Each NFL
franchise seeks to add new players through the annual NFL Draft. The
draft rules were last updated in 2009. The team with the worst record the previous year picks first, the next-worst team second, and so on. Teams that did not make the playoffs are ordered by their regular-season record with any remaining ties broken by
strength of schedule.
Playoff participants are sequenced after non-playoff teams, based on their round of elimination (wild card, division, conference, and
Super Bowl).[1]
Before the
merger agreements in 1966, the
American Football League (AFL) operated in direct competition with the NFL and held a separate
draft. This led to a massive bidding war over top prospects between the two leagues. As part of the merger agreement on June 8, 1966, the two leagues would hold a multiple round "
Common Draft". Once the AFL officially merged with the NFL in 1970, the "Common Draft" simply became the NFL Draft.[2][3][4]
Selected to a Pro Bowl and won an NFL championship
Selections
Larry Brewer was the 194th overall pick by the Atlanta Falcons in the 1970 NFL Draft.Matt Stover was the 329th overall pick by the New York Giants in the 1990 NFL Draft.Willie Roaf was the 8th overall pick by the New Orleans Saints in the 1993 NFL Draft.Luke McCown was the 106th overall pick by the Cleveland Browns in the 2004 NFL Draft.Ryan Moats was the 77th overall pick by the Philadelphia Eagles in the 2005 NFL Draft.
^Because of the NFL–AFL merger agreement, the history of the AFL is officially recognized by the NFL and therefore this list includes the
AFL Draft (1960–1966) and the
Common Draft (1967–1969).
^From 1960 through 1966, teams with a superscript AFL denotes player drafted in the
AFL Draft and teams with a superscript NFL denotes a player drafted in the
NFL Draft.
^This is the team that drafted the player, not their most recent team.