National Football League

The 15 most important things to take from the first round of the 2016 NFL draft

Published Apr. 28, 2016 11:51 p.m. ET

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If you missed some or all of Thursday night's NFL draft and/or just need a refresher, here's a handy guide to the 15 most important things we learned during the 2016 selection show. These are the stats that'll make you sound like Mel Kiper around the water cooler, or your apartment because you called in sick after being too tired from watching the draft. (All stats refer to drafts after 1970's AFL/NFL merger, unless otherwise noted.) Onward!

1. This was just the 7th year quarterbacks went Nos. 1 and 2 in the draft. The prior six times:

2015 - Jameis Winston, Marcus Mariota

2012 - Andrew Luck, Robert Griffin III

(Photo by Jon Durr/Getty Images)

1999 - Tim Couch, Donovan McNabb

1998 - Peyton Manning, Ryan Leaf

1993 - Drew Bledsoe, Rick Mirer

1971 - Jim Plunkett, Archie Manning

(Photo by Nate Fine/Getty Images)

Looking at that list, the law of averages say one of the QBs drafted Thursday will be a success (Andrew Luck, Donovan McNabb, Reyton Manning, Drew Bledsoe, Jim Plunkett) or a bust (RG3, Tim Couch, Ryan Leaf and Rick Mirer). We'll obviously leave Winston and Mariota off our lists. And as for Archie Manning, he wasn't a great quarterback by any means, but there's no dissing a 16-year NFL career.

2. Jared Goff had the worst record for any quarterback taken No. 1 in the NFL draft. (He was 14-23 at California. The quarterback who previously held the ignominious mark. Here's why it doesn't matter.

(Photo by Jon Durr/Getty Images)

3. Carson Wentz is actually the 27th player selected from North Dakota State, if you can believe that. (Only 13 went in the first seven rounds, which is where the draft is now capped.) Three of those players went in the second round, with none going higher than No. 34. However, that player (Steve Nelson) had an excellent 14-year career with the Patriots from 1974-87 while making three Pro Bowls.

4. Four FCS quarterbacks (the old Division I-AA) have been taken in the first round and the Eagles would love it if Wentz could have a career like any of them. The four: Steve McNair (No. 3 in 1995), Phil Simms (No. 7 in 1979), Doug Williams (No. 17 in 1978) and Joe Flacco (No. 18 in 2008). Three won Super Bowls, the other was about 18 inches short but has an MVP to his name.

(Paul Moseley/Fort Worth Star-Telegram/TNS via Getty Images)

5. Ezekiel Elliott is the first running back picked in the top 5 since Trent Richardson went 3rd overall in 2012. The highest RB picks in the next three drafts were No. 37 (Gio Bernard, 2013); No. 54 (Bishop Sankey, 2014) and Todd Gurley (No. 10, 2015). Are backs back in vogue? Or did Jerry Jones manage to wrestle the phone away from his son this year?

6. Ohio State became the first school in NFL history to have three players selected in the top 10. They also had four players taken in the top 16. It's a run that brings to mind Miami's 2004 draft, when six players from The U were taken in the first round. That year, Miami's first three players were taken in the top 12, but those six were selected in the first 21. (Their fourth pick didn't go until No. 17, another checkmark for Ohio State.) One thing I don't see Ohio State duplicating is how the 'Canes performed in future drafts. In the decade after its 2004 bonanza, Miami had six players selected in the first round total.

(Photo by Andy Lyons/Getty Images)

7. For the first time in 10 drafts, the SEC didn't have a player selected in the top five. A player from the Southeastern Conference has been selected in the top five in every draft since 2007, including four times at No. 1. Those players:

2007 (No. 1) - Jamarcus Russell, QB, LSU

2008 (No. 4) - Darren McFadden, RB, Arkansas

2008 (No. 5) - Glenn Dorsey, DT, LSU

2009 (No. 1) - Matthew Stafford, QB, Georgia

2010 (No. 5) - Eric Berry, CB, Tennessee

(Photo by Kelly Kline/Getty Images for the Heisman)

2011 (No. 1) - Cam Newton, QB, Auburn

2011 (No. 3) - Marcell Dareus, DT, Alabama

2011 (No. 4) - A.J. Green, WR, Georgia

2011 (No. 5) - Patrick Peterson, CB, LSU

2012 (No. 3) - Trent Richardson, RB, Alabama

2013 (No. 2) - Luke Joeckel, T, Texas A&M

2014 (No. 1) - Jadaveon Clowney, DE, South Carolina

2014 (No. 2) - Greg Robinson, T, Auburn

2015 (No. 3) - Dante Fowler, LB, Florida

2015 (No. 4) - Amari Cooper, WR, Alabama

(Photo by Thearon W. Henderson/Getty Images)

That's 15 of 45 players going to the SEC, meaning that 33% of the top-five picks in the 2007-2015 drafts went to players from the conference. The last time an SEC player didn't go in the top five, the conference had to wait all the way until pick No. 11 in 2006 when Vanderbilt QB Jay Cutler was selected. (Had you forgotten Jay Cutler went to Vandy? So did I.)

8. Let me be blunt about this: The Laremy Tunsil story was blown out of proportion. It was treated as high drama but really was just a small nugget in a night held in the Northern lights of Chicago. Teams passed on Tunsil over and over and it was treated as a direct correlation to the weed-smoking picture uploaded to his Twitter account. (He may be the first person in history for whom "my account was hacked" is actually a legitimate account.) I'm only worried about what happens on the field. That's good news for Tunsil because his Ole Miss team played on field turf last year, meaning he'll have to make the transition to grass in 2016. Shouldn't be an issue.

(Photo by Jon Durr/Getty Images)

9. Sorry to Baylor wide receiver Corey Coleman, who went to the Browns at No. 15. I mean, good on you for being picked in the top half of the first round, but don't expect a super-stellar career. Every single one of the top 20 slots in the draft (No. 1, No. 2, No. 3, etc.) has eventually produced a Hall of Famer, with the exception of the 15th pick. The best player taken at No. 15 is probably Derrick Johnson, the Kansas Chiefs linebacker entering his 12th season. Of course, it doesn't much matter given that Coleman went to Cleveland.

10. The Redskins moved down one spot in the first round, going from No. 21 to No. 22 in a swap with the Houston Texans. It was all in exchange for a sixth-round pick next year. What possesses a team to move up one spot? Both teams picked wide receivers, so did Redskins GM Scot McCloughan threaten to take Will Fuller rather than Josh Doctson, the TCU wideout he eventually picked? I want a 30 for 30 on this.

(Photo by Jon Durr/Getty Images)

11. Fuller, Doctson and Laquon Treadwell were taken with the Nos. 21, 22 and 23 picks in the draft, marking the first time three wide receivers were taken back-to-back-to-back in the first round, a fact which delighted Chris Berman to no end - like Christmas, or the Home Run Derby, come early.

12. Ole Miss had three players taken in the first round. Entering Thursday, they'd had a total of three first rounders since 2006 and none since 2009.

(Photo by Kena Krutsinger/Getty Images)

13. When Ezekiel Elliott showed up to the draft looking like Britney Spears circa 2000, who would have thunk it'd only be the second-most embarassing photo of the night?

14. First rounders, by position

DE - 5

T - 5

CB - 4

WR - 4

QB - 3