NFL DRAFT 2012-Thursday night results

"NEW YORK — Andrew Luck and Robert Griffin III went first and second overall in the NFL Draft — as expected. Then came the unexpected: a frenzy of trades that moved three teams up to make the next four selections in an entertaining first round of the 2012 NFL Draft. 

An hour before the draft began, the Cleveland Browns pulled off a trade with the Minnesota Vikings to move up one spot from No. 4 and take Alabama running back Trent Richardson.

The Vikings, who originally held the third pick, took USC tackle Matt Kalil, giving second-year quarterback Christian Ponder the blind-side protector he needed. Then came two more trades, as the Jacksonville Jaguars moved up from seventh to fifth to take Oklahoma State receiver Justin Blackmon, and the Dallas Cowboys sent their first- and second-round picks to the St. Louis Rams to draft LSU cornerback Morris Claiborne sixth overall.

Those six players had long been considered the elite talents in the draft, but after Luck and Griffin, the order they would come off the board was anyone’s guess. The trades certainly made predictions that much more difficult.

In recent years, running backs have rarely heard their names called early in the draft; last year only Mark Ingram (28th overall to the Saints) was taken in the first round. But Richardson, who this past fall rushed for 1,679 yards and 21 touchdowns as the Crimson Tide’s workhorse back, frequently was predicted to be the exception this year.

Thursday’s draft marked the 31st time, and the 10th time in the last 12 years, that a quarterback has been selected first overall. It also marked the fifth time that quarterbacks have gone first and second overall. The last time was in 1999, when Tim Couch and Donovan McNabb went to Cleveland and Philadelphia, respectively.

Luck,Griffin and Tannehill were the first three of four quarterbacks projected to go early in the draft. Tannehill and Oklahoma State’s Brandon Weeden both began the night facing a good deal of uncertainty. " -from the   WashingtonPostSports

The NFL began on Thursday 26th April 2012 and end on Saturday 28th April 2012