on the clock’ from 20:00 ET (01:00 BST, Friday).

Each team has 10 minutes to get their pick in during the first round, which is held entirely on day one.

You can follow live text coverage of the first round of the draft on the BBC website from 23:30 BST on Thursday.