Carolina Panthers

10 fascinating storylines from inside the draft's first round

Published Apr. 29, 2016 6:27 a.m. ET

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You saw the picks. You'll read the quotes. You've heard the talking heads. Now, here are some stories behind the stories from Thursday night's first round. NOTE: Much of this is based on the reporting and commentary Jay Glazer, Joel Klatt and I provided on the FOX Sports Radio broadcast of Thursday night's first round. Glazer accurately nailed 31 of 31 picks minutes before they were announced anywhere else.

The Cowboys were, indeed, on the phone and in the Lynch hunt. Dallas initially made calls to the Bills -- before the Bills went on the clock at 19th overall -- but the offer wasn't rich enough. Mike Klis of Denver 9 News reported that the Browns were trying to come up from 32 to get Lynch, too. Once Seattle saw it could move back a bit and still get its guy (offensive tackle Germain Ifedi) five picks later, the Broncos were a natural fit. Lynch (and revitalized agent Leigh Steinberg) goes to the defending Super Bowl champions, where he'll compete in a quarterbacks room that currently consists of Mark Sanchez and Trevor Siemian.

Just 13 minutes before the Rams were on the clock, the Tunsil video made its way online. The flurry of texts and calls from NFL coaches and front office personnel that came through Glazer's, Klatt's and my phones were wild. The texts -- often just question marks or "huh" -- were the same reactions most fans had when they saw it. Details about the video's origins, when it was recorded and who knew what when all will come out in the coming days. But the teams in the top 10 didn't have the luxury to spend that kind of time and energy on it. They just knew that it was definitely Tunsil with a giant bong and a gas mask. No, thank you.

Was he the top offensive tackle on most teams' boards? Maybe. Did the video definitely cause him to tumble in the first round? I can't say for sure. But I do know that when teams were on the clock and didn't have an opportunity to ask the kid or do real research on it, that video did not help his cause. So, Tunsil slipped all the way to 13, where he'll compete against Ndamukong Suh, Cameron Wake, and Mario Williams at practice every day.

The Cowboys are thrilled with Ezekiel Elliott, the star running back out of Ohio State. They don't view him just as a running back; they view him as a complete football player who can change the dynamic of their football team. I also know that Bosa and Ramsey had some real fans in that building, too. Bosa went to San Diego at third overall, and Elliott won over Ramsey. Elliott is the highest-drafted Cowboys running back since Emmitt Smith. No pressure there, Zeke.

Laremy Tunsil

It was no secret that the Giants had both Leonard Floyd and Jack Conklin circled on their list of players they valued highly at 10th overall. When Conklin went eighth overall to Tennessee, the Bears -- sitting at 11 -- knew they had to make a move in front of New York to get Floyd. Tampa Bay, sitting at nine, felt pretty strongly that it could still get the guy tit wanted -- Vernon Hargreaves -- if it went back two picks to 11.

Bears GM Ryan Pace and Buccaneers GM Jason Licht have known each other for close to 20 years, dating back to days on the road as young scouts cutting their teeth in the Southeast. The deal was made, the Bears jumped two spots to get Floyd, and the Bucs picked up Hargreaves -- the guy they would have taken at No. 9 anyway -- and added an additional fourth-round pick in the process. Titans GM Jon Robinson is getting a lot of props for his masterful maneuvering in the draft. His old boss, Licht, had quite a night himself.

Other teams I spoke with said they had no interest whatsoever in Nkemdiche, who landed in Arizona at No. 29. The Cardinals had several players on their board, but when it started to thin out, Nkemdiche became too good a talent to pass up. The blueprint? Tyrann Mathieu, of course. When every team passed on the Honey Badger after he was kicked off LSU's team for a history of drug use, the Cardinals waited patiently and scooped him up on the second day of the 2013 NFL Draft. Since being selected 69th overall, Mathieu has been arguably the best player in his entire draft class. And he's been nothing but a perfect citizen and teammate off the field.

Cardinals general manager Steve Keim is a wizard in finding undervalued talent and getting head coach Bruce Arians the pieces to succeed. In the case of Mathieu, he told Glazer in a sitdown for "FOX NFL Sunday" earlier this year that he used to have players called "shoe box guys." Those are the red-flag ones whose names you used to take off your board and put in a shoe box because you wouldn't touch them. Mathieu's success has forced him to do away with that. Here's to hoping Nkemdiche -- the top-rated player on my big board heading into draft season back in January -- is one, too.

The text messages started last night. Both from teams and agents. Around dinner time Wednesday, it was "I'm hearing San Diego loves Ronnie Stanley." By midnight, it was "Nope, San Diego loves DeForest Buckner." On Thursday morning, the consensus was that the Chargers would take Buckner or Jalen Ramsey at No. 3. An hour before the draft, I heard it was back to Tunsil. Well, the Chargers took Joey Bosa. And apparently, he was their guy all along. Telesco learned the ropes in Indianapolis from Bill Polian, another guy who never showed his cards. Ever. Apparently, he learned well.

Telesco now gives head coach Mike McCoy and defensive coordinator John Pagano an elite pass rusher to work with alongside young studs Denzel Perryman and Melvin Ingram. Linebackers coach Bob Babich -- the same guy who got the very most out of Brian Urlacher in Chicago -- should play a big role in Bosa's development, too.

Glazer reported on our radio broadcast that the Bills were going back and forth between a few players in the days leading up to the NFL Draft, with Jack firmly one of the names in the conversation. Though it was speculated that Buffalo would take a quarterback at No. 19, that was never really a consideration. When Shaq Lawson started tumbling down the board and heading their way, Rex Ryan and the Bills front office couldn't go another direction.

A fun nugget: Rex's son, Seth, a wide receiver at Clemson, was on the same recruiting trip as Lawson four years ago. Rex has been watching the young man play for the past three years; if anyone knows what he can do at the next level, it's Buffalo's head coach. Lawson went to Buffalo at 19, and Jack slipped out of the first round.

Robert Nkemdiche

Carolina had its big board set and was pleasantly surprised to see Vernon Butler -- a guy it assumed would be gone by 30 -- slip all the way to that spot. In a draft rich with defensive line talent, the Panthers were able to sit back with the second-to-last pick of the round and watch as team after team bypassed the position to go in a different direction.

Butler, a Senior Bowl standout out of Louisiana Tech, can very well make an impact in Year 1. But the beautiful thing is that he doesn't necessarily have to. With Carolina's defensive tackle position loaded to the brim with Kawann Short and Star Lotulelei, Butler can be a rotational guy and learn from two greats. And, oh yeah, watch how Luke Kuechly, Thomas Davis, Charles Johnson, Shaq Thompson and Kony Ealy go about their work in the front seven every day. Home run pick by the Panthers.

One of the weirder storylines to emerge from Thursday's first round was the amount of highly regarded Alabama talent being bypassed. Kelly, the team's nasty center, went 18th to Indianapolis, as many expected he would. And that was it. Heisman Trophy winner Derrick Henry went undrafted, but even more surprising were the three players on the defensive side of the ball who were all expected to go somewhere in the 15-to-31 range. A'Shawn Robinson, Reggie Ragland and Jarran Reed all went the entire night without hearing their names called.

Ohio State had five first-rounders this year; Alabama had just one. The Big Ten scored a win over the SEC with that one. Perhaps the tide -- pun alert -- is turning.

There's always a story. Then there's the story behind the story. Then, there's the story behind the story, behind that story. It's no secret how the Bengals and Steelers feel about each other these days. And coming off arguably the most brutal wild-card game this league has ever seen -- one between two bitter division rivals that included multiple player ejections and foul play -- it's only perfect that the two franchises went to battle yet again in Thursday night's NFL Draft.

Unlike January's brutal playoff contest, this one took place in war rooms hundreds of miles from each other. Over the course of this year's draft process, it became no secret that the Steelers really liked William Jackson III, the electric cornerback out of Houston. They just didn't expect him to really still be on the board at 25. GM Kevin Colbert, head coach Mike Tomlin and defensive backs coach Carnell Lake all flew to Houston in March, took Jackson out to dinner and attended his Pro Day. They were fans.

Cincinnati, of course, went on the clock one pick before Pittsburgh. Though cornerback might not look like the biggest need on paper, the Bengals took a guy that may have very well been the top player on their board. They also knew Pittsburgh really liked Jackson. So, Cincinnati, with one pick, not only improved its own roster but also maybe kept its arch rival from getting the guy it would have loved to have seen drop. Pittsburgh went with Artie Burns, the burner out of Miami, a few minutes later. Tracking both cornerbacks' respective careers -- and playoff wins-- will be fun one in the years to come.