Blake Bortles (Central Florida) speaks at a press conference after being selected as the third overall pick in the first round of the 2014 NFL draft by the Jacksonville Jaguars during the 2014 NFL draft at Radio City Music Hall.(Photo11: Brad Penner, USA TODAY Sports)

NEW YORK – Quarterback fever. It never really spread in the first round of Thursday night's draft when only three quarterbacks came off the board in a class noted for its depth of first and second-tier signal callers.

Instead, a pick-your-flavor quarterback trend began unfolding when the Jacksonville Jaguars pulled the first surprise by selecting former Central Florida passer Blake Bortles with the third overall pick. The Cleveland Browns moved up from 26th to 22nd to select Johnny Manziel. And the Minnesota Vikings, aware that the Houston Texans open the top of the second round still in need of their future franchise face, jumped back into the bottom of the first round to snag former Louisville standout Teddy Bridgewater.

"This quarterback class is kind of like pizza. Everyone likes pizza,'' ESPN analyst Todd McShay told USA TODAY Sports. "But let's say you have a party for 32 people at your house. You're going to wind up getting seven, eight different varieties.

"Not everyone wants pepperoni or vegetarian or whatever. And that's how this quarterback class is for teams.''

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Curiously, all three of the teams that picked their potential franchise guys have "bridge quarterbacks'' in place. Jaguars general manager Dave Caldwell said the plan is to start veteran Chad Henne and let Bortles, who threw 25 touchdowns last season in leading Central Florida to a 12-1 record, develop his rookie season.

That is fine with Bortles.

"If you look at guys in the past, guys have performed better and had better careers if they were understudies and sat for a year,'' Bortles said. "If I sit for a year or two years, however long it is, I'll be able to absorb and learn and be a sponge and soak everything up.''

Bortles was the surprise guy. But Johnny Football morphed into Johnny Freefall, spending two hours and 45 minutes squirming in the green room until the Browns ended his misery.

Earlier, the Browns traded down from 4th to 9th in acquiring Buffalo's first and fourth-round picks in this draft. Then, they swapped spots with the Minnesota Vikings at 8th overall in exchange for the Browns' fifth-round pick in order to select cornerback Justin Gilbert.

They moved up again from 26th to 22nd overall by giving the Philadelphia Eagles their third-round pick, No. 83 overall when they realized Manziel was there for their taking.

"We monitored the situation,'' general manager Ray Farmer said. "We thought we had a good bead on what team needs were. We followed the draft intensely. We made a good point of making several phone calls to try to identify where other teams may be. As we saw those needs being filled, where we felt he might go. Then, we made our play at what we think was the right time.'

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USA TODAY Sports' Chris Strauss saw an already devoted following for Johnny Manziel among Browns fans, one which might grow exponentially.

It felt as if Manziel had been chosen first overall instead of 22nd from the ovation he received from Radio City Music Hall fans who cheered Manziel, who went 20-6 in two seasons at A&M with 37 touchdowns and 13 interceptions last season.

Several Browns fans chanted "Johnny Cleveland'' when Manziel finally made his way to the basement room late Thursday night.

"It's really cool,'' Manziel said. "I'm ready to get to Cleveland now.

"My message to 'The Dawg Pound is, I'm going to come and pour my heart out for this organization and for this team and for these fans and try to bring some excitement.

"More than anything, we want to win. That's how I am. I am a winner and I want to continue that trend.''

He'll have to beat out incumbent Brian Hoyer first. But that gives offensive coordinator Kyle Shanahan the luxury of time to make sure Manziel is ready before he plays.

As for Bridgewater?

After a disappointing pro day that caused the prospect once deemed the most pro-ready in the class to tumble, Bridgewater put the gloves back on after making the mistake of taking them off at an underwhelming pro day.

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And the Vikings, in desperate need of a future franchise face to pair with stud running back Adrian Peterson, jumped ahead of the Texans.

"I felt it was the best workout out of all that I had,'' Bridgewater said of his private audition for the Vikings. "I had my most accurate workout, great arc and pace on the ball. The ball never hit the ground that day.

"(GM) Rick Spielman never told me when he would take me. But I told him when I was up in Minnesota, 'I wanted to be a Viking bad. Because it would be like quarterback heaven.'''

Or in the case of the Vikings, quarterback Valhalla, given how they got their flavor quarterback at the right price.

Count on more of the same pick-your-flavor drafting tonight in the second and third round when quarterbacks Derek Carr, Jimmy Garoppolo, A.J. McCarron, Tom Savage, Zach Mettenberger and Aaron Murray, Logan Thomas and David Fales figure to come off the board.

"I can tell you right now at least one team has as high as a day 2 pick on every single one of those guys,'' McShay said.

Follow Jim Corbett on Twitter @ByJimCorbett.

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USA TODAY Sports' Chris Strauss breaks down the winners and losers of the NFL draft's first round, including one QB who exceeded expectations and another who fell well short.