2024 NFL Draft brings the largest QB gap in draft history

The 2024 NFL Draft set a new record for the longest drought between quarterback selections at 137 picks between QBs. The previous record was 126 picks between snap takers in the 1972 NFL Draft.

There were six quarterbacks selected in the first 12 picks of the 2024 NFL draft, that fact on its own is not surprising, shocking, or out of the norm for a typical draft. What is however out of the norm, is the fact that it took until the 5th round, 137 picks later, until the next quarterback was selected.

The Denver Broncos selected Bo Nix with the 12th pick of the 2024 draft, an early spot for Nix to go depending on whose draft board you're looking at, but if he plays well, a pick that no one will question. The strange thing is that it took until the 15th pick of the 5th round, 137 players later, for the New Orleans Saints to select Spencer Rattler, why such a drought?

Again, what some may describe as a reach, others would say "grab your guy". At the 12th pick, the Denver Broncos picked their guy in Bo Nix and it's not guaranteed that Nix would have made it to the Broncos in the second round or fall to a place where the Broncos could trade back up and get him later.

Looming at the 13th pick were the Las Vegas Raiders who shockingly not only didn't take a quarterback at 13 but didn't take one anywhere in the draft, instead opting for the second year in a row to select a tight end with their first-round pick.

The New Orleans Saints, who eventually ended the drought, were at pick 14 and could've selected Nix, the Seahawks at 16 could have, Rams at 19 are another one that could have picked Bo Nix to stash and learn behind Matthew Stafford.

What's strange though, is how some analysts like Dane Brugler had a fourth-round grade on Spencer Rattler, the Senior Bowl MVP, and the perceived best quarterback available and even ranked ahead of some other quarterbacks already selected by a fellow With the First Pick writer wasn't snagged by a quarterback-needy team anywhere in the second, third or fourth rounds.

There were reports that a reality show that Rattler appeared on in high school scared teams away but there are teams who could take that "risk". A team like the New York Giants, who used their top ten pick to select Malik Nabers, anytime in the second, third, or fourth rounds (they did not have a fifth-round selection before the Saints' fifth-round pick), could have been used to give their new wide receiver a quarterback to grow with.

The biggest surprise in the gap between Bo Nix and Spencer Rattler has to be the Las Vegas Raiders, who had five chances to draft Spencer Rattler before where he was eventually picked, including two spots ahead of where the Saints drafted him when they picked linebacker Tommy Eichenberg and have now left themselves currently with Aidan O'Connell or Gardner Minshew as their starting quarterback for 2024.