NFL Draft

The NFL draft is an annual event in which National Football League franchises take turns selecting amateur football players and other first-time eligible players. Currently, the draft consists of seven rounds. Each team is assigned a selection in each round, with the teams with the worst record from the previous year being assigned the best picks in each round. This helps the league achieve a degree of parity.

Trivia

• Note: As of 2005
• Quarterbacks have been selected first overall a total of 24 times, more than any other position. Offensive backs, including running backs, halfbacks, and fullbacks, have been selected 23 times.
• Quarterbacks have been selected first overall for five straight years, dating back to 2001. Dating back to 1998, quarterbacks have been selected first seven times in eight drafts.
• Notre Dame and USC have each had five athletes selected #1 in the draft; no other school has had more than three.
• USC is also the first and only school to date to have had back-to-back years in which one of its players went #1 in the draft (in 1968 with Ron Yary and in 1969 with O.J. Simpson).
• Auburn and Penn State are the only two schools to have ever had three players taken in the top ten in the same year. Auburn did it in 2005; Penn State did it in 1995.
• Alex Smith, drafted out of Utah in 2005, was the youngest player chosen #1 in the modern era. He was 20 years, 353 days old.
• 253 Smiths have been selected in the draft. Other notable surnames include: Williams (247), Johnson (233), Jones (201), Brown (188).