As expected, Carolina takes Newton first

Associated Press

NEW YORK

Cam Newton’s selection as the No. 1 pick was perhaps the only predictable element of this most unusual NFL draft.

While the league’s labor dispute played out in the courts, and the commissioner struggled to speak over a howling crowd chanting “We want football,” the draft got under way Thursday night with a few surprises.

Newton was not one of them.

The Auburn quarterback and Heisman Trophy winner went to the Carolina Panthers —the worst team in the league — and vowed to immediately fix that. Newton led Auburn to an undefeated season and its first national championship since 1957.

“I’m ready to change this whole organization around, to go from worst to first,” he said. “Just being a Panther is the most special part about this.”

Not so special but certainly unusual was commissioner Roger Goodell getting booed as he prepared to conduct a moment of silence for victims of the devastating storms that ripped through the South. He responded to their chants for football by saying, “I hear you. So do I.”

Then he was bear-hugged by a player who is suing the league.

With the second pick, Denver took Texas A&M linebacker Von Miller, a plaintiff in the antitrust lawsuit players filed to block the lockout. He strode across the stage with tears in his eyes and embraced Goodell.

“I’ve never had anything against Roger Goodell,” Miller said. “I just want to make sure football continues to get played. When I walked across the stage, I was meeting the commissioner. That was it.”

With the third pick, Buffalo selected Alabama nose tackle Marcell Dareus, who gave Goodell an even bigger hug. Of course, Dareus weighs 308 pounds, about 70 more than Miller — and at least 100 more than Goodell.

“I wanted to give him a hug because I finally made it to the big dance,” Dareus said.

Cincinnati, perhaps calling the bluff of quarterback Carson Palmer, who is demanding a trade, instead took the top receiver in this crop, A.J. Green of Georgia.

Arizona, also in need of a quarterback, selected the top cornerback available, Patrick Peterson of LSU.

Just six picks in, Atlanta cut a massive deal with Cleveland and moved up from No. 27 to grab Alabama receiver Julio Jones — the fifth Southeastern Conference player in the first six.

“We knew it was going to be an aggressive move and cost us,” Falcons GM Thomas Dimitroff said. “As an organization we felt very strongly about the move.”

The Jaguars moved up six slots for Missouri’s Blaine Gabbert, dealing their first-round pick and a second-rounder to Washington.

Super Bowl champion Green Bay concluded the 31/2-hour first round by taking Mississippi State tackle Derek Sherrod.