1st NFL Draft

On February eighth, nineteen thirty six, the very first NFL Draft was held. To day into three day events that travels across the country to different locations every year. Isn't a national spotlight, But then barely anyone knew about this small event having an an tiny room. Here's a story behind how the NFL Draft got started to day on Daily Sports History. Welcome to Daily Sports History, I mean the Reese, your guide to a rapid deep dive into sports history every day. In nineteen thirty six, the NFL was starting something new. They were going to hold their first draft for amateur players, an idea that was proposed by then owner and head coach of the Philadelphia Eagles Bert Bell. Before nineteen thirty six, players were free to sign which whatever team they wanted. This left teams like the Eagles with very few resources available to track the best players and very hard to have parody in the league, as the more money you had, the better players you could get. So at the nineteen thirty five league meeting, Bell proposed holding an annual player draft, with the order being a reverse of the previous year's standings. This would give teams with fewer resources a chance for the best players and we remained financially viable. The rest of the league agreed, and very quickly they got the first draft ready. It was to be held at the Ritz Carlton in Philadelphia in one of the and it was somewhat underwhelming by today's standards. There was a pool of ninety players of which teams could select from, and the draft lasted for nine rounds. It was not covered by the media, and the eligible players were actually written out on a blackboard. Ironically enough, Bell pitched this idea that will make him have the first pick in the draft, and they picked Jay bar Wagner as the first ever pick in an NFL draft. This would make the Eagles first Heisman Trophy winner on the team, as they failed to negotiate a contract with any other Heisman Trophy winning Then the Philadelphia Eagles would trade the pick to the Bears, and b Wagner opted for a career in rubber sales rather than football. Of the eighty one players selected in the first NFL draft, only twenty four of them sign a contract, a vast difference from today. Ninety nine percent of the players drafted either sign a contract or participate in training camp. For the teams just to show a significant change in how it's done today. Now, each team has a scouting department that looks out over every player that could possibly be drafted and has heights, weights and stats on every player that they could possibly pick in the now seven rounds of the draft. The draft has changed the number of rounds as the number of teams have increased. At the beginning, there was only ten teams, but now there is thirty two and only seven rounds of prose to the nine that they started. But there was a time in the nineteen fifties when there was thirty rounds of the draft. Imagine sitting through that draft night. We might have two weeks of the draft today. Despite only twenty four players being signed. In that first draft class, it produced four Hall of Famers, But arguably the most successful draft was in nineteen sixty four that had twenty rounds, seeing two hundred and eighty players selected and having eleven Hall of Famers. No draft since has had any more than ten Hall of Famers produced. Up until twenty eleven, players could sign contracts however much the team and the player could agree for, which caused many in the two thousands to get it absurd contracts, making them one of the highest players in the league the moment they stepped on the field. Now there's a rookie wage skill that allows teams to pay rookies less at the beginning of their career, but more as they continue to have success in the league. But if they are a bust, which is a person that does not actually have success playing football in the NFL, they do not get those millions of dollars guaranteed to them as before. Now the location of the draft changes each year, going to different NFL team cities. The first fifteen were held in Philadelphia, but then New York City held it from nineteen sixty five to twenty fourteen when they started to roll out having the draft at different locations. Other leagues have also adapted a draft. Each one does it a little differently as they have different rules for the ages they can participate in in the different contracts they can of them. But the draft, in any sport has become a staple has helped the leagues grow year after year. Thank you for listening to today's Daily Sports History. If you like this, please follow us on our social media's where at Daily Sports History on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube and check them out for photos from today's story, and come back tomorrow for more daily sports history.