Young was one of four quarterbacks who were nearly unanimously expected to go in the first round, but only three did. The Texans successfully tricked everyone into believing they were going to pass on a quarterback but then went ahead and took Ohio State’s C.J. Stroud with the second. After the Colts took Florida’s Anthony Richardson at No. 4, there was one presumptive first-round quarterback still on the board: Kentucky’s Will Levis.

As the night dragged on, ESPN repeatedly cut to shots of Levis waiting in the green room. At the end of the night, he still hadn’t been taken. It was a shock, considering that most observers expected him to go in the top half of the round, likely even as high as the top five. (Conor Orr and Kevin Hanson had Levis going to the Colts at No. 4 in their last mock drafts, while Albert Breer projected him to go 12th to the Texans.) The reason Levis has dropped in the draft is that teams are reportedly concerned about a toe injury that could require surgery.

Levis’s slide was the biggest surprise of the night, but it wasn’t the only shocking development. The Texans raised some eyebrows by taking Stroud at No. 2 and then turned around and immediately traded for the next pick, which they used to take pass rusher Will Anderson Jr. of Alabama. Houston paid a steep price to trade up, sending the Cardinals the 12th and 33rd picks in this year’s draft and first- and third-round picks next year. (The Texans also got the Cardinals’ pick at No. 105.) It was an aggressive move, but Matt Verderame and Gilberto Manzano believe the Texans are one of the biggest winners of the first round.

Some will criticize the Texans for trading back into the top three at a significant cost, including a first-round pick in 2024. However, Houston is in dire need of elite talent, and it got some—taking Stroud as its franchise quarterback before selecting Anderson, a player many believe is the best player in this draft.

If the Texans hit on Stroud and Anderson, they finally have true building blocks who can anchor the roster on both sides of the ball for a decade. It’s a bold, smart start to the DeMeco Ryans era.

The Lions also surprised people, but perhaps for the wrong reasons. There was a lot of talk before the draft about when Texas running back Bijan Robinson would go off the board. After no running backs were selected in the first round last year, Robinson was expected to become the first player at that position selected higher than the 24th pick since Saquon Barkley in 2018. Robinson was taken at No. 8 by the Falcons. The second-best running back in the draft, Alabama’s Jahmyr Gibbs, was considered perhaps a fringe first-rounder, which is why Detroit shocked everyone when it took Gibbs at No. 12. The Gibbs pick perplexed Verderame and Manzano.

Gibbs is an electric playmaker, but this decision at No. 12 doesn’t make sense for multiple reasons: The Lions already have D’Andre Swift and David Montgomery, and they probably could have gotten Gibbs with their later pick, No. 18. Perhaps the Lions didn’t want to risk it after Robinson went eighth, but they didn’t need to panic with a talented offense. Detroit could have bolstered its defense with a top cornerback instead.

The draft will resume tonight at 7 p.m. ET. Prepare for the second night by checking out Luke Easterling’s second- and third-round mock draft and his list of the best players still available.

The best of Sports Illustrated

Matt Verderame and Gilberto Manzano graded all 31 first-round picks.
Conor Orr has a longer exploration of the Texans’ aggressive draft night.
Tom Verducci explains why Gerrit Cole’s fastball has been the key to his incredible start for the Yankees.
Brittney Griner spoke at an emotional first press conference ahead of the WNBA preseason. “More than four months out from her return to U.S. soil, Griner’s presence in Phoenix still feels like a fantasy,” Clare Brennan writes.
In light of the hubbub at Colorado over providing access to transferring players’ practice film, Richard Johnson has a closer look at how schools use tapes of players.
The death of a racehorse at Kentucky Derby training feels tragically familiar, Pat Forde writes.
Hailey Van Lith’s transfer to LSU fills a big hole for the defending champions, Emma Baccellieri writes.
It might have been overshadowed to a degree by the draft, but the Ravens reached a long-term extension with Lamar Jackson. Conor Orr examines the self-negotiated nature of the deal.
The Celtics avoided a do-or-die Game 7 by beating the Hawks last night in Game 6.

The top five...

… things I saw last night:

5. Boston College receiver (and Ravens draft pick) Zay Flowers’s leather suit.

4. The Maple Leafs’ and Lightning’s opening goals of the game, 25 seconds apart. Toronto failed to close out the series, so Game 6 is tomorrow in Tampa.

3. Jayson Tatum’s postgame apology to Janet Jackson, who had to move her concert due to Game 6 in Atlanta.

2. Shohei Ohtani’s three-hit game at the plate while also striking out eight on the mound. He came within feet of hitting for the cycle.

1. Devils goalie Akira Schmid’s diving save. New Jersey beat the Rangers, 4–0, to go up 3–2 in their series.

SIQ

Which Islanders player was on the receiving end of one of the worst cheap shots in NHL history by Capitals forward Dale Hunter on this day in 1993?

Ray Ferraro
Travis Green
Derek King
Pierre Turgeon

Yesterday’s SIQ: Before 2022, when was the last time no running backs were taken in the first round of the NFL draft?

2012
2013
2014
2015

Answer: 2014. In fact, no running backs were taken in the first round in ’13, either. That was after three running backs went in the first round in ’12 (Trent Richardson, Doug Martin and David Wilson).

That doesn’t mean there weren’t good running backs available in those drafts. Four running backs picked in those years were later named to Pro Bowls: Le’Veon Bell (second round in 2013), Eddie Lacy (second round in ’13), Latavius Murray (sixth round in ’13) and Devonta Freeman (fourth round in ’14).

Teams are increasingly able to find productive running backs in the later rounds and use their first-round picks to address other needs. For example, Clyde Edwards-Helaire was the only running back taken in the first round in the 2020 draft. He ranks fifth in career rushing yards among members of his draft class behind Jonathan Taylor, Antonio Gibson, AJ Dillon and D’Andre Swift.

Not every first-round running back has lived up to the hype (it’s maybe not a coincidence that no running backs went in the first round for two years after the Browns picked Trent Richardson at No. 3), but, by all accounts, Bijan Robinson, who went at No. 8 last night to the Falcons is a generational talent who should be worth the investment.

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