Not long now until the Bears make the first pick at 01:00 BST. Buckle in for the ride!

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The draft can be a lottery. For all the scouting which is done on draft prospects, there really is no guarantee which players will boom or bust. Former San Francisco 49ers offensive tackle Joe Staley has "seen it from all sides" having spent 13 years in the NFL before retiring in 2020.

He told BBC Sport: "I've seen guys that have not even been drafted enjoying 10 to 15-year careers in the NFL and I’ve seen guys that are getting drafted in the top 10 and they're out of the NFL within four years.

"If I look back at the commonality between those players, the ones that make it are the guys that really understand routine and how to be consistent and professional, and the guys that don't aren’t putting in the work off the field.

"You really do have to love it. It's the same for any profession, whether it’s working in business or a hospital. To be great at anything you really have to have a desire and love for what you do. I think that’s really hard for a lot of people identify - if this person really, genuinely loves football and the game."

Hype is building around the University of Washington wide receiver, a probable first-round pick.

NFL pundit Ian Rapoport on Sky Sports: "Scouts absolutely love him, but there's a possibility he gets to around nine or 10. The Indianapolis Colts are the kind of team looking at him. Odunze is that good a player, he is worth drafting up for."

NFL fans certainly like to dress up for the occasion. I'm loving these diamond-studded helmets.

There are apparently 150,000 fans in attendance tonight at the draft in Detroit!

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One of the reasons Tom Brady and Brock Purdy were overlooked in the draft for so long was because NFL scouts were concerned about their athleticism.

But former San Francisco 49ers offensive tackle Joe Staley told BBC Sport: "The jump from the college game to the NFL is more mental than physical. The processing has to happen so much quicker.

"From a players' perspective, you want a quarterback who has a calm confidence and is dependable and consistent, and for Brock to show that early [in his career] speaks to his character.

"That's really hard to find and the Niners have done a great job of late in identifying those qualities in him and other guys that have maybe not been the most talented or physically gifted coming out of college."

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Tom Brady went on to win six Super Bowls with the New England Patriots - then another in 2021 as he finished his career with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

The Patriots may have pulled off the biggest draft steal ever in 2000 by selecting a guy no-one else wanted but they had six picks themselves before taking Brady with the 199th.

The Patriots' former director of player personnel Scott Pioli told BBC Sport: “Most of what we liked about Tommy at the time was his developmental skills and developmental make-up. People call them intangibles – things like intelligence, work ethic, focus. We thought that in time, in our programme, he would develop.

"If we knew what he would become, of course we would have drafted him earlier, so I refuse to give us that much credit for doing what we did - we weren't that smart either, right?"

Drafting a quarterback was not a priority for the New England Patriots in 2000 as they already had three. But with Tom Brady still available late in the sixth round, they decided to pick him anyway.

"When you're drafting and building your roster, you have to focus on a combination of best player available and what your team needs are, so you kind of go back and forth on certain things," the Patriots' former director of player personnel Scott Pioli told BBC Sport.

"Although we started talking about Brady in the fourth round, we had other players that we felt were equally as good at their positions that could help us, so we passed him by a couple of times.

"But when we got to pick 199, we had him in a spot on the board all alone by himself. We had these other players that we liked, but we're like 'this guy is too high a value to go past again. We know we have three quarterbacks already but there's a lot of things we like about him'."

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One of the most curious cases of draft history is Tom Brady not being selected until the 199th pick in 2000. Yet he went on to win a record seven Super Bowls and become the NFL's greatest of all-time.

As a former director of player personnel for the New England Patriots, Scott Pioli was in their 'war room' that day. He told BBC Sport: "He was a player that we liked, but clearly didn't love - or we would have picked him sooner.

"We had a good grade on Brady and started talking about him seriously in the fourth round - but not just him. You always talk about a group of players because you don't know who's going to disappear off the board before you pick."

We're on the countdown to the draft getting fully underway at 01:00 BST.

We want to hear from you throughout the night and your thoughts on the draft.

Who would your number one pick be? What about the most underrated or overrated players that are set to be picked early in this year's draft?

Get in touch with us using our usual channels and have your say on day one of the 2024 NFL draft.

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Phil Savage has plenty of experience of being in a 'war room', where team staff decide on who they're going to pick as the draft unfolds. The New York Jets’ senior football advisor told BBC Sport: "I'd say the public perception of the war room is that it's very chaotic, that it's like the New York Stock Exchange, with a lot of energy and papers flying everywhere. But it's really not like that at all, especially in the positive experiences I've had through the years.

"Your preparation is so detailed and you're so confident in the plan that you've put together that it's actually very quiet. Usually there are some good discussions about how the players are starting to peel off the board and what your thought process is as you're getting closer to the pick.

"Are you going to trade down? Now the phones rings and two or three teams are offering to move into your spot. That's where the excitement comes in and that's where you can get some anxious moments because there is a clock involved."

This could be a big draft for the New York Jets. Phil Savage was part of the staff that selected Sauce Gardner and Garrett Wilson in the top 10 in 2022 - and they went on to win that season's Defensive and Offensive Player of the Year awards, respectively.

Now star quarterback Aaron Rodgers is back from injury so could the players they add this year be the final pieces that end the NFL's longest active play-off drought of 13 years?

Savage, the Jets' senior football advisor, told BBC Sport: "It should be fun, we're sitting in a good spot at number 10. There are going to be a cluster of players that we like, that we feel can help us. It'll be interesting to see how it all shakes out.

"Do we move up? Do we move back? We don't have a second-round pick so there could be some attraction there for us to try to slide back and maybe pick up another choice within the first three rounds and give us more of a complete draft, if you will.

"The challenge for us will be who's actually available at 10 and are you willing to trade away from that player and get potentially two players? Are they more valuable than the one that you can take at 10? That's the debate we're still having and we'll see how it all plays out."

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NFL analyst Phoebe Schecter urged caution for those teams hoping to land an NFL-ready quarterback early in this year's draft. Last year's number one pick Bryce Young had a difficult rookie season, for example, while the number two pick CJ Stroud was named Offensive Rookie of the Year.

Schecter told BBC Sport: "It was quite unusual for CJ Stroud to be as successful as he was (as a quarterback in his rookie year).

"There's still that conversation about whether teams sit a guy for a year or two, like what happened with Jordan Love and Patrick Mahomes, or do you just throw them in and let them figure it out?

"There's different learning styles and you just never know how guys will end up. Look at Sam Darnold and Zach Wilson, it doesn't always work in their favour. Kenny Pickett too. He still has time, but it doesn't always translate to the NFL."

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There were no doubts over Randy Moss' talent in 1998 but there were concerns over his off-field issues.

The Dallas Cowboys were particularly interested in the wide receiver and had a chance to take him at number eight. They passed up on it though, and that made other teams pay heed to red flags.

Moss eventually fell to 21 before the Minnesota Vikings felt he was worth the risk and it paid off handsomely. The Vikings played Dallas in the Thanksgiving game that year, with Moss going into the Cowboys' house and scoring three touchdowns.

He continued to haunt them throughout his career and he's now in the Hall of Fame as well as sitting fourth on the all-time list for receiving yards. After winning three Super Bowls in 90s, Dallas didn't win another play-off game for 12 years.

Phoebe Schecter
NFL analyst

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Malik Nabers (LSU) and another receiver, Marvin Harrison Jr (Ohio State), look really good. I think receivers now are kind of determining a new style of play in the NFL.

Look at the way that young, rookie receivers have made an impact, guys like Tank Dell and Nico Collins (both Houston Texans). They've just come in and started playing, they've been incredible.

They have that fast twitch [reaction speed], their size and build, and their ability to make contested catches - that makes them very exciting, looking at where the league is going from a passing situation.

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Caleb Williams is the consensus pick as the overall number one selection for the Chicago Bears tonight - and a player the team hopes can be the face of the franchise for years to come.

The Heisman Trophy winner is already a celebrity after a stellar career in college, with a larger than life personality off the field and a tremendous talent on it.

He's also one of the first college stars entering the NFL already set for life, as a change is rules allowing college players to earn money before turning pro means he's already cashed in to the tune of a reported $10m.

Already a star, if he can turn the underachieving famous old franchise in Chicago he'll become a legend.

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Here's the running order for tonight with who owns all 32 first-round picks, so you can work out when your team will be on the clock later.

The Carolina Panthers, Cleveland Browns and Houston Texans are all without a first-round pick so will just be watching tonight - unless they make a trade!

The Chicago Bears are in the driving seat with not only the first pick but also the ninth, while the Arizona Cardinals (picks four and 27) and the Minnesota Vikings (11 and 23) have two first-round picks so can either select two elite talents or look to trade down for a collection of lower round picks.

1) Chicago Bears (from Carolina)

2) Washington Commanders

3) New England Patriots

4) Arizona Cardinals

5) Los Angeles Chargers

6) New York Giants

7) Tennessee Titans

8) Atlanta Falcons

9) Chicago Bears

10) New York Jets

11) Minnesota Vikings

12) Denver Broncos

13) Las Vegas Raiders

14) New Orleans Saints

15) Indianapolis Colts

16) Seattle Seahawks

17) Jacksonville Jaguars

18) Cincinnati Bengals

19) Los Angeles Rams

20) Pittsburgh Steelers

21) Miami Dolphins

22) Philadelphia Eagles

23) Minnesota Vikings (from Cleveland through Houston)

24) Dallas Cowboys

25) Green Bay Packers

26) Tampa Bay Buccaneers

27) Arizona Cardinals (from Houston)

28) Buffalo Bills

29) Detroit Lions

30) Baltimore Ravens

31) San Francisco 49ers

32) Kansas City Chiefs

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As we've said, there's 257 picks this year over seven rounds and three days - but tonight's the big one with the first round taking place in Detroit.

They'll pick in the reverse order of how they finished last season, so the Super Bowl winners, the Kansas City Chiefs, pick last and the team with the worst record, the Carolina Panthers, get the first pick.

However, after the Panthers traded up last year to take Bryce Young, the Chicago Bears get their pick this year, which just so happens to be pick number one!

Find out more about the draft here.

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Welcome NFL fans, it's been a minute since the Super Bowl, but we're back with the second-biggest day of the year - and one that's full of hope for all 32 teams in the league.

There's 257 college hopefuls about to achieve their dreams of making the NFL, while fans of every single team are hoping that they can select that one game-changing player that could be their next big super star.

So who will win the draft? Who will go first pick? And who will make the biggest trade to jump up and grab their man?

We'll take you through the entire first round tonight, plus before that first pick comes in we'll run through some of the top prospects this year, some memorable moments and memorable picks (good and bad) from years gone by - so sit back and follow all the action from Detroit with us tonight.