The History of the NFL Draft

The National Football League draft is an annual event where teams add to their rosters by selecting from a pool of college players. The teams generally choose in the reverse of the order that they finished during the previous season, with the worst team in terms of won-loss record selecting first. Draft position can be enhanced by trading draft picks in exchange for players or other draft picks.

  1. Origin

    • Commissioner Bert Bell planted the seed for the draft in the early 1930s, and the first draft took place in 1936 in Philadelphia. Because of the low pay and general lack of public interest in pro football then, the first player ever chosen in the draft, Heisman Trophy winner Jay Berwanger, opted not to play pro football. The first draft consisted of nine rounds, which increased to 20 rounds in the late 1930s.

    The Next Step

    • The NFL instituted a bonus pick in 1947, where through a lottery system, one team would be awarded the first pick in the draft, a practice that was abandoned in 1958. In the late 1940s, a rival league known as the All-America Football Conference emerged and implemented its own draft, which resulted in the two leagues competing for the top college players through the rest of the decade.

    The Competition Heats Up

    • The 1960s saw the emergence of another new league, the American Football League, to take the place of the now-defunct All-America Conference. Once again, competition between two leagues resulted in a battle for the best college players. The competition increased to the point where teams would house drafted players in hotels to keep them from being signed by the rival league.

    Merger

    • The NFL and AFL merged in 1970, ending the competition for players among two distinct leagues. In 1976, the NFL expanded for the first time since the merger, adding franchises in Seattle and Tampa Bay, with the latter being awarded the overall first pick. In 1977, the league reduced the number of rounds from 17 to 12. In the 1980s, the short-lived United States Football League entered the picture, and for a brief time competed heavily with the NFL for draft picks.

    Modern Day

    • Beginning in 1993, the league reduced the number of draft rounds to eight, then to the current number of seven in 1994. The draft is presently held during a weekend in April in New York City, with the first day's activities televised nationally. A cottage industry of draft experts and analysts emerged in recent years, which added to the draft's popularity.