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, including four division winners and three wild card teams, advance to the playoffs, a single-elimination tournament, which culminates in the Super Bowl, played in early February between the winners of the AFC and NFC championship games.
The NFL draft, officially known as 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.
Christopher Ashon Claiborne is an American football coach and former player who was a linebacker in the National Football League (NFL) for eight seasons. Claiborne played college football for the University of Southern California, and was recognized as a unanimous All-American. He was a first-round pick in the 1999 NFL draft, and played professionally for the Detroit Lions, Minnesota Vikings, St. Louis Rams, and New York Giants of the NFL.
Abdul-Karim al-Jabbar, known previously as Karim Abdul-Jabbar, is an American former professional football player who was a running back in the National Football League (NFL). Abdul-Karim played college football for the UCLA Bruins, earning second-team All-American honors in 1995. He was selected in the third round of the 1996 NFL draft by the Miami Dolphins. He also played for the Cleveland Browns and Indianapolis Colts.
Anthony Lamar Banks is an American former professional football player who was a quarterback for 10 seasons in the National Football League (NFL). He played college football for the Michigan State Spartans. Selected by the St. Louis Rams in the second round of the 1996 NFL draft, Banks also was a member of the Baltimore Ravens, Washington Redskins, and Houston Texans. With the Ravens, he was part of the team that won the franchise's first Super Bowl title in Super Bowl XXXV.
Horatio Benedict Blades Sr. is an American former professional football player who was a safety in the National Football League (NFL). A three-time All-Pro, Blades was named to both the Detroit Lions 75th Anniversary Team and the Detroit Lions All-Time Team. He played college football for the Miami Hurricanes.
Daryl Ronald Gardener is an American former professional football player who was a defensive tackle in the National Football League (NFL) for the Miami Dolphins, Washington Redskins, and Denver Broncos. He played college football at Baylor University and was selected in the first round of the 1996 NFL draft by the Miami Dolphins in a spot Ray Lewis thought was sure to be his.
Christopher Shawn Patrick Canty is an American former professional football player who was a cornerback in the National Football League (NFL) and Arena Football League (AFL). He played college football for Kansas State University, and was a two-time All-American. A first-round pick in the 1997 NFL draft, he played professionally for the New England Patriots, Seattle Seahawks, and New Orleans Saints of the NFL, and Las Vegas Gladiators and Rio Grande Valley Dorados of the Arena League.
The 1950 NFL draft was held January 20–21, 1950, at the Bellevue-Stratford Hotel in Philadelphia. With the league absorbing the Baltimore Colts, Cleveland Browns, and San Francisco 49ers from the All-America Football Conference, these three teams were combined with the other NFL clubs in a single ranking to determine the order of the draft.
The 1971 NFL draft was held January 28–29, 1971, at the Belmont Plaza Hotel in New York City, New York. The Boston Patriots, who did not officially change their name to New England Patriots until after the draft, used the first overall pick of the draft to select quarterback Jim Plunkett. It was the first draft where the first three selections were quarterbacks.
Regan Charles Upshaw is an American former professional football player who was a defensive tackle in the National Football League (NFL) between 1996 and 2004. He played college football for the California Golden Bears and was selected by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in the first round of the 1996 NFL draft.
James Reinard Wilson is an American former professional football player who was a linebacker in the National Football League (NFL) for six seasons during the late 1990s and early 2000s. He played college football for the Florida State Seminoles and was recognized as a consensus All-American. He was picked by the Cincinnati Bengals in the first round of the 1997 NFL draft, and played professionally for the Bengals and Tampa Bay Buccaneers of the NFL.
Andre T. Johnson is an American former professional football player who was an offensive tackle in the National Football League for the Washington Redskins (1996), the Miami Dolphins (1997), and the Detroit Lions (1997–1998). He played college football at Penn State University and was selected in the first round of the 1996 NFL draft by the Washington Redskins, who were looking for a replacement of their aging tackle Jim Lachey. In his NFL career Johnson only played three games, each for the Lions and is usually considered to be one of the worst first round picks of all time.
Matthew Brian Stevens is an American former professional football player who was a safety in the National Football League (NFL) for five different teams. He played college football at Appalachian State University. He was selected in the third round of the 1996 NFL Draft.
Robert C. Drummond is an American former professional football player who was a running back. He played for the Philadelphia Eagles of the National Football League (NFL) between 1989 and 1991 before playing in the Canadian Football League (CFL) from 1994 to 2002. Drummond won four Grey Cups in 1995, 1996, 1997, and 2000. He was selected by the Eagles in the third round of the 1989 NFL draft.
Patrick James Bates is an American former professional football player who was a safety in the National Football League (NFL). He was selected in the first round of the 1993 NFL draft by the Los Angeles Raiders and later played for the Atlanta Falcons after being traded by the Raiders in exchange for the Falcons' second-round selection in the 1996 NFL draft.
Pat Barnes is an American former professional football player who was a quarterback in the National Football League (NFL), XFL, and Canadian Football League (CFL).. He played college football for the California Golden Bears. Barnes was selected by the Kansas City Chiefs in the fourth round of the 1997 NFL draft. He played professionally from 1997 to 2003.
Sedric Clark is a former professional American football linebacker who played in the National Football League (NFL), NFL Europe and the XFL. He was drafted in the seventh round of the 1996 NFL draft. In his five-year pro career he played for the Baltimore Ravens of the NFL, the Frankfurt Galaxy and Berlin Thunder of NFL Europe, and the Orlando Rage of the XFL. Clark played college football at the University of Tulsa.
Mike Cawley is an American former professional football player who was a quarterback in the Canadian Football League (CFL), NFL Europe and the XFL. He played college football for the James Madison Dukes. He was selected by the Indianapolis Colts of the National Football League (NFL) in the sixth round of the 1996 NFL draft.
Jason Chorak is an American former professional football player who was a linebacker in the National Football League (NFL). He played college football for the Washington Huskies, earning first-team All-American honors in 1996. He was selected in the seventh round of the 1998 NFL draft.
