The National Football League draft is an annual sports draft in which NFL teams select newly-eligible players for their rosters. To be eligible, a player must be out of high school at least three years. Teams are ranked in reverse order based on the previous season's record, with the worst record picking first. The current draft system has seven rounds and in 2009, 256 players were selected in the draft.

A total of 72 players have been selected first overall. The Baltimore/Indianapolis Colts have had the most first overall draft picks, with 6. Only three players have been selected the NFL Rookie of the Year and a total of 12 first overall picks have been enshrined in the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

[edit] List of first overall picks

     - denotes Pro Bowler

     - denotes Hall of Fame

Year	Player	Position	College	Pro Team
1936	Jay Berwanger	Halfback	Chicago	Philadelphia Eagles (did not sign)
1937	Sam Francis	Fullback	Nebraska	Philadelphia Eagles
1938	Corbett Davis	Fullback	Indiana	Cleveland Rams
1939	Ki Aldrich	Center	TCU	Chicago Cardinals
1940	George Cafego	Halfback	Tennessee	Chicago Cardinals
1941	Tom Harmon	Halfback	Michigan	Chicago Bears
1942	Bill Dudley	Halfback	Virginia	Pittsburgh Steelers
1943	Frank Sinkwich	Halfback	Georgia	Detroit Lions
1944	Angelo Bertelli	Quarterback	Notre Dame	Boston Yanks
1945	Charley Trippi	Halfback	Georgia	Chicago Cardinals
1946	Frank Dancewicz	Quarterback	Notre Dame	Boston Yanks
1947	Bob Fenimore	Halfback	Oklahoma A&M	Chicago Bears
1948	Harry Gilmer	Quarterback	Alabama	Washington Redskins
1949	Chuck Bednarik	Center/Linebacker	Penn	Philadelphia Eagles
1950	Leon Hart	End	Notre Dame	Detroit Lions
1951	Kyle Rote	Halfback	SMU	New York Giants
1952	Bill Wade	Quarterback	Vanderbilt	Los Angeles Rams
1953	Harry Babcock	End	Georgia	San Francisco 49ers
1954	Bobby Garrett	Quarterback	Stanford	Cleveland Browns
1955	George Shaw	Quarterback	Oregon	Baltimore Colts
1956	Gary Glick	Defensive back	Colorado A&M	Pittsburgh Steelers
1957	Paul Hornung	Halfback	Notre Dame	Green Bay Packers
1958	King Hill	Quarterback	Rice	Chicago Cardinals
1959	Randy Duncan	Quarterback	Iowa	Green Bay Packers
1960	Billy Cannon	Running back	LSU	Los Angeles Rams (Signed with AFL Houston Oilers)
1961	Tommy Mason	Running back	Tulane	Minnesota Vikings
1962	Ernie Davis	Running back	Syracuse	Washington Redskins (traded to Cleveland Browns)
1963	Terry Baker	Quarterback	Oregon State	Los Angeles Rams
1964	Dave Parks	End	Texas Tech	San Francisco 49ers
1965	Tucker Frederickson	Running back	Auburn	New York Giants
1966	Tommy Nobis	Linebacker	Texas	Atlanta Falcons
1967*	Bubba Smith	Defensive end	Michigan State	Baltimore Colts
1968*	Ron Yary	Offensive tackle	USC	Minnesota Vikings
1969*	O.J. Simpson	Running back	USC	Buffalo Bills
1970	Terry Bradshaw	Quarterback	Louisiana Tech	Pittsburgh Steelers
1971	Jim Plunkett	Quarterback	Stanford	New England Patriots
1972	Walt Patulski	Defensive tackle	Notre Dame	Buffalo Bills
1973	John Matuszak	Defensive end	Tampa	Houston Oilers
1974	Ed "Too Tall" Jones	Defensive end	Tennessee State	Dallas Cowboys
1975	Steve Bartkowski	Quarterback	California	Atlanta Falcons
1976	Lee Roy Selmon	Defensive end	Oklahoma	Tampa Bay Buccaneers
1977	Ricky Bell	Running back	USC	Tampa Bay Buccaneers
1978	Earl Campbell	Running back	Texas	Houston Oilers
1979	Tom Cousineau	Linebacker	Ohio State	Buffalo Bills (did not sign, signed with CFL Montreal Alouettes)
1980	Billy Sims	Running back	Oklahoma	Detroit Lions
1981	George Rogers	Running back	South Carolina	New Orleans Saints
1982	Kenneth Sims	Defensive tackle	Texas	New England Patriots
1983	John Elway	Quarterback	Stanford	Baltimore Colts (traded to Denver Broncos)
1984	Irving Fryar	Wide receiver	Nebraska	New England Patriots
1985	Bruce Smith	Defensive end	Virginia Tech	Buffalo Bills
1986**	Bo Jackson	Running back	Auburn	Tampa Bay Buccaneers (did not sign, entered 1987 NFL Draft)
1987	Vinny Testaverde	Quarterback	Miami (FL)	Tampa Bay Buccaneers
1988	Aundray Bruce	Linebacker	Auburn	Atlanta Falcons
1989	Troy Aikman	Quarterback	UCLA	Dallas Cowboys
1990	Jeff George	Quarterback	Illinois	Indianapolis Colts
1991	Russell Maryland	Defensive tackle	Miami (FL)	Dallas Cowboys
1992	Steve Emtman	Defensive tackle	Washington	Indianapolis Colts
1993	Drew Bledsoe	Quarterback	Washington State University	New England Patriots
1994	Dan Wilkinson	Defensive tackle	Ohio State	Cincinnati Bengals
1995	Ki-Jana Carter	Running back	Penn State	Cincinnati Bengals
1996	Keyshawn Johnson	Wide receiver	USC	New York Jets
1997	Orlando Pace	Offensive tackle	Ohio State	St. Louis Rams
1998	Peyton Manning	Quarterback	Tennessee	Indianapolis Colts
1999	Tim Couch	Quarterback	Kentucky	Cleveland Browns
2000	Courtney Brown	Defensive end	Penn State	Cleveland Browns
2001	Michael Vick	Quarterback	Virginia Tech	Atlanta Falcons
2002	David Carr	Quarterback	Fresno State	Houston Texans
2003	Carson Palmer	Quarterback	USC	Cincinnati Bengals
2004	Eli Manning	Quarterback	Ole Miss	San Diego Chargers (traded to the New York Giants)
2005	Alex Smith	Quarterback	Utah	San Francisco 49ers
2006	Mario Williams	Defensive End	North Carolina State	Houston Texans
2007	JaMarcus Russell	Quarterback	LSU	Oakland Raiders
2008	Jake Long	Offensive Tackle	Michigan	Miami Dolphins
2009	Matt Stafford	Quarteback	Georgia	Detroit Lions

• From 1967-69 the NFL held a combined draft with the American Football League, which was merged into the NFL in 1970.
  • Original #1 selection in 1986 was forfeited by the Cleveland Browns for selecting Bernie Kosar in the Supplemental Draft the previous year.