thumb|[[Fernando Mendoza was selected first overall by the Las Vegas Raiders in 2026]]
The NFL draft is an annual sports draft in which National Football League (NFL) teams select newly eligible players for their rosters. To be eligible for the NFL draft, a player must be at least three years removed from high school. While the regulations have to explicitly need collegiate attendance, players must either exhaust their college eligibility or seek a special exemption from the league. Each NFL franchise seeks to add new players through the draft as it is the league's most common source of player recruitment. Each team is assigned a position in the drafting order based on the reverse of its record from the previous year. The team with the worst record selects first, followed by the team with the second-worst record, and so forth. Teams also have the option to trade with another team to move up to a better draft position. Teams that did not make the playoffs are ordered by their regular-season record, with any remaining ties broken by strength of schedule. Playoff participants are sequenced after non-playoff teams, based on their round of elimination (wild card, division, conference, and Super Bowl).
From through , the first selection in the NFL draft was awarded by a random draw known as the "bonus pick." The team that received the bonus pick forfeited its selection in the final round of the draft, and once a team won, it was excluded from future draws. By the 1958 draft, all twelve league teams had received a bonus pick, leading to the system's abolition. Following this, the NFL faced competition from the American Football League (AFL), which held a separate draft prior to the merger agreements in 1966. This rivalry resulted in both leagues often drafting the same players, sparking bidding wars for top prospects. The two leagues adopted a unified "common draft" system as part of the merger. After the AFL-NFL merger was finalized in 1970, the common draft became the modern NFL draft.
Through the 2026 NFL draft, 91 players have been selected first overall, with the first being Jay Berwanger and the most recent being Fernando Mendoza. The Indianapolis Colts and the Los Angeles Rams have each made the most first overall selections in history with seven, while the Baltimore Ravens, the Seattle Seahawks, and the Denver Broncos have never selected a player first overall. USC is the college with the most selections with 6, followed by Notre Dame, Oklahoma, and Georgia with 5. Quarterbacks are most commonly selected position with 41, followed by running backs with 23. Of the first overall draft picks, 43 have been selected to a Pro Bowl and 14 have been inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
List of first overall picks
; Key
{| class=" wikitable"
|-
| K
| Kicker
| NT
| Nose tackle
| C
| Center
|-
| LB
| Linebacker
| FB
| Fullback
| DB
| Defensive back
|-
| P
| Punter
| HB
| Halfback
| DE
| Defensive end
|-
| QB
| Quarterback
| WR/E
| Wide receiver/End
| DT
| Defensive tackle
|-
| G
| Guard
| T
| Offensive tackle
| TE
| Tight end
|}
{|class="wikitable"
|-
| style="background:#faecc8; text-align:center;"| *
| colspan="5" | Selected to a Pro Bowl/All-Star Game
|-
| style="background:#FFD700; text-align:center;"| ‡
| colspan="5" | Inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame<br />(all were also selected to a Pro Bowl)
|-
|§
|colspan="5"|Denotes an expansion team
|}
{| class="wikitable plainrowheaders sortable"
|+ First overall draft picks
|-
! scope="col" | Year
! scope="col" | Name
! scope="col" | Position
! scope="col" | College
! scope="col" | Team
! scope="col" | Notes
! scope="col" |
|-
| style="text-align:center;"|1936
| style="text-align:center;"|
| style="text-align:center;"| HB
| style="text-align:center;"|Chicago
| style="text-align:center;"|Philadelphia Eagles
| style="text-align:center;"| Heisman Trophy (1935)
|
|-
| style="text-align:center;"|1937
| style="text-align:center;"|
| style="text-align:center;"|FB
| style="text-align:center;"|Nebraska
| style="text-align:center;"|Philadelphia Eagles
| style="text-align:center;"| N/A
|
|<br />NFL MVP (1944)
|
|<br />Pro Bowl (1951)<br />Pro Bowl (1959, 1960)<br />AFL Champion (1960, 1961, 1967)<br />AFL All Star (1961, 1969)
|
|
|
| style="text-align:center;"| Pro Bowl (1970, 1971)<br />Pro Bowl (1969, 1972, 1973, 1974, 1975, 1976)<br />Super Bowl champion (XV, XVIII)<br />Pro Bowl (1978, 1979, 1980, 1981, 1983)<br />Pro Bowl (1980, 1981, 1982)<br />Pro Bowl (1981, 1982)<br />Pro Bowl (1990)<br />Pro Bowl (1996, 1998)
|<br />Pro Bowl (2005, 2006, 2015)
|<br />Super Bowl champion (LVI)<br />NFL MVP (2025)<br />Offensive Rookie of the Year (2010)
|<br />Pro Bowl (2011, 2013, 2015)<br />Super Bowl champion (LIV)
|
|<br />Pro Bowl (2015)
|
|
|<br />Pro Bowl (2023, 2024)
|<br />Offensive Rookie of the Year (2019)<br />Pro Bowl (2020, 2021)<br />Pro Bowl (2022, 2024, 2025)
|
|
|
| style="text-align:center;"| Heisman Trophy (2022)
| The Baltimore Ravens, Denver Broncos and Seattle Seahawks are the only teams that have never had the first overall pick.
{| class="wikitable sortable"
|-
! scope="col" | Team
! scope="col" | Picks
! scope="col" | Year(s)
! scope="col" class="unsortable"| Notes
! scope="col" class="unsortable"|
|-
| Indianapolis Colts
|style="text-align:center;"| 7
|style="text-align:center;"| 1955, 1967, 1983, 1990, 1992, 1998, 2012
|
- 3 as the Baltimore Colts
- 4 as the Indianapolis Colts
|
|-
| Los Angeles Rams
|style="text-align:center;"| 7
|style="text-align:center;"| 1938, 1952, 1960, 1963, 1997, 2010, 2016
|
- 1 as the Cleveland Rams
- 2 as the St. Louis Rams
- 4 as the Los Angeles Rams
|
|-
| Tampa Bay Buccaneers
| style="text-align:center;" | 5
| style="text-align:center;" | 1976, 1977, 1986, 1987, 2015
|
- Also had first selection in the 1984 NFL supplemental draft of USFL and CFL players.
|
|-
| Cleveland Browns
| style="text-align:center;" | 5
| style="text-align:center;" | 1954, 1999, 2000, 2017, 2018
|
|
|-
| Arizona Cardinals
|style="text-align:center;"| 5
|style="text-align:center;"| 1939, 1940, 1945, 1958, 2019
|
- 4 as the Chicago Cardinals
|
|-
| Detroit Lions
|style="text-align:center;"| 4
|style="text-align:center;"| 1943, 1950, 1980, 2009
|
|
|-
| Atlanta Falcons
|style="text-align:center;"| 4
|style="text-align:center;"| 1966, 1975, 1988, 2001
|
|
|-
| Buffalo Bills
|style="text-align:center;"| 4
|style="text-align:center;"| 1969, 1972, 1979, 1985
|
- Also had first selection in the 1961 AFL draft
|
|-
| Cincinnati Bengals
|style="text-align:center;"| 4
|style="text-align:center;"| 1994, 1995, 2003, 2020
|
|
|-
| New England Patriots
|style="text-align:center;"| 4
|style="text-align:center;"| 1971, 1982, 1984, 1993
|
- Also had first selection in the 1964 AFL draft<br/>(as the Boston Patriots)
|
|-
| Philadelphia Eagles
|style="text-align:center;"| 3
|style="text-align:center;"| 1936, 1937, 1949
|
|
|-
| Chicago Bears
| style="text-align:center;" | 3
|style="text-align:center;"| 1941, 1947, 2024
|
|
|-
| Pittsburgh Steelers
|style="text-align:center;"| 3
|style="text-align:center;"| 1942, 1956, 1970
|
|
|-
| San Francisco 49ers
|style="text-align:center;"| 3
|style="text-align:center;"| 1953, 1964, 2005
|
|
|-
| Dallas Cowboys
|style="text-align:center;"| 3
|style="text-align:center;"| 1974, 1989, 1991
|
|
|-
| Houston Texans
|style="text-align:center;"| 3
|style="text-align:center;"| 2002, 2006, 2014
|
|
|-
| Tennessee Titans
|style="text-align:center;"| 3
|style="text-align:center;"| 1973, 1978, 2025
|
- 2 as the Houston Oilers
|
|-
| Boston Yanks
|style="text-align:center;"| 2
|style="text-align:center;"| 1944, 1946
|
|
|-
| New York Giants
|style="text-align:center;"| 2
|style="text-align:center;"| 1951, 1965
|
|
|-
| Green Bay Packers
|style="text-align:center;"| 2
|style="text-align:center;"| 1957, 1959
|
|
|-
| Minnesota Vikings
|style="text-align:center;"| 2
|style="text-align:center;"| 1961*, 1968
|
|
|-
| Carolina Panthers
| style="text-align:center;" | 2
|style="text-align:center;"| 2011, 2023
|
|
|-
| Jacksonville Jaguars
|style="text-align:center;"| 2
|style="text-align:center;"| 2021, 2022
|
|
|-
| Las Vegas Raiders
|style="text-align:center;"| 2
|style="text-align:center;"| 2007, 2026
|
- 1 as the Oakland Raiders
- 1 as the Las Vegas Raiders
- Also had first selection in the 1962 AFL draft
|
|-
| New Orleans Saints
|style="text-align:center;"| 1
|style="text-align:center;"| 1981
|
|
|-
| New York Jets
|style="text-align:center;"| 1
|style="text-align:center;"| 1996
|
- Also had first selection in the 1965 AFL draft
|
|-
| Los Angeles Chargers
|style="text-align:center;"| 1
|style="text-align:center;"| 2004
|
- 1 as the San Diego Chargers
|
|-
| Miami Dolphins
|style="text-align:center;"| 1
|style="text-align:center;"| 2008
|
- Also had first selection in the 1966 AFL draft
|
|-
| Kansas City Chiefs
|style="text-align:center;"| 1
|style="text-align:center;"| 2013
|
- Also had first selection in the 1963 AFL draft
|
|}
First overall picks by school
USC has the most first overall picks with 6. Notre Dame, Oklahoma, and Georgia are tied for second-most first overall picks with 5 each. Auburn, and Stanford are both tied for third-most first overall picks with 4 each. Only two schools have had first overall picks in consecutive years: USC, with Ron Yary (1968) and O. J. Simpson (1969), and Oklahoma, with Baker Mayfield (2018) and Kyler Murray (2019).
{| class="wikitable sortable"
|-
! scope="col" | School
! scope="col" | Total