Complete list of players
The following players were granted special eligibility to enter the 2017 draft: [2]
The list of 2017 NFL draft early entrants is a list of college football players that declared for the 2017 NFL draft that had remaining years of NCAA eligibility. The list includes the year of college they declared as eligible for the draft, the pick they were selected at and the team that drafted them. A total of 103 players declared as eligible, 81 were drafted and 22 were undrafted. [1]
The following players were granted special eligibility to enter the 2017 draft: [2]
Jesse James Palmer is a Canadian television personality, sports commentator, and former professional football player who was a quarterback in the National Football League (NFL) for five seasons in the early 2000s. Palmer played college football for the University of Florida under Steve Spurrier, and thereafter, he played professionally for the New York Giants and San Francisco 49ers in the NFL before spending half of the 2006 season with the Montreal Alouettes of the Canadian Football League (CFL). Palmer was cast in 2004 as the bachelor on the fifth season of the reality television series The Bachelor. He went on to become a college football analyst for ESPN/ABC in the United States, and has been a contributor to The Sports Network (TSN) in Canada. He was also a contributor to ABC's Good Morning America. In 2018, he hosted the kickoff season of The Proposal on ABC. Since 2017 he has hosted the Holiday Baking Championship on Food Network. Jesse was host of DailyMailTV from 2017 to 2020. Palmer married model Emely Fardo on June 5, 2020, at a close friend's house in Connecticut. In 2021, Palmer was named as the permanent host of The Bachelor and The Bachelorette.
The National Football League Draft, also called the NFL Draft or (officially) the Player Selection Meeting, is an annual event which serves as the league's most common source of player recruitment. 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.
Bernard Joseph Kosar Jr. is an American former professional football player who was a quarterback in the National Football League (NFL). He played college football at the University of Miami, where he led the team to a national championship in 1983. He subsequently played in the NFL for the Cleveland Browns from 1985 to 1993 and the Dallas Cowboys (1993) and Miami Dolphins. He was the backup quarterback on the 1993 Cowboys team that won Super Bowl XXVIII.
Joseph Nathan McKnight Jr. was an American football running back and return specialist who played in the National Football League (NFL) and Canadian Football League (CFL).
William Grier is an American football quarterback for the New England Patriots of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football at Florida and West Virginia and was drafted by the Carolina Panthers in the third round in the 2019 NFL Draft.
Patrick Lavon Mahomes II is an American football quarterback for the Kansas City Chiefs of the National Football League (NFL). The son of former Major League Baseball (MLB) pitcher Pat Mahomes, he played college football and baseball at Texas Tech. Following his sophomore year, he quit baseball to focus solely on football. In his junior year, he led all NCAA Division I FBS players in multiple categories including passing yards (5,052) and total touchdowns (53). He was selected 10th overall by the Kansas City Chiefs in the 2017 NFL Draft.
Justin Patrick Herbert is an American football quarterback for the Los Angeles Chargers of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football at Oregon, where he won the 2019 Pac-12 Championship and was named MVP of the 2020 Rose Bowl. Herbert was selected by the Chargers as the sixth overall pick in the 2020 NFL Draft.
The 2017 USC Trojans football team represented the University of Southern California in the 2017 NCAA Division I FBS football season. They played their home games at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum as members of the South Division of the Pac-12 Conference. They were led by second-year head coach Clay Helton. They finished the season 11–3, 8–1 in Pac-12 play to be champions of the South Division. They represented the South Division in the Pac-12 Championship Game where they defeated Stanford to become Pac-12 Champions. They were invited to play in the Cotton Bowl where they were soundly defeated at the hands of Ohio State, 24–7.
The 2018 USC Trojans football team represented the University of Southern California in the 2018 NCAA Division I FBS football season. They played their home games at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum and competed as members of the South Division of the Pac-12 Conference. They were led by third-year head coach Clay Helton.
Tim Settle is an American football defensive tackle for the Buffalo Bills of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football at Virginia Tech and was drafted by the Washington Redskins in the fifth round of the 2018 NFL Draft.
Caleb Brandon Wilson is an American football tight end who is a free agent. He played college football for the UCLA Bruins and was selected by the Arizona Cardinals with the final pick of the 2019 NFL Draft, making him that draft's Mr. Irrelevant. He has also been a member of the Philadelphia Eagles.
Justin Skyler Fields is an American football quarterback for the Chicago Bears of the National Football League (NFL). Following a stint at the University of Georgia, he played college football at Ohio State University, where he was twice named the Graham–George Offensive Player of the Year and reached the 2021 College Football Playoff National Championship. Fields was selected by the Bears in the first round of the 2021 NFL Draft, with whom he set the single-game regular season record for quarterback rushing yards. He is one of only three NFL quarterbacks to rush for 1,000 yards in a season.
Kerby Joseph is an American football safety for the Detroit Lions of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football at Illinois.
