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This is a list of first overall National Football League draft picks. The National Football League draft is an annual sports draft in which NFL teams select newly eligible players for their rosters. To be eligible, a player must be out of high school at least three years. Each NFL franchise seeks to add new players through the annual NFL draft. The draft rules were last updated in 2009. The team with the worst record the previous year picks first, the next-worst team second, and so on. 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).
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From 1947 through 1958 the first selection was awarded by a random draw. The team which received this "bonus" pick forfeited its selection in the final round of the draft. The winner of the "bonus pick" was eliminated from the draw in future years. By 1958 all twelve clubs in the league at the time had received a bonus choice and the system was abolished.
Before the merger agreements in 1966, the American Football League (AFL) operated in direct competition with the NFL and held a separate draft. This led to a massive bidding war over top prospects between the two leagues, along with the subsequent drafting of the same player in each draft. As part of the merger agreement on June 8, 1966, the two leagues held a multiple round "Common Draft". Once the AFL officially merged with the NFL in 1970, the "Common Draft" simply became the NFL Draft.
Through the 2016 NFL draft, 81 players have been selected first overall, with the most recent being Jared Goff. The Indianapolis Colts – formerly the Baltimore Colts – have made the most first overall selections in history with seven. Of the first overall draft picks, 43 have been selected to a Pro Bowl and of those 43, twelve have been inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame. Only five first overall draft pick players have been selected the NFL Rookie of the Year: Earl Campbell (1978); Billy Sims (1980); George Rogers (1981); Sam Bradford (2010); and Cam Newton (2011).
Statistics
First overall draft picks per team
The Indianapolis Colts and the Los Angeles Rams have each held the first overall pick a total of seven times, the most of any NFL team. This includes the Colts' time in Baltimore and the Rams' time in Cleveland and St. Louis. Only four teams in the league have never held the first overall pick in the NFL draft: the Denver Broncos, the Jacksonville Jaguars, the Seattle Seahawks and the Baltimore Ravens. The Boston Yanks are the only defunct franchise to have held a first overall pick.