History of the NFL Draft

In the spring of 1935, NFL team owners ratified a new system for the recruitment of college players that was the original brainstorm of then-commissioner Bert Bell.  Previous to the draft, teams were free to sign any college player that they wished, which often resulted in bidding wars for players and which allowed players to chose their teams, making stronger teams stronger and weaker teams weaker.  With the inception of the college draft, however, teams with the worst records got to chose first, and the league champion from the previous year selected last.

The first NFL draft was held at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel on 2/8/36.  1935 Heisman Trophy winner Jay Berwanger from the University of Chicago was the first pick of that first draft.  The Philadelphia Eagles chose him, but couldn't sign him, and soon traded his rights to the Chicago Bears.  The Bears also weren't able to sign Berwanger, and so the first pick in NFL history never played in the league.  The first draft pick to actually play in the NFL was the 1936 second overall selection and Boston Redskins pick, Riley Smith of Alabama.  

Another "first" in draft history also belongs to the Bears, as they selected the first player who eventually went on to become a Hall of Famer.  The Bears selected Joe Stydahar with the 6th overall selection in the 1st round.  Three other Hall of Fame players drafted in 1936 include Tuffy Leemans (NYG, 2nd round, 18th overall), Wayne Millner (Bos, 8, 65), and Dan Fortman (ChiB, 9, 78).  Incidentally, the 6th overall selection from each of the first 3 drafts all wound up in the Hall of Fame.

The draft has been a constantly evolving process throughout time.  In fact, some rules were changed after the very first draft, as the number of rounds were expanded to 10.  This process has incurred many changes over the course of time, but largely remains the same.  The number of rounds has expanded and contracted over time from the original nine.  There have been as many as 30, and as little as our current 7. 

There have been other rule changes and format variations throughout time as well.  In 1960 for instance, the NFL conducted a "secret" draft very early in the off-season in anticipation of the start of the rival AFL.  Later on in the 1960's, both leagues drafted players not yet eligible in the draft (referred to as "futures").  These futures were picked in attempt to prevent the other league's teams from picking players that would become eligible in future years.

Also in the 1960's, the first "expansion" drafts were conducted.  These drafts were used to stock expansion teams with players from other teams.  Generally, teams were allowed to prevent their best players from getting picked by an expansion team by placing them on the "protected" list.  Only non-protected players were eligible for the expansion drafts.  Expansion drafts for expansion teams continued into the 21st century.

With the advent and eventual fall of the United States Football League, NFL teams began utilizing the "supplemental" drafts, which were held AFTER the regular college drafts.  The supplemental draft was used to stock NFL rosters with defecting USFL players.  Currently, supplemental drafts are used to select college players that were not eligible (or did not declare eligibility) for the annual April draft.  Participation in the supplemental draft is not required.  Any team that picks a player in a supplemental draft forfeits its correlating selection in the next annual college draft.