Detroit (AFP) – NFL draft He has a new attendance record after more than 775,000 likes Downtown Detroit was flooded for the three-day event.
Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer revealed Saturday at Campus Martius Park that Detroit had broken the record, and the league later released its estimates for the crowd size.
“We showed the world what the Motor City is all about,” Whitmer said.
While it will take years to see if this week's picks worked, there's no doubt Detroit did Maximum chance To host hundreds of thousands of fans and show More than 50 million viewers New look city.
Motown beat the Music City three-day attendance record of 600,000 set in 2019, when fans filled Nashville's Broadway Theater.
The NFL did not charge fans to attend the event in Detroit, even though visitors and area residents were expected to generate more than $160 million in economic impact at sold-out hotels, crowded bars, restaurants and retail stores in the downtown core.
More than two dozen teams are in talks with the league to host a future draft, which is especially important in cities with cold climates that may not expect to get a Super Bowl.
Green Bay is on the clock as host next year.
This year's edition kicked off with a Detroit opener Thursday night that featured rap icon Eminem on stage with Hall of Famers Barry Sanders and Calvin Johnson, along with current Lions stars Jared Goff, Aidan Hutchinson and Amon-Ra St. Brown.
Chicago, as expected, drafted Caleb Williams from Southern California No. 1 overall. The Bears beat Iowa's Torrey Taylor on Saturday in the fourth round.
“Hey, you won't bet much here,” Taylor said Williams texted him.
Williams was the first of five record-breaking quarterbacks to be named among the top 10, including… Atlanta's surprise pick to Michael Penix Jr. a month after Kirk Cousins was given a big contract. With Denver taking Bo Nix out of Oregon State at No. 12, the tag was matched for the signal-callers selected in first round.
In all, a record 23 offensive players were drafted in the opening round.
After the Knicks went to the Broncos, the New Orleans Saints were the next team to take a quarterback when they drafted Spencer Rattler from South Carolina in the fifth round with the 150th pick overall. The streak of selections without a quarterback was the longest since 1967.
Teams began drafting offensive players at an unprecedented rate in the first round — including seven wide receivers — without a defensive player coming off the board until Indianapolis won UCLA edge rusher Laiatu Latu 15th overall.
In a sign of the times, the running back wasn't drafted until Carolina took Jonathan Brooks from the Texans with the 46th pick in what was the second-most recent pick at the once-coveted position. There has been a string of running backs in the fourth round with pick seven, starting with Miami taking Jaylen Wright from Tennessee at 120th overall.
The focus was on defence the second daywith 20 players on that side of the ball exiting the board in the second round and 17 more in the third.
With the last pick of the fifth round, New York Jets A prospect with no college football experience was selected.
Quantize Stages He planned to play at Lane College in Tennessee in 2020, but returned home that fall due to his father's death in a car accident and the COVID-19 pandemic that wiped out the season.
Stigers played in a 7-on-7 indoor league in his hometown of Atlanta two years ago. Last season, the defensive back was the CFL's Most Outstanding Rookie after throwing five interceptions for the Toronto Argonauts.
Stiggers plans to make the teams that passed on him regret it.
“They will have to pay all year long,” he said.
The Jets also took the 257th and final pick of the seven-round draft, making Alabama defensive back Jaylen Key the player known as “Mr. Irrelevant,” and hoping he can have a small piece of the success that San Francisco 49ers quarterback Brock Purdy has had Since he was the last pick in 2022.
more Children of former NFL players They were selected on Saturday including Jeremiah Trotter Jr A fifth-round pick to Philadelphia, where his father was a Pro Bowl player and receiver for USC Brendan Ricewhose father is Hall of Famer Jerry Rice, goes in the seventh round to the Los Angeles Chargers.
The Chargers also drafted a player with a famous relative, taking Troy running back Kimani Vidal, who is the great's nephew Baseball Hall of Famer Hank Aaronat the beginning of the sixth round.
In Detroit, the crowd cheered every time the black Selected or when a Michigan player was selected.
The national title-winning Wolverines had the most players drafted, starting with Minnesota moving forward to take on a quarterback J. J. McCarthy At No. 10 overall.
Michigan Thirteen players completed being drafted, lagging a total of just three schools since the draft moved to seven rounds in 1994, including Georgia's 2022 national championship team that had a record 15 players selected.
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AP Pro Football Writer Dennis Waszak Jr. in Florham Park, New Jersey, contributed to this report.
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He follows Larry Lage on X.
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AP NFL: https://apnews.com/hub/NFL
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