The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United States and Canada and the highest professional level of American football in the world. Each NFL season begins annually with a three-week preseason in August, followed by the 18-week regular season which runs from early September to early January, with each team playing 17 games and having one bye week. Following the conclusion of the regular season, seven teams from each conference advance to the playoffs, a single-elimination tournament that culminates in the Super Bowl, which is contested in February and is played between the winners of the AFC and NFC championship games.
A running back (RB) is a member of the offensive backfield in gridiron football. The primary roles of a running back are to receive handoffs from the quarterback to rush the ball, to line up as a receiver to catch the ball, and block. There are usually one or two running backs on the field for a given play, depending on the offensive formation. A running back may be a halfback, a wingback or a fullback. A running back will sometimes be called a "feature back" if he is the team's key player/more prominent running back.
In professional sports, a free agent is a player or manager who is eligible to sign with other clubs or franchises; i.e., not under contract to any specific team. The term is also used in reference to a player who is under contract at present but who is allowed to solicit offers from other teams. In some circumstances, the free agent's options are limited by league rules.
The National Football League draft, also called the NFL draft or (officially) the Annual Player Selection Meeting, 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.
David Duke Carr is an American former football quarterback who played 10 seasons in the National Football League (NFL). He played college football for the Fresno State Bulldogs and was selected first overall by the Houston Texans in the 2002 NFL Draft. Carr also played for the Carolina Panthers, the New York Giants, and the San Francisco 49ers. With the Giants, Carr was a member of the team that won Super Bowl XLVI. He currently serves as the offensive coordinator at Bakersfield Christian High School.
The NFL Scouting Combine is a week-long showcase occurring every February at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis, where college football players perform physical and mental tests in front of National Football League coaches, general managers, and scouts. With increasing interest in the NFL Draft, the scouting combine has grown in scope and significance, allowing personnel directors to evaluate upcoming prospects in a standardized setting. Its origins stem from the National, BLESTO, and Quadra Scouting organizations in 1977.
The 1984 NFL draft was the procedure by which National Football League teams selected amateur college football players. It is officially known as the NFL Annual Player Selection Meeting. The draft was held May 1–2, 1984, at the Omni Park Central Hotel in New York City, New York. No teams elected to claim any players in the regular supplemental draft that year. The NFL did have a special supplemental draft for college seniors who had already signed with the USFL or CFL on June 5, 1984.
The 1982 NFL draft was the procedure by which National Football League teams selected amateur college football players. It is officially known as the NFL Annual Player Selection Meeting. The draft was held April 27–28, 1982, at the New York Sheraton Hotel in New York City, New York. At the time of the draft the Raiders were still the Oakland Raiders, they relocated to Los Angeles in May 1982. The league also held a supplemental draft after the regular draft and before the regular season.
The 1974 NFL draft took place at the Americana Hotel in New York City, New York, on January 29–30, 1974. Each of the 26 NFL teams were granted 17 selections for a total of 442 picks.
The 1972 NFL draft was the thirty-seventh annual meeting of National Football League (NFL) franchises to select newly eligible football players. The draft was held on February 1 and 2 at the Essex House in New York City, New York.
The Washington Commanders are a professional American football franchise based in the Washington metropolitan area. They are members of the East division in the National Football Conference (NFC) of the National Football League (NFL). The Commanders were founded in 1932 as the Boston Braves, named after the local baseball franchise. The franchise changed its name the following year to the Redskins and moved to Washington, D.C. in 1937. In 2020, the team retired the Redskins name after longstanding controversies surrounding it and briefly played as the Washington Football Team before becoming the Commanders in 2022.
The 1948 Oklahoma Sooners football team represented the University of Oklahoma in the 1948 college football season. In their second year under head coach Bud Wilkinson, the Sooners compiled a 10–1 record, won the Big Seven Conference championship, and outscored their opponents by a combined total of 350 to 121.
Homer Paine was an American football tackle. He played college football at the University of Tulsa for one season and at the University of Oklahoma for three seasons. Paine was named to the All-Missouri Valley Conference first team while at Tulsa, and he was twice named to all-conference first teams while at Oklahoma. After college, Paine played professional football for one season with the Chicago Hornets of the All-America Football Conference (AAFC). He was selected in the 14th round of the 1946 NFL Draft.
Jackson Paine is a former professional Australian rules footballer who played for the Collingwood Football Club and Brisbane Lions in the Australian Football League (AFL). He was recruited by the Collingwood Football Club with pick 50 in the 2011 national draft. Paine made his debut in round 1, 2012 against Hawthorn. He was traded in a straight swap for Patrick Karnezis in the 2013 trade period. He was delisted by Brisbane in October 2015, however, he was re-drafted in the 2016 rookie draft. He was delisted again by Brisbane at the end of the 2016 season following a battle with gout.
Patrick Karnezis is a former professional Australian rules footballer who played for the Brisbane Lions and Collingwood Football Club in the Australian Football League (AFL). He was taken at pick number 25 in the 2010 national draft by the Brisbane Lions. Karnezis made his debut in round 13 of the 2011 season, against Richmond. On 25 October 2013 he was traded to the Collingwood Football Club in exchange for Jackson Paine. He retired from AFL at the conclusion of the 2015 season. After his retirement from AFL, Karnezis joined West Preston Lakeside of the Northern Football League (NFL).
Donnel Laray Pumphrey Jr. is an American college football coach and former running back. He is the running backs coach for California State University, Sacramento, a position has held since 2023. He played college football for the San Diego State Aztecs. Pumphrey is the official all-time leader in rushing yards in NCAA Division I FBS history. He was selected by the Philadelphia Eagles in the fourth round of the 2017 NFL draft, and spent offseasons with the Eagles and Detroit Lions. He played for the DC Defenders of the XFL in 2020.
The 1972 Washington State Cougars football team was an American football team that represented Washington State University in the Pacific-8 Conference (Pac-8) during the 1972 NCAA University Division football season. In their fifth season under head coach Jim Sweeney, the Cougars compiled a 7–4 record(4–3 in the Pac-8, tied for 3rd), and outscored their opponents 274 to 241.
The Green Bay Packers are a professional American football team based in Green Bay, Wisconsin. The Packers have competed in the National Football League (NFL) since 1921, two years after their original founding by Curly Lambeau and George Whitney Calhoun. They are members of the North Division of the National Football Conference (NFC) and play their home games at Lambeau Field in central Wisconsin. In 1936, the Packers took part in the first NFL draft of college football players and have participated in every NFL draft since. With the seventh pick of the first round of the 1936 draft, Russ Letlow, a guard out of the University of San Francisco, became the Packers' first draft selection.
