The NFL Draft, which takes place in New York City, gives a long list of hopefuls a chance to be drafted by a team and then fight for a position to not only become a starter, but to make it on the roster.
1. Unlike Major League Baseball (MLB) and the National Basketball Association (NBA), in order for a player to be eligible for the draft, he must be three years out of high school.
2. There are seven rounds of the draft, which is why the draft takes several days to complete.
3. The very last pick of the draft, who is number 256, is usually referred to as “Mr. Irrelevant”.
4. In the 17th round of the 1972 draft, 64 year-old actor, John Wayne, was drafted by the Atlanta Falcons, but then-Commissioner Pete Rozelle disallowed the pick.
5. There is always talk about which year had the best class of drafts, but, the 1964 NFL Draft produced 10 future Hall of Fame players: QB Roger Staubach (left); RBs Charley Taylor, Paul Warfield and Leroy Kelly; WR Bob Hayes; OL Bob Brown; DE Carl Eller; DBs Mel Renfro and Paul Krause; and LB Dave Wilcox – and one future Hall of Fame coach, OL Bill Parcells.
6. There has only been one quarterback drafted in the first round who became an All-Pro, Peyton Manning.
7. The New York Jets and The St. Louis Rams both have 12 picks in this year’s draft.
8. There are four teams who have never had the number one pick of the draft: Denver, Seattle, Baltimore and Jacksonville.
9. In the first ever NFL draft, in 1936, the Philadelphia Eagles drafted a halfback named Jay Berwanger. But, one will never see his name in any NFL record books because he asked for too much money and never played in the league.
10. Bo Jackson, the two-sport star, was drafted by two different teams in two different years.