CHICAGO — The NFL draft went true to expected form for all of two picks Thursday night.

The Rams and Eagles went with quarterbacks they hope will lead them back to the playoffs, with Los Angeles grabbing Cal’s Jared Goff and Philadelphia following soon after by snaring Carson Wentz of North Dakota State.

“To be able to stay in my home state and play in a great city like Los Angeles is a dream come true,” Goff said. “I’m very excited.”

It marked the second consecutive year quarterbacks were taken Nos. 1-2 in the draft and the third time since the famous Andrew Luck-Robert Griffin III draft in 2012.

But after that, all bets — and mock drafts — were off as teams threw one curveball after another, while the bizarre hack attack on Mississippi offensive tackle Laremy Tunsil played out in the background.

The first surprise came almost right away as the Chargers took Ohio State defensive end Joey Bosa with the No. 3 pick instead of an offensive tackle. San Diego’s interest in Bosa had been kept completely under wraps.

Bosa was the first of a string of Buckeyes to come off the board. Running back Ezekiel Elliott went to the Cowboys one pick later, the Giants took cornerback Eli Apple at No. 10, the Lions drafted offensive tackle Taylor Decker at No. 16, and the Jets selected linebacker Darron Lee at No. 20.

Tunsil’s woes caused several teams to take him off their boards before he went 13th to the Dolphins, upending most predictions about the first round.

Other surprises included the Broncos trading up to the 26th pick to take Memphis quarterback Paxton Lynch and the 49ers trading into the back end of the first round to take a guard — Stanford’s Joshua Garnett — who was widely considered a second-round prospect.

Meanwhile, quarterbacks going as high as No. 1 or 2 is a relatively recent occurrence. Passers had not gone 1-2 before Luck and Griffin since 1999, when quarterbacks were taken with the first three picks.
This year was arguably the prime example of quarterback desperation sweeping the league as both the Rams and Eagles made mortgage-the-franchise trades in order to move up for Goff and Wentz, even though neither was considered a sure thing.

Most scouts appeared to consider the 6-foot-4, 215-pound Goff the most NFL-ready quarterback in this year’s draft, in large part because he started all three years at Cal in an offense that threw the ball on almost every down.

But Goff played in a spread scheme, which means he will need to adjust to playing under center in the NFL instead of solely out of the shotgun. The Bears never were a truly good team under Goff, either, going 14-23 (.378) in his three seasons as the starter.

Goff is likely to start right away (the Rams’ other options are Case Keenum and Nick Foles, who is being shopped) and appears to be headed to a system that will make his adjustment easier.

Wentz, on the other hand, looks to be headed straight into a hornet’s nest with the Eagles — with major questions about the North Dakota native’s ability to handle the pressure cooker of the Philly market.
While Wentz appears right out of Central Casting for a quarterback at 6-5, 235 pounds, he needed three seasons to win the starting job at an FCS (formerly Division I-AA) school, missed a chunk of his senior season due to injury and threw fewer than 700 passes his entire college career.

Wentz also will have to deal with a mountain of controversy right off the bat, with fellow Eagles quarterback Sam Bradford demanding a trade and Chase Daniel expecting a chance to start after Philly paid him $12 million in guaranteed money to follow coach Doug Pederson from the Chiefs.