List of first overall NFL draft picks

While the regulations do not explicitly require collegiate attendance, players must either exhaust their college eligibility or seek a special exemption from the league.

Playoff participants are sequenced after non-playoff teams, based on their round of elimination (wild card, division, conference, and Super Bowl).

Following this, the NFL faced competition from the American Football League (AFL), which held a separate draft prior to the merger agreements in 1966.

The Indianapolis Colts and Los Angeles Rams have each held the first overall pick a total of seven times, the most of any NFL team.

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).

Caleb Williams was selected first overall in 2024
1942 first overall pick Bill Dudley was the first named NFL MVP and inducted to the Pro Football Hall of Fame
1945 first overall pick Charley Trippi retired as the leader in NFL offensive yards
1949 first overall pick Chuck Bednarik was one of the last NFL players to play offense and defense
1957 first overall pick Paul Hornung was the first Heisman Trophy winner inducted to the Pro Football Hall of Fame
A black man smiling at a camera while wearing a white shirt.
1969 first overall pick O. J. Simpson was the first running back to rush for 2,000 yards in a season and the only to do so in a 14-game season
1970 first overall pick Terry Bradshaw was the first quarterback to win four Super Bowls
1978 first overall pick Earl Campbell led the NFL in rushing yards three times and in rushing touchdowns twice
A man wearing a black shirt with blue jeans while clutching a football.
1983 first overall pick John Elway was the first quarterback to start in five Super Bowls
1985 first overall pick Bruce Smith is the NFL leader in quarterback sacks
1989 first overall pick Troy Aikman helped establish the Dallas Cowboys as a dynasty during the 1990s
1997 first overall pick Orlando Pace protected three consecutive NFL MVPs as their offensive tackle
1998 first overall pick Peyton Manning holds the record for NFL MVP awards