It’s one of the time-honored traditions at the NFL Draft.
A team announces the player it has chosen with its first-round pick. Beaming with pride (and relief), the prospect makes his way to the stage and slips on his new team’s ball cap. He strides to the lectern, greets commissioner Roger Goodell with a bear hug and, together, the two men hold up the draft pick’s crisp, new No. 1 jersey for the cameras and everyone watching in person or on television.
But Thursday night, when the 2024 NFL Draft’s first round begins in Detroit, Goodell will give out fewer handshakes and hugs than in past years. The NFL anticipates 13 prospects attending the draft in person to learn which of the league’s 32 teams will select them. That’s down from 17 in 2023 and 21 in 2022. This year’s total equals that of the 2021 draft, just one year after COVID-19 forced the league to hold the event virtually. Twenty-three players attended the 2019 draft.
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USC quarterback Caleb Williams, LSU quarterback Jayden Daniels and North Carolina quarterback Drake Maye lead the group of 13 prospects who will be in Detroit. The other prospects include Alabama cornerback Terrion Arnold, Ohio State wide receiver Marvin Harrison Jr., Alabama offensive tackle JC Latham, UCLA pass rusher Laiatu Latu, Toledo cornerback Quinyon Mitchell, LSU wide receivers Malik Nabers and Brian Thomas Jr., Washington wideout Rome Odunze, Missouri pass rusher Darius Robinson and Alabama pass rusher Dallas Turner.
Meanwhile, Michigan quarterback J.J. McCarthy — an early first-round projection — is among the players who have opted against attending the draft. That will disappoint the many Michigan football fans who will attend the draft in person and would have been eager to see McCarthy, who just won a national championship with the Wolverines.
So what gives? Why are more prospects declining to attend the draft this year?
Five sources, who work in the NFL and NFL Players Association or represent players, cited numerous reasons for prospects declining to attend the draft in person. They spoke on condition of anonymity because they didn’t want to publicly share a prospect’s reasons for not attending.
Location, convenience, a desire to include more family and uncertainty related to their draft projection factored into players’ decisions, according to those five people.
This is the ninth year the NFL has taken its show on the road after hosting its biggest offseason event in New York City from 1965 to 2014. But some prospects viewed the Motor City as a less-desirable destination. Hosting a hometown draft watch party surrounded by family and friends proved to be more attractive. The COVID-19 2020 draft, held entirely from the homes of Goodell and the draft picks, in part helped boost the popularity of such an event.
And then there’s the Will Levis effect.
Levis, a Kentucky quarterback projected as a top-10 pick last year, attended the 2023 draft in Kansas City. Yet he didn’t hear his name called until the start of Friday’s second round, when the Tennessee Titans took him 33rd overall.
From our NFL Draft coverage: Will Levis waits. pic.twitter.com/hiFr9ozExb
— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) April 28, 2023
Levis, of course, wasn’t the first player to endure an excruciating and somewhat humiliating draft-day slide. Aaron Rodgers, Brady Quinn and Johnny Manziel are memorable for the repeated camera shots of them waiting uncomfortably in the green room. But no one wants to join that group. So, some players would rather watch the draft from the comforts of their home.
The NFL will have cameras set up at the draft parties for 12 prospects who won’t be in Detroit. Coupled with the 13 players who will attend the draft in person, that means the league will have live coverage of 25 prospects on Thursday.
Now we’ll see if this trend continues at next year’s draft in Green Bay, which is a historic football locality, but not exactly a bustling tourist destination.
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(Photo of Roger Goodell: David Becker / Getty Images)