The XFL Draft was the only draft for the single-season XFL football league. The draft took place over a 3 day time period from October 28, 2000 to October 30, 2000 during which time a total of 475 players were selected by the league's 8 teams from a pool of approximately 1,600 or so eligible players. The draft consisted of 59 rounds—10 rounds taking place on October 28, 15 rounds on October 29, and 34 rounds on October 30.
The draft was followed by a supplemental draft on December 29, 2000 during which 65 additional players were selected in an effort to completely fill out team rosters. Most eligible players came from either the CFL, the Arena Football League, NFL Europe, retired NFL players, or previous college players who had gone undrafted by the NFL but had not yet signed with another league.
The XFL draft took place in order for teams to be ready to begin league play when the season kicked off on February 3, 2001.
Notable players drafted
Many of the players selected in the XFL draft went on to compete in the NFL and other football leagues.
Notable players selected in the draft included future league MVP and Los Angeles quarterback Tommy Maddox, who signed with the Pittsburgh Steelers after the XFL eventually folded. Maddox later became the starting quarterback for the Steelers, and led them to the playoffs. Los Angeles used the first pick in the draft to select another future NFL quarterback, Scott Milanovich. Milanovich lost the starting quarterback job to Maddox, who was placed on the Xtreme as one of a handful of players put on each team due to geographic distance between the player's college and the team's hometown. Another of the eventually better-known players who was selected in the draft was Las Vegas running back Rod Smart, who first gained popularity because the name on the back of his jersey read "He Hate Me." Smart stated that he had wanted to put "They Hate Me" (a jab at his critics) but there wasn't enough room. Smart, who was only picked 357th in the draft, later went on to play for the Philadelphia Eagles, Carolina Panthers, and the Oakland Raiders, thus becoming the second XFL player (after receiver Yo Murphy did as a member of the St. Louis Rams in Super Bowl XXXVI) to play in a Super Bowl, participating in Super Bowl XXXVIII, which his team lost. His Panther teammate Jake Delhomme named his new-born horse "She Hate Me" as a reference to Smart. Maddox became the third former XFL player to play for a Super Bowl team (Pittsburgh Steelers), in Super Bowl XL in Detroit, and he was the first to win a Super Bowl ring, although Maddox did not play in the game.
Many other XFL "alumni" who were selected in the draft went on to play in the NFL, including Kevin Kaesviharn, Jose Cortez, Corey Ivy, Mike Furrey and Rod Smart, and many others played extensively in the CFL, including Kelvin Anderson, John Avery, Duane Butler, Jeremaine Copeland, Marcus Crandell, Reggie Durden, Eric England, Paul McCallum (who wore the jersey nickname "CFL Reject"), Yo Murphy, Noel Prefontaine and Bobby Singh. The Arena Football League also absorbed some former XFL players.