The wait for a defensive player to be selected in the first round of the 2024 NFL Draft has come to an end.
Former UCLA edge rusher Laiatu Latu was taken by the Colts with the 15th overall pick in Detroit on Thursday night. The run of 14 straight offensive players to open a draft is the longest in NFL history.
Latu played two years at Washington before transferring to UCLA and breaking out in 2022. He had 10.5 sacks that year and jumped up to 13 sacks in 2023.
That jump came after Latu thought his football career might be over due to a neck injury that kept him out in 2021, but he was eventually cleared to return and now he’ll be part of the pass rush in Indianapolis.