The 2024 NFL Draft is now a thing of the past, and with it comes another year and another dominating performance by the SEC. While the SEC dominated the draft and the 1st round, a few other standouts emerged as well. Namely, Michigan, Texas, Florida State, and the conference formerly known as the Pac-12 (RIP).
What you’ll find below are a plethora of graphs that give you a bit more detail than what you can find in other places. You can see which teams by conference sent players to the draft.
Let’s dive in for a deeper look.
Overall 2024 NFL Draft Breakdown
First, let’s take a look at the overall breakdown of the 2024 NFL Draft – what conferences were the most abundant in draft picks. Then, we’ll take a look at the 1st round and the 1st – 3rd rounds and see what percentage of the picks were made up by each conference.
2024 NFL Draft # of Picks by Conference
From the graph below, you’ll note that the SEC led the way with 59 picks. The conference that was formerly known as the Pac-12 had a stellar year and came in 2nd with 43 picks. Oregon and Washington helped lead the way there, but more on that in a minute.
Data come from @cfbFastR
The Big Ten and the ACC followed with 42 and 41 picks respectively. Last among the P5 conferences was the Big 12, which sent 31 picks to the draft. This was the first year that the Big 12 had a comparative amount of teams as the 3 of the other P5 conferences.
An interesting way to look at the pick breakdown amongst the P5 conferences is the ratio of picks to teams in the conference. The Picks to Teams Ratio divides the number of picks by the number of teams. It is another way to say the average number of picks per team (though, some teams didn’t send picks, so the average among teams that did send picks is actually higher). See the table below.
| Conference | Picks | Teams in the Conference | Picks to Teams Ratio |
| SEC | 59 | 14 | 4.2 |
| Pac-12 | 43 | 12 | 3.6 |
| Big Ten | 42 | 14 | 3 |
| ACC | 41 | 14 | 2.9 |
| Big 12 | 31 | 14 | 2.2 |
On a per team basis, the SEC was still sending quite a bit more players, almost twice as many, as the Big 12. And, that story is going to be more intriguing once you see the breakdown of picks by team within each conference.
A few other notes to call out – The FBS Independents include Notre Dame, which sent 7 picks to the draft. Then, the mighty Sun Belt came in with 6 picks! Not bad – the shout out to the Sun Belt. That was comprised of Troy (2 picks), Marshall (2 picks), Louisiana (1 pick), and Georgia State (1 pick).
Percentage of the 2024 NFL Draft 1st Round by Conference
When we look at the first round from this year’s draft, we see that the SEC led the way and accounted for a third of the picks (11 picks). The Pac-12 was then second (8 picks) and accounted for 25% of the picks. So, between the two, they made up about 60% of the 1st round.
The ACC and Big Ten each had 4 picks and accounted for 13% while the Big 12 had 3 picks and accounted for 9% of the 1st round. In terms of top end talent, the SEC and the Pac-12 were miles ahead of the other three power conferences.
Data come from @cfbFastR
As you start to look at the schools that comprised the first round of the draft, then you see that both the SEC and the Pac-12 were represented by 6 teams each, whilst the other 3 power conferences had picks a bit more concentrated within fewer teams.
Perhaps the surprise here is that Toledo, a Group of 5 conference, had a draft pick in the 1st round.
Data come from @cfbFastR
Percentage of the 2024 NFL Draft Rounds 1-3 by Conference
As you expand the view to the first three rounds, then the SEC’s dominance is still there though it is not as pronounced. In a sense. 25% of the first three rounds is still a tremendous share of the draft market that the SEC sends to the NFL.
Data come from @cfbFastR
The Big Ten had almost half of their picks go in the top 3 rounds, which indicates that while the Pac-12 had more total draft picks, their picks were generally lower than the Big Ten’s picks.
Of note, the SEC had about 66% more picks within rounds 1-3 than the ACC and nearly double the amount of the Big 12.
Data come from @cfbfastR
2024 NFL Draft breakdown by Conference
Now, I’m sure you were wondering what the breakout was by conference. Did your school get more players drafted than your in-state or conference rivals? I’ve got you covered. Below are charts that show the breakdown by each of the power 5 conferences and then the Group of 5 + Independents.
SEC
Alabama, Georgia, LSU, and Missouri led the way. Every school except for Vanderbilt sent a player to the draft. Interestingly to me, while Auburn and Texas A&M struggled, they still sent a good amount of players to the NFL. Surprising was Ole Miss, which went 11-2 and only had three players drafted.
Data come from @cfbfastR
Pac-12
Washington and Oregon, the two best teams in the conference last year, led the way with 18 picks between the two. USC and Utah, which had decent but not great seasons, were the next two teams. Note that Colorado and Arizona State are missing from this list of teams. I suspect that will change for Colorado in 2025 if Shadeur Sanders and Travis Hunter both go to the 2025 NFL Draft.
Data come from @cfbfastR
Big Ten
Michigan, Ohio State, and Penn State leading the conference is not surprising…After all, Michigan won the National Championship with a loaded team. Penn State, despite their struggles against the Wolverines and the Buckeyes, had a very talented team and got 8 players drafted. But Ohio State? Only 4 players drafted…? That was a surprise.
Note that Iowa, the other team in the Big Ten title game, sent 4 players, which is not bad at all. Indiana, Nebraska, and Northwestern are all missing from this list.
Data come from @cfbfastR
ACC
The Florida State Seminoles sent 10 players who got drafted. That doesn’t surprise me at all. What did surprise me was seeing Clemson send 6 players drafted. And, by Clemson’s standards over the past 10 seasons, the 2023 season was a dumpster fire. Miami and Louisville also sent a decent amount of talent. I expect Miami to continue to send more talent over the next few years.
If you had any question whether Florida State was back…I think they are back to being very competitive. As far as schools missing from the list, Georgia Tech, Syracuse, and Virginia Tech
Data come from @cfbfastR
Big 12
Well, the picture here is of Texas. One of the best teams in the country, and they sent 11 people who were drafted. They’ll likely send a healthy number of players next year too. They were a very talented team. Oklahoma had a 10 win season, and yet, they only sent 3 players drafted. But, that is likely a vestige of what was left in the cupboards when Brent Venables got to Norman.
After Texas, the drop off is steep. Of the new incoming schools, Utah was at the highest with 5 draft picks, but it is feasible to say that there will continue to be a larger gap between the Big 12 and the other power conferences going forward.
Data come from @cfbfastR
Group of 5 + Independents
Notre Dame is the leader here. Seven draft picks is a healthy amount of picks for a team that received very little notice this year (relatively speaking). I’ll point out that there were four G5 teams that had multiple draft picks (UTEP, Tulane, Troy, and Marshall). That is really impressive work by those schools.
Even more impressive is that South Dakota State, the FCS champion, had two draft picks as well. Then, there were a slew of teams that sent 1 player. Most notable to me were England, British Columbia, and the Toronto Argonauts (clearly all players who came from outside of college football).
Data come from @cfbfastR
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