Black and gold shared the spotlight with scarlet and gray at the top of the NFL Draft.
Pittsburgh Steelers fans showed up on the North Shore by the thousands for the first round of the draft, which was held Thursday night outside Acrisure Stadium. While Steeler Nation was represented by the Terrible Towel-waving crowd, the Ohio State Buckeyes were a frequent presence on the stage.
Four Ohio State players were picked in the top 11, including three of the first seven selections.
“The Ohio State brotherhood is incomparable,” said safety Caleb Downs, who went No. 11 to Dallas. “There are people I can call on from guys that played 20 years ago to guys I played with today. Just being part of that and knowing I have people I can trust believe in me and I can call on anytime is an awesome feeling.”
The run on Ohio State players began at No. 4 with wide receiver Carnell Tate going to Tennessee. Teammate Arvell Reese, an edge rusher, went next to the New York Giants. Two picks later, Washington took linebacker Sonny Styles.
The first round featured several trades, including one that potentially cost the Steelers a top-flight wide receiver. The Philadelphia Eagles traded into the No. 20 spot, one ahead of the Steelers, to take USC wide receiver Makai Lemon, viewed as perhaps the top pass catcher in the draft.
Holding the next pick, the Steelers selected Arizona State tackle Max Iheanachor. He became the sixth tackle and seventh offensive lineman taken in the opening round.
For the first time, in an attempt to speed up the proceedings, teams had eight minutes to make their selections, down two minutes from previous years. That meant hugs came fast and furious for commissioner Roger Goodell. The top half of the round took little more than 90 minutes to complete.
The top pick, Indiana quarterback Fernando Mendoza, opted to spend draft night with his family in Coral Gables, Fla. As expected, he went to the Las Vegas Raiders.
His absence — 17 draft picks attended the draft — meant that Texas A&M edge rusher David Bailey was the first player to accept the hug from Goodell. He was taken by the New York Jets at No. 2.
“It’s surreal to me,” Bailey said.
The Arizona Cardinals made Notre Dame’s Jeremiyah Love the highest-drafted running back in eight years when they selected him third.
Love became the first running back to go in the top five since Penn State’s Saquon Barkley went No. 2 to the New York Giants in 2018.
The first surprise of the opening round came when Tennessee spurned Jordyn Tyson and Lemon in favor of Tate.
Tate became the sixth Ohio State receiver to be selected in the first round in the past five years, joining Emeka Egbuka, Marvin Harrison Jr., Jaxon Smith-Njigba, Garrett Wilson and Chris Olave.
The Kansas City Chiefs pulled off the first trade on draft night, acquiring the No. 6 pick from Cleveland. The Chiefs moved up to take LSU defensive back Mansoor Delane. Styles became the third former Buckeyes player to be drafted in a four-pick span when he went to Washington.
After New Orleans drafted Tyson at No. 8, boos greeted the Cleveland Browns when their logo flashed on the screen. The Browns made Utah’s Spencer Fano the first tackle to be picked, and the Giants made Miami’s Francis Mauigoa the second, completing the top 10.
The second trade was consummated when Dallas swapped slots with Miami and picked Downs.
The Dolphins used the No. 12 pick to continue to run on tackles, selecting Alabama’s Kadyn Proctor.
Arguably the biggest draft shocker came when the Los Angeles Rams selected Alabama quarterback Ty Simpson at No. 13. Simpson was viewed by draft analysts as a potential late first-round selection at best, and the Rams have defending NFL MVP Matthew Stafford at quarterback.
Jeers greeted the Baltimore Ravens’ pick at No. 14, and they intensified when the selection was Penn State guard Olaivavega Ioane, a player projected as a good fit for the Steelers.
The first tight end taken was Oregon’s Kenyon Sadiq at No. 16 by the Jets, completing the top half of the round.
Steelers defensive captains Cameron Heyward and T.J. Watt accompanied Goodell onto the stage to open the draft. Their presence couldn’t keep the crowd, which Goodell estimated at 300,000, from greeting the commish with his customary boos.
Goodell played along and encouraged the fans to boo louder.
Heyward then welcomed a quintet of Steelers legends onto the stage: Lynn Swann, Hines Ward, Mel Blount, Ben Roethlisberger and, finally, Terry Bradshaw.
Hall of Fame running back Jerome Bettis announced the Steelers’ selection of Iheanachor.