Quarterbacks Williams, Daniels, Maye, Penix, McCarthy and Nix selected in top 12 of NFL draft

DETROIT (AP) — Caleb Williams swiftly walked on stage, looked out and screamed “Woooo! Yeah!”

Long-suffering Bears fans felt his joy.

Williams is heading to the Windy City, aiming to become the franchise quarterback Chicago has sought for decades.

“My goal is to get into as far as February as I can,” Williams said, referring to playing in a Super Bowl for a team that hasn't hoisted the Lombardi Trophy in nearly 40 years.

The 2022 Heisman Trophy winner kicked off an historic NFL draft Thursday night that had five other teams selecting quarterbacks among the top 12 picks, setting a record with five in the top 10 and tying a record for the most in the first round.

Nearly the entire first half of the draft was offensive players.

A defensive player wasn’t selected until UCLA edge rusher Laiatu Latu went at No. 15 to Indianapolis. That's the latest a first defensive player has ever gone.

The Bears opened with the easy choice, taking Williams at No. 1 after deciding weeks ago to bank on the 2022 Heisman Trophy winner from USC.

“Care, love and support and want to win,” Williams said about what he's bringing to Chicago.

The Washington Commanders followed up by taking 2023 Heisman Trophy winner Jayden Daniels from LSU and the New England Patriots took North Carolina's Drake Maye at No. 3, making it the fourth draft with quarterbacks going with the first three picks.

At No. 8, the Atlanta Falcons made a stunning decision to choose Washington QB Michael Penix Jr. despite signing Kirk Cousins to a massive contract in free agency. The Minnesota Vikings traded up one spot and took J.J. McCarthy, who led Michigan to a national championship, to make it five QBs in the top 10 for the first time.

The Denver Broncos chose Oregon's Bo Nix with the 12th pick, tying the 1983 draft with six QBs in the first round. Three of those became Hall of Famers — John Elway, Dan Marino and Jim Kelly.

The Arizona Cardinals snapped the early QB trend, choosing Ohio State wide receiver Marvin Harrison Jr. with the fourth pick. The Los Angeles Chargers opened the Jim Harbaugh era by taking Notre Dame offensive tackle Joe Alt instead of giving Justin Herbert a No. 1 wide receiver to replace Keenan Allen and Mike Williams.

The New York Giants then snatched up LSU receiver Malik Nabers at No. 6. The Tennessee Titans took Alabama offensive tackle J.C. Latham with the seventh pick and the Bears selected Washington wideout Rome Odunze at No. 9.

The New York Jets, who dropped to No. 11, chose offensive tackle Olu Fashanu, giving Aaron Rodgers more protection. The Las Vegas Raiders got Georgia tight end Brock Bowers at No. 13. The New Orleans Saints took Oregon State offensive tackle Taliese Fuaga with the 14th pick before the Colts grabbed Latu.

Previously, the latest a first defensive player was selected was No. 8. The Seattle Seahawks took Texas defensive tackle Byron Murphy next and the Vikings made another trade to move up and take Alabama edge Dallas Turner at No. 17.

The Cincinnati Bengals chose Georgia offensive tackle Amarius Mims and the Los Angeles Rams got Florida State edge Jared Verse at No. 19, the team's first selection in the first round since taking Jared Goff at No. 1 in 2016.

Wearing a navy suit with silver accents and flashing a big smile, Williams gave Roger Goodell a bear hug, careful not to squeeze too hard because the NFL commissioner had back surgery three weeks ago.

Rap icon Eminem walked on stage in a Lions sweatshirt and cap shortly after Goodell to start the festivities. The Motor City native riled up the fans before turning it over to Lions stars Goff, Aidan Hutchinson, Amon-Ra St. Brown and Hall of Famers Barry Sanders and Calvin Johnson.

St. Brown led them in chanting “Jar-ed Goff!” and Johnson kept it short: “Whaddup doe?”

An estimated crowd of 275,000, many wearing their Honolulu blue Lions jerseys, filled the streets surrounding the draft theater and turned the NFL’s biggest offseason event into a giant party.

They roared when the Lions moved up five spots in a trade with Dallas and took Alabama cornerback Terrion Arnold with the 24th pick.

The 22-year-old Williams is the third quarterback Chicago has selected in the first round in the past eight years, joining Mitch Trubisky and Justin Fields. They passed up on Bryce Young and C.J. Stroud last year and traded the No. 1 pick to Carolina in a blockbuster deal only to get the top choice this year after the Panthers went 2-15.

Williams shouted “Da Bears!” to finish his first news conference as a pro.

A dual-threat player with a strong arm and ability to improvise, Williams threw 93 touchdown passes and ran for 27 scores in three seasons at Oklahoma and USC.

The 23-year-old Daniels, who played three seasons at Arizona State and two at LSU, led the nation in total offense last season with 4,946 yards.

“I don’t let football define me, who I am as a human being,” Daniels said. "This is something I do and I’m passionate about it.”

Maye is the second QB the Patriots have selected in the first round since Tom Brady left. Mac Jones didn’t work out and now it’s Maye’s turn to be the man in a new era that starts without longtime coach Bill Belichick.

The Pittsburgh Steelers selected versatile Washington offensive lineman Troy Fautanu at No. 20. Penn State edge Chop Robinson went next to the Miami Dolphins and the Philadelphia Eagles went with Toledo cornerback Quinyon Mitchell.

Wide receiver Brian Thomas Jr. was chosen by the Jacksonville Jaguars at No. 23. After the Lions took Arnold, the Green Bay Packers selected Arizona offensive tackle Jordan Morgan and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers drafted Duke offensive lineman Graham Barton.

Missouri edge Darius Robinson went to Arizona. The two-time defending Super Bowl champion Kansas City Chiefs made a deal with AFC rival Buffalo to move up and take Texas wideout Xavier Worthy at No. 28.

The Cowboys chose Oklahoma offensive tackle Tyler Guyton and the Baltimore Ravens got Clemson defensive back Nate Wiggins.

The defending NFC champion San Francisco 49ers added another playmaker, taking Florida wideout Ricky Pearsall and the Carolina Panthers made a trade to get South Carolina wideout Xavier Legette with the last pick of the first round at No. 32.

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Washington wide receiver Rome Odunze, left, poses with NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell after being chosen by the Chicago Bears with the ninth overall pick during the first round of the NFL football draft, Thursday, April 25, 2024, in Detroit. (AP Photo/Jeff Roberson)

Alabama offensive lineman JC Latham poses with NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell, right, after being chosen by the Tennessee Titans with the seventh overall pick during the first round of the NFL football draft, Thursday, April 25, 2024, in Detroit. (AP Photo/Jeff Roberson)

LSU wide receiver Malik Nabers poses after being chosen by the New York Giants with the sixth overall pick during the first round of the NFL football draft, Thursday, April 25, 2024, in Detroit. (AP Photo/Jeff Roberson)

Ohio State wide receiver Marvin Harrison Jr. poses with NFL commissioner Roger Goodell after being chosen by the Arizona Cardinals with the fourth overall pick during the first round of the NFL football draft, Thursday, April 25, 2024, in Detroit. (AP Photo/Jeff Roberson)

North Carolina quarterback Drake Maye poses with NFL commissioner Roger Goodell after being chosen by the New England Patriots with the third overall pick during the first round of the NFL football draft, Thursday, April 25, 2024, in Detroit. (AP Photo/Jeff Roberson)

LSU quarterback Jayden Daniels poses with NFL commissioner Roger Goodell after being chosen by the Washington Commanders with the second overall pick during the first round of the NFL football draft, Thursday, April 25, 2024, in Detroit. (AP Photo/Jeff Roberson)

Southern California quarterback Caleb Williams celebrates with NFL commissioner Roger Goodell after being chosen by the Chicago Bears with the first overall pick during the first round of the NFL football draft, Thursday, April 25, 2024, in Detroit. (AP Photo/Jeff Roberson)

USC quarterback Caleb Williams reacts after a throw during an NFL Football Play Football Prospect Clinic with Special Olympics athletes, Wednesday, April 24, 2024 in Detroit. (AP Photo/Carlos Osorio)

Southern California quarterback Caleb Williams, center, poses on the red carpet ahead of the first round of the NFL football draft, Thursday, April 25, 2024, in Detroit. (AP Photo/Carlos Osorio)

Southern California quarterback Caleb Williams poses on the red carpet ahead of the first round of the NFL football draft, Thursday, April 25, 2024, in Detroit. (AP Photo/Carlos Osorio)

TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) — Israel ordered the local offices of Qatar's Al Jazeera satellite news network to close Sunday, escalating a long-running feud between the broadcaster and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's hard-line government as Doha-mediated cease-fire negotiations with Hamas hang in the balance.

The extraordinary order, which includes confiscating broadcast equipment, preventing the broadcast of the channel’s reports and blocking its websites, is believed to be the first time Israel has ever shuttered a foreign news outlet.

Al Jazeera went off Israel’s main cable and satellite providers in the hours after the order. However, its website and multiple online streaming links still operated Sunday.

The network has reported the Israeli-Hamas war nonstop since the militants' initial cross-border attack Oct. 7 and has maintained 24-hour coverage in the Gaza Strip amid Israel's grinding ground offensive that has killed and wounded members of its own staff. While including on-the-ground reporting of the war's casualties, its Arabic arm often publishes verbatim video statements from Hamas and other militant groups in the region.

“Al Jazeera reporters harmed Israel’s security and incited against soldiers,” Netanyahu said in a statement. “It’s time to remove the Hamas mouthpiece from our country.”

Al Jazeera issued a statement vowing it will “pursue all available legal channels through international legal institutions in its quest to protect both its rights and journalists, as well as the public’s right to information.”

“Israel’s ongoing suppression of the free press, seen as an effort to conceal its actions in the Gaza Strip, stands in contravention of international and humanitarian law,” the network said. “Israel’s direct targeting and killing of journalists, arrests, intimidation and threats will not deter Al Jazeera."

The Israeli government has taken action against individual reporters over the decades since its founding in 1948, but broadly allows for a rambunctious media scene that includes foreign bureaus from around the world, even from Arab nations.

That changed with a law passed last month, which Netanyahu's office says allows the government to take action against a foreign channel seen as “harming the country.”

Israeli Communication Minister Shlomo Karhi later published footage online of authorities raiding a hotel room Al Jazeera had been broadcasting from in east Jerusalem, which the Palestinians hope to one day have for their future state. He said officials seized some of the channel's equipment there.

“We finally are able to stop Al Jazeera’s well-oiled incitement machine that harms the security of the country,” Karhi said. His office said it would bar Al Jazeera from operating in Israel for at least 45 days, a measure that can be renewed.

The ban did not appear to affect the channel’s operations in the occupied West Bank or Gaza Strip, where Israel wields control but which are not sovereign Israeli territory.

The decision threatens to heighten tensions with Qatar at a time when the Doha government is playing a key role in mediation efforts to halt the war in Gaza, along with Egypt and the United States.

Qatar has had strained ties with Netanyahu in particular since he made comments suggesting that Qatar is not exerting enough pressure on Hamas to prompt it to relent in its terms for a truce deal. Qatar hosts Hamas leaders in exile at a political office in Doha.

The sides appear to be close to striking a deal, but multiple previous rounds of talks have ended with no agreement.

In a statement Sunday, Hamas condemned the Israeli government order, calling on international organizations to take measures against Israel.

The Foreign Press Association in Israel criticized the order.

“With this decision, Israel joins a dubious club of authoritarian governments to ban the station,” it said. “This is a dark day for the media.” The New York-based Committee to Project Journalists similarly warned the move represented an “extremely alarming precedent for restricting international media outlets working in Israel.”

Omar Shakir, Human Rights Watch’s Israel and Palestine director, criticized the Israeli order as “an assault on freedom of the press.”

“Rather than trying to silence reporting on its atrocities in Gaza, the Israeli government should stop committing them,” he added.

Israel has long had a rocky relationship with Al Jazeera, accusing it of bias. Relations took a major downturn nearly two years ago when Al Jazeera correspondent Shireen Abu Akleh was killed during an Israeli military raid in the occupied West Bank.

Those relations further deteriorated following the outbreak of Israel’s war against Hamas on Oct. 7, when the militant group carried out a cross-border attack in southern Israel that killed 1,200 people and took 250 others hostage. Since then, the Israeli military campaign in Gaza has killed over 34,000 people, according to local health officials there, who don't break figures down into civilians and combatants.

Israeli media largely has avoided the plight of those in the Gaza Strip, instead focusing on the Oct. 7 attack, the hostages held there and tales of Israeli military heroism.

Meanwhile in December, an Israeli strike killed an Al Jazeera cameraman as he reported on the war in southern Gaza. The channel’s bureau chief in Gaza, Wael Dahdouh, was wounded in the same attack. Dahdouh, a correspondent well-known to Palestinians during many wars, later evacuated Gaza but only after Israeli strikes killed his wife, three of his children and a grandson.

Al Jazeera is one of the few international media outlets to remain in Gaza throughout the war, broadcasting bloody scenes of airstrikes and overcrowded hospitals and accusing Israel of massacres.

Criticism of the channel is not new, however. The U.S. government singled out the broadcaster during America’s occupation of Iraq after its 2003 invasion toppled dictator Saddam Hussein and for airing videos of the late al-Qaida chief Osama bin Laden.

Al Jazeera has been closed or blocked by other Mideast governments.

Most notably in 2013, Egyptian authorities raided a luxury hotel used by Al Jazeera as an operating base after the military takeover that followed mass protests against President Mohammed Morsi. Three Al Jazeera staff members received 10-year prison sentences, but were released in 2015 following widespread international criticism.

Gambrell reported from Jerusalem. Associated Press writer Jack Jeffrey in Jerusalem contributed.

The office of late Al Jazeera network journalist Shireen Abu Akleh is decorated with memorial items, inside the network's office, in the West Bank city of Ramallah Sunday, May 5, 2024. Israel ordered the local offices of Qatar's Al Jazeera satellite news network to close Sunday, escalating a long-running feud between the broadcaster and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's hard-line government as Doha-mediated cease-fire negotiations with Hamas hang in the balance. (AP Photo/Nasser Nasser)

Palestinian politics analyst Nehad Abu Ghoush is live at Al Jazeera broadcast inside the network's office in the West Bank city of Ramallah Sunday, May 5, 2024. Israel ordered the local offices of Qatar's Al Jazeera satellite news network to close Sunday, escalating a long-running feud between the broadcaster and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's hard-line government as Doha-mediated cease-fire negotiations with Hamas hang in the balance. (AP Photo/Nasser Nasser)

The office of late Al Jazeera network journalist Shireen Abu Akleh is decorated with memorial items, inside the network's office, in the West Bank city of Ramallah Sunday, May 5, 2024. Israel ordered the local offices of Qatar's Al Jazeera satellite news network to close Sunday, escalating a long-running feud between the broadcaster and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's hard-line government as Doha-mediated cease-fire negotiations with Hamas hang in the balance. (AP Photo/Nasser Nasser)

A corner is dedicated for late Al Jazeera network journalist Shireen Abu Akleh inside the network's office, in the West Bank city of Ramallah Sunday, May 5, 2024. Israel ordered the local offices of Qatar's Al Jazeera satellite news network to close Sunday, escalating a long-running feud between the broadcaster and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's hard-line government as Doha-mediated cease-fire negotiations with Hamas hang in the balance. (AP Photo/Nasser Nasser)

International correspondent of Al Jazeera English Zein Basravi reports live from the network's office in the West Bank city of Ramallah Sunday, May 5, 2024. Israel ordered the local offices of Qatar's Al Jazeera satellite news network to close Sunday, escalating a long-running feud between the broadcaster and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's hard-line government as Doha-mediated cease-fire negotiations with Hamas hang in the balance. (AP Photo/Nasser Nasser)

Al Jazeera network office in the West Bank city of Ramallah Sunday, May 5, 2024. Israel ordered the local offices of Qatar's Al Jazeera satellite news network to close Sunday, escalating a long-running feud between the broadcaster and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's hard-line government as Doha-mediated cease-fire negotiations with Hamas hang in the balance. (AP Photo/Nasser Nasser)

Al Jazeera cameraman Zaid Aqrat works at his network's office in the West Bank city of Ramallah Sunday, May 5, 2024. Israel ordered the local offices of Qatar's Al Jazeera satellite news network to close Sunday, escalating a long-running feud between the broadcaster and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's hard-line government as Doha-mediated cease-fire negotiations with Hamas hang in the balance. (AP Photo/Nasser Nasser)

Al Jazeera broadcast engineer Mohammad Salameh works at the Master Control Room unit inside the network's office in the West Bank city of Ramallah Sunday, May 5, 2024. Israel ordered the local offices of Qatar's Al Jazeera satellite news network to close Sunday, escalating a long-running feud between the broadcaster and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's hard-line government as Doha-mediated cease-fire negotiations with Hamas hang in the balance. (AP Photo/Nasser Nasser)

FILE - Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu attends a press conference in the Kirya military base in Tel Aviv, Israel on Oct. 28, 2023. Netanyahu pledged Tuesday, April 30 to launch an incursion into the southern Gaza city of Rafah, where hundreds of thousands of Palestinians are sheltering from the almost 7-month-long war, just as cease-fire negotiations between Israel and Hamas appear to be gaining steam. (Abir Sultan/Pool Photo via AP, File)