CHICAGO — All the speculation and feverish trade rumors went for naught as the first two picks of the NFL draft — and pretty much the first round as a whole — went true to form Thursday night.
The top two quarterback prospects available, Florida State’s Jameis Winston and Marcus Mariota of Oregon, went 1-2 to the Buccaneers and Titans after both clubs reportedly spurned lucrative trade offers.
It was the first time quarterbacks were taken with the first two picks since Andrew Luck and Robert Griffin III in 2012 and just the sixth time that has happened in draft history.
Tennessee was under the most pressure once Winston came off the board, with the Eagles — led by his former college coach, Chip Kelly — and Browns both making hard charges to move up to take Mariota.
NFL Network reported (and Kelly later denied) he was so desperate to land his former quarterback he offered Tennessee an astounding package of two first-rounders, a third-rounder, quarterback Sam Bradford and three defenders — tackle Fletcher Cox, cornerback Brandon Boykin and linebacker Mychael Kendricks.
Kelly reportedly also made a big offer to Tampa for the chance to grab Mariota No. 1 overall, but like the Titans, they ended up standing pat and going for their projected franchise passer.
Winston and Mariota won’t need to wait long to square off. The Buccaneers play host to the Titans in the season opener for both teams Sept. 13.
“Any time you get an opportunity to get a franchise quarterback, that we believe and are very confident is a franchise quarterback, it excites you,” Buccaneers general manager Jason Licht said after nabbing the controversial Winston. “He’s a champion, he’s a leader, he’s a winner, he’s got tremendous football character and tremendous intelligence and work ethic.”
Much of the first round was mild by recent standards, with few surprises other than USC defensive tackle Leonard Williams falling to the Jets a No. 6 as most teams stood pat and took the best player available.
The first trade (a swap between the 49ers and Chargers) wasn’t executed until the 15th pick, which meant there were no deals in the top 10 for the first time since 2010.
There were just two trades overall, in contrast to the average of 14 first-round deals over the previous three years. Even Bill Belichick and the Patriots, famous for trading down, stayed in place this time and took mammoth Texas defensive tackle Malcolm Brown with the last pick to replace Vince Wilfork.
The night was also something of a throwback affair as a running back was taken in the first round for the first time since 2012.
The position has been largely devalued with the NFL becoming an overwhelmingly pass-first league, but that didn’t keep the Rams from adding injury question Todd Gurley to their stable of backs with the 10th pick and San Diego trading up to take Wisconsin’s Melvin Gordon.
The biggest move of the night came from the Broncos, who gave up a fortune to the Lions for the chance to move up five spots and take Missouri defensive end Shane Ray No. 23 overall.
Ray’s stock had dropped when he was cited in Missouri just four days before the draft
for possessing 35 grams of marijuana, but that didn’t deter Denver — where pot is legal, incidentally — from giving up workhorse center Manny Ramirez, the 28th pick, a fifth-rounder this year and a fifth-rounder next year to take Ray.
Ray, Gurley and Gordon were all in attendance, unlike both Winston and Mariota. The two quarterbacks preferred to watch from hometown draft parties instead in moves that disappointed the league in its first non-New York draft since 1964.
Winston was among the most polarizing prospects in the entire draft, almost entirely because of concerns about his maturity and — above all — a 2012 rape allegation that is still alive in the form of a civil lawsuit.
Questions about Winston’s maturity only picked up steam Thursday, when he held an elaborate draft party for himself that included a red carpet, a photo background with his logo on it outside the building. The No. 1 pick only added to the controversy by posting a photo on social media late Thursday night posing with crabs legs — the same food he was citing for shoplifting last year.