NFL draft
The National Football League draft, also called the NFL draft or (officially) the Annual Player Selection Meeting,[1][2] is an annual event which serves as the most common source of player recruitment in the National Football League. Each team is given a position in the drafting order in reverse order relative to its record in the previous year, which means that the last place team is positioned first and the Super Bowl champion is last. From this position, the team can either select a player or trade its position to another team for other draft positions, a player or players, or any combination thereof. The round is complete when each team has either selected a player or traded its position in the draft. The first draft was held in 1936, and has been held every year since.
For the next draft, see 2024 NFL draft.
Certain aspects of the draft, including team positioning and the number of rounds in the draft, have been revised since its creation, but the fundamental method has remained the same. Currently, the draft consists of seven rounds. The original rationale in creating the draft was to increase the competitive parity between the teams as the worst team would, ideally, be able to choose the best player available. In the early years of the draft, players were chosen based on hearsay, print media, or other rudimentary evidence of ability. In the 1940s, some franchises began employing full-time scouts. The ensuing success of these teams eventually forced the other franchises to also hire scouts.
Colloquially, the name of the draft each year takes on the form of the NFL season in which players picked could begin playing. For example, the 2010 NFL draft was for the 2010 NFL season. However, the NFL-defined name of the process has changed since its inception. The location of the draft has continually changed over the years to accommodate more fans, as the event has gained popularity. The draft's popularity now garners prime-time television coverage. In the league's early years, from the mid-1930s to the mid-1960s, the draft was held in various cities with NFL franchises until the league settled on New York City starting in 1965, where it remained for fifty years until 2015, when future draft locations started being determined through a yearly bidding process.
Host venues[edit]
History[edit]
From the mid-1930s to the mid-1960s, the draft was held in various Northeastern, Midwestern, Mid-Atlantic, and Western cities with NFL franchises.
Between 1965 and 2014, the NFL held the draft at various venues in New York City. The Theater at Madison Square Garden hosted the event for a ten-year period from 1995 to 2004, before it was moved to Javits Convention Center in 2005 following a dispute with the Cablevision-owned arena, who were opposing the West Side Stadium, which would have served as home of the New York Jets and the centerpiece of the New York City bid for the 2012 Summer Olympics, because the new stadium would have competed with the Garden for concerts and other events.[120] The draft was then held at Radio City Music Hall from 2006 to 2014.
Starting in 2015, the league opened the draft location to a bidding process. Chicago won the bidding in both 2015 and 2016, hosting the draft for the first time since 1964.[121] The draft then moved to Philadelphia (2017), Dallas (2018), and Nashville (2019), with increasing attendance numbers every year.
The 2020 draft was originally scheduled to be held in Las Vegas, but due to the COVID-19 pandemic, it was held virtually with team coaches and GMs conducting it via phone and internet.[122][123]
Future venues[edit]
Future venues are as follows: