[4] The Tampa Bay Buccaneers held the right to select first because they had the league's worst record in the previous season.

One of the major storylines approaching the NFL draft was the competition between the previous two Heisman Trophy winners, Jameis Winston winning the award in 2013 and Marcus Mariota in 2014.

Winston was considered to be a more polished pocket passer and pro-style quarterback, but had several off-the-field issues while playing at Florida State, ranging from a sexual assault allegation to shoplifting incidents.

Seventy-four underclassmen announced their intention to forgo their remaining NCAA eligibility and declare themselves available to be selected in the draft.

An additional ten players who graduated but were still eligible to play college football chose to enter the draft, bringing to 84 the total number of players who chose to forgo college eligibility to enter the draft.

The supplemental picks are awarded to teams who had net losses of free agent talent from the previous year.