NFL Draft History, Results & Order

The NFL Draft has been taking place since 1936, when Jay Berwanger was the top pick in the draft by Philadelphia Eagles. The draft normally takes place in late April and since 1965 it has been held in New York City. The order of the draft is based on the record of teams from the previous year with the worst teams having the top picks of each round down to the participants in the Super Bowl having the last picks. The current draft format has 7 rounds spread over 2 days, but it previously had as many as 20-30 rounds. Once a player is drafted his rights belong to the team that drafted him for the year, and if he does not sign then he can re-enter the pro football draft the following year (it is rare for a player not to sign with the team that drafted him). All players not drafted are then free to sign with any team.