If you watch the NFL Draft on Thursday, you'll likely be witnessing history and that's because, for the first time ever, we could see eight teams go through the first round without making a pick.
As things currently stand, there are eight teams that currently do not have a first-round pick this year and if that holds, it would break the record of seven, which has only happened four times ever (1973, 2000, 2019, 2020).
Assuming they don't trade into the first-round, the eight teams sitting out the opening round on Thursday night will be: The Bears, Browns, Broncos, Colts, Dolphins, Raiders, Rams, and 49ers.
The most notable team on this list is the Rams and that's because they've made a habit of sitting out the first round. As a matter of fact, since Sean McVay was hired in 2017, the Rams haven't made a SINGLE first-round pick under his watch. The big reason for that is because Rams general manager Les Snead has been embracing the "F them picks" strategy of trading away first-round picks for proven players who can help the team win now like Jalen Ramsey and Matthew Stafford.
“F them picks will use them to win more Super Bowl” Les Snead, Rams general managerpic.twitter.com/uhMqw4RKR4
— Average Joe Sports Talk Podcast (@joes_talk) February 16, 2022
One common thread between the teams that won't be making a pick on Thursday is that they made a huge gamble on a quarterback. Of the eight teams sitting out the first round this year, six of them won't be picking because they traded their pick away to acquire a QB. Only the Dolphins and Raiders gave up their first-round pick for a player who wasn't a quarterback (The Dolphins gave up their pick as part of a deal for Tyreek Hill while the Raiders sent their pick to Green Bay as part of a trade for Davante Adams).
Speaking of the Dolphins, since they gave up their top pick for Hill, they've decided to honor the occasion by watching Hill highlights during the opening round of the draft.
What do you do during the first round of the NFL Draft when you don't have a pick
— Yianni Kourakis (@WPBF_Yianni) April 20, 2022
For the Dolphins, they may just watch Tyreek Hill highlights, G.M. Chris Grier jokes #finsup @WPBF25News pic.twitter.com/LumNubESw2
On the flip side of things, if eight teams won't be making a pick in the first-round, that means there are several teams that are going to have multiple picks. As things currently stand, there are eight teams with multiple picks and assuming we don't see a trade, that would also set an NFL record.
Going into this year's draft, the most number of teams in one draft to have multiple picks was six, which has happened four times. In 1973, 1974, 1989 and 2020, there were six teams with more than one first-round pick.
This year, the Lions (second overall and 32nd), Texans (third and 13th), Jets (fourth and 10th), Giants (fifth and seventh), Eagles (15th and 18th), Saints (16th and 19th), Packers (22nd and 28th) and Chiefs (29th and 30th) all have two first-round picks. Even if one of those eight teams trades out of the first round, the group will still set the NFL Draft record if just seven of them end up using multiple picks.
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