2012 NFL Draft – The First Round

NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell officially opened the NFL Draft at 8:04 p.m. ET when he put Indianapolis on the clock.  In the first round each team is given 10 minutes to make their selection.

For the 12th time in the last 15 years a quarterback was the top pick in the NFL Draft when the Indianapolis Colts selected Andrew Luck of Stanford.  Luck is the third Stanford QB taken first overall behind Hall of Famer John Elway (1983, Baltimore Colts) and Heisman Trophy winner and Super Bowl XV MVP Jim Plunkett (1971, New England Patriots).

When Robert Griffin III of Baylor went to Washington with the second pick it was just the seventh time in draft history that quarterbacks went 1-2.

And when Texas A&M QB Ryan Tannehill went 8th overall to the Miami Dolphins it was the second year in a row and just the fourth time three quarterbacks were taken in the Top 10 selections of the draft.

The first round saw a lot of trades, in fact, it seemed like there were more first round trades than I can ever recall.  Teams that got involved in the wheeling and dealing trying to get a better position or hoard more picks for later on were Minnesota and Cleveland.  They flipped the 3rd and 4th picks overall in first round and the Vikings also got three additional later round picks in the swap. Cleveland used that 3rd pick to take Alabama RB Trent Richardson, while Minnesota took T Matt Kalil from USC.

Tampa Bay and Jacksonville then swapped picks #5 and #7 overall.  Jacksonville moved up to fifth and only had to give up a 4th rounder to move up two spots.  The Jags used the fifth pick to select Justin Blackmon WR from Oklahoma State, while the Buccaneers took S Mark Barron from national champion Alabama.

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St. Louis traded the 6th pick overall that they got from Washington to Dallas for the 14th pick and a second rounder.  The Cowboys used the 6th pick to strengthen their secondary by taking CB Morris Claiborne of LSU.  The Rams used their selection to take DT Michael Brockers of LSU at 14.

Seattle sent the 12th pick overall to Philadelphia in exchange for #15 overall and a fourth and sixth rounder selections.  With the 12th pick the Eagles then took Mississippi State DT Fletcher Cox.  The Seahawks grabbed West Virginia LB Bruce Irvin, a major potential problem child, with the 15th pick a few moments later.  Irvin, a former high school drop out has spent time in jail and had several run ins with the police.  Many teams felt he had colossal bust written all over him and said they would stay away from him.  Seattle takes a chance and him at 15th overall.

The New England Patriots got active late in the round when they traded the 27th pick and their 3rd round pick (#93) for the 21st pick from Cincinnati.  The Patriots took Syracuse DE Chandler Jones while the Bengals grabbed Wisconsin G Kevin Zeitler.

The Patriots weren’t done trading up either as moments later they send the 31st overall pick and their 4th round selection (#126) to Denver for #25 overall.  With that pick they grabbed LB Dont’a Hightower from the national champion Crimson Tide while Denver used the 31st pick to make a trade with Tampa Bay who in turn selected Doug Martin a running back from Boise State.

Minnesota had the final trade of the night when they moved back into the first round when they were able to make a deal with Baltimore and came away with a top safety in Harrison Smith from Notre Dame.

The final pick of the round clocked in at 11:06 p.m. ET when the New York Giants selected Virginia Tech RB David Wilson ending the round in just over three hours.

Once again the SEC lead all conferences in players selected with 9, followed by the Big 12 with 5, the Big Ten and PAC 12 both had 4, the ACC had 3 and the Big East had 2 while independents and smaller conferences combined for five selections.

Of those 9 SEC selections the national champion Alabama Crimson Tide had four first round picks, while LSU and South Carolina each had two and Mississippi State had one.

Rounds two and three are tomorrow evening and you can watch on ESPN or the NFL Network.

Here is the complete first round of the NFL Draft selection by selection:

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