NFL 2021 Draft

NFL Football Operations

With the draft underway, fans are waiting to see how their favorites teams do.

Nessah Wendt, Columnist

The NFL football season is once again kicking off with the 86th annual National Football League Draft on April 29, 30, and May 1. The first pick in the draft goes to the team with the worst record from last season, which is the 1-16 Jacksonville Jaguars. With that, they will most likely take top-pick Trevor Lawrence, a quarterback from Clemson University in South Carolina. He lost only 4 games in his high school and university career.

Lawrence is one of five quarterbacks expected to be drafted in the first round, maybe even the first fifteen picks. The other quarterbacks include Zach Wilson, Mac Jones, Justin Fields, and Trey Lance. The New York Jets are also looking for a quarterback, having traded their previous quarterback Sam Darnold. The San Francisco 49ers traded this year’s first-round pick and the next two first-round picks to the Miami Dolphins in order to secure the 3rd pick in this year’s first-round draft.

The draft will be held live in Cleveland, Ohio, after the 2020 draft was held virtually due to the COVID-19 pandemic. According to News 5 Cleveland, 50,000 fans are expected each day to attend draft events. The NFL Executive President of Club Business and League Events, Peter O’Reilly, told Sports Rush, “We have every confidence in our protocols that are in place. We learned so much from what we did at the Super Bowl where we were able to do a free, outdoor Super Bowl Experience”.

Although many trades have occurred during the off-season, many NFL teams are anticipated to partake in many more trades as they prepare for the 55th season of the National Football League. You can tune into all three days of the NFL draft on live TV or streaming on ESPN to see who your favorite teams draft for the upcoming season.