2019 NFL draft explained

2019 NFL draft
Date:April 25–27, 2019
Time:8:00 PM ET
Location:Lower Broadway
Nashville, Tennessee
Network:ABC, ESPN, ESPN2, NFL Network
League:NFL
Mr Irrelevant:Caleb Wilson, TE, Arizona Cardinals
First:Kyler Murray, QB, Arizona Cardinals
Fewnum:5
Fewest:Chicago Bears
New Orleans Saints
Philadelphia Eagles
Mostnum:12
Most:Minnesota Vikings
Overall:254
Rounds:7
Prev:2018
Next:2020

The 2019 NFL draft was the 84th annual meeting of National Football League (NFL) franchises to select newly eligible players for the 2019 NFL season. The draft was held on April 25–27 in Nashville, Tennessee. The first round was held on April 25, followed by the second and third rounds on April 26, and concluded with rounds 4–7 on April 27. The draft featured a record-high 40 trades,[1] surpassing the 37 that were made in 2017.[2]

Early entrants

See also: List of 2019 NFL draft early entrants. A record-high 111 eligible applicants announced their intention to enter the 2019 NFL draft as underclassmen, which primarily included juniors and redshirt sophomores who forwent future years of college eligibility.[3] In order to be eligible to enter the draft, players must be at least three years removed from high school. The deadline for underclassmen to declare for the draft was January 14, 2019.

Host city bid process

The host city for the 2019 (as well as the 2020) draft was chosen from among finalists Denver, Kansas City, Las Vegas, Nashville and Cleveland/Canton in May 2018 at the NFL Spring League Meeting.[4] On May 23, 2018, the league announced Nashville as the host city of the 2019 draft.[5]

Player selections

The following is the breakdown of the 254 players selected by position:

Compensatory selection
Pro Bowler
Hall of Famer-->

Supplemental draft

A supplemental draft was held on July 10, 2019. For each player selected in the supplemental draft, the team forfeits its pick in that round in the draft of the following season.

Trades

In the explanations below, (PD) indicates trades completed prior to the start of the draft (i.e. Pre-Draft), while (D) denotes trades that took place during the 2019 draft.

Round one

Round two

Round three

Round four

Round five

Round six

Round seven

Media coverage

In November 2018, after having aired the final rounds of the draft on the network, ESPN announced that it would air coverage of all three days of the 2019 draft on ABC, using an entertainment-oriented format and hosted by the panel of College GameDay (which hosted an alternate ESPN2 broadcast of the previous draft), including Lee Corso, Rece Davis, Kirk Herbstreit and Desmond Howard. It marked the first time that broadcast television coverage of all three days of the NFL Draft had been carried by a single network; in 2018, the first two nights aired on Fox in association and simulcast with NFL Network. ESPN and NFL Network continued to broadcast more traditionally-formatted coverage.[6] In addition, NFL Network's morning show Good Morning Football was simulcast on ESPN2 on both April 25 and 26, while ESPN and NFL Network personalities made appearances across the networks' studio programs.[7]

The NFL reported an average viewership of 6.1 million across all ESPN and NFL outlets carrying coverage, up from the composite average of 5.5 million in 2018, and estimated that at least 47.5 million viewers watched coverage at some point during the draft.[8] The NFL also reported that at least 600,000 people attended events associated with the draft, overtaking 2017 as the most-attended NFL Draft.[9]

Summary

Selections by NCAA conference

ConferenceRound 1Round 2Round 3Round 4Round 5Round 6Round 7Total
NCAA Division I FBS football conferences
AAC121211311
ACC723455228
Big 12335623426
Big Ten727785440
C-USA00400116
Ind. (FBS)11220118
MAC02110509
MW013003310
Pac-12353673633
SEC913671010964
Sun Belt00000101
NCAA Division I FCS football conferences
Big Sky00000011
CAA01000113
MEAC00000022
MVFC00101013
OVC00100102
SWAC10000012
NCAA Division II football conferences
GSC00000011
LSC00001001
MEC00010001
MIAA00000101
NSIC00100001

A then-record 64 players were drafted from one conference,[10] the second-most in NFL history, breaking the previous high of 63 selections in 2013. Both numbers were set by the Southeastern Conference. The record was broken in 2021, when 65 players were selected also from the SEC.

Schools with multiple draft selections

SelectionsSchools
10Alabama
9Ohio State
8Oklahoma, Washington
7Georgia, Texas A&M
6Auburn, Clemson, Notre Dame, Ole Miss, Penn State
5Florida, Kentucky, Miami, Michigan, Mississippi State, Stanford, Utah, West Virginia
4Boston College, Iowa, Maryland, NC State, Oregon, USC, Wisconsin
3Arkansas, Houston, LSU, South Carolina, TCU, Temple
2Arizona State, Central Michigan, Florida Atlantic, Florida State, Hawaii, Iowa State, Kansas State, Memphis, Michigan State, Missouri, Northern Illinois, Oklahoma State, Old Dominion, Rutgers, Texas, Toledo, Vanderbilt, Virginia, Washington State

Of note, Allen High School boasted three selections in the 2019 NFL draft, by drafting Kyler Murray, Greg Little, and Bobby Evans.[11]

Selections by position

PositionRound 1Round 2Round 3Round 4Round 5Round 6Round 7Total
Center12000115
Cornerback173438632
Defensive end604522625
Defensive tackle612233421
Guard103610112
Kicker00002002
Linebacker3262124331
Long snapper00000011
Offensive tackle454015423
Punter00011002
Quarterback311222011
Running back115436525
Safety242523119
Tight end224211416
Wide receiver274326428
PositionRound 1Round 2Round 3Round 4Round 5Round 6Round 7Total
Offense14182117102119120
Defense18141718222020129
Special teams00013015

References

Trade references

General references

Notes and References

  1. Web site: 2019 draft sees record number of trades . MSN.com . . Microsoft . April 27, 2019 . April 28, 2019 . https://web.archive.org/web/20190428134810/https://www.msn.com/en-us/sports/nfl/2019-draft-sees-record-number-of-trades/ar-BBWmiq8 . April 28, 2019 . dead .
  2. News: 2017 NFL Draft sets record for number of trades . . April 30, 2017 .
  3. News: Underclassmen declaring for 2019 NFL Draft hits record high. Orlando Sentinel. January 9, 2019.
  4. News: Finalists to host 2019, 2020 NFL Draft announced. NFL.com. National Football League. February 15, 2018.
  5. Web site: Knoblauch. Austin. Nashville, Tennessee Titans to host 2019 NFL Draft. NFL.com. May 23, 2018.
  6. Web site: ABC To Broadcast All Three Days Of NFL Draft In '19. Sports Business Daily. November 26, 2018 . November 27, 2018.
  7. Web site: ESPN2 will simulcast NFL Network's Good Morning Football Thursday and Friday in latest olive branch to the NFL. April 25, 2019. Awful Announcing. April 26, 2019.
  8. Web site: NFL Draft Pulls Record Ratings for Second Straight Year. The Hollywood Reporter. April 29, 2019 . en. 2020-01-22.
  9. Web site: NFL Draft in Nashville breaks attendance record at 600,000, league reports. The Tennessean. en. 2020-01-22.
  10. Web site: Patterson . Chip . 2019 NFL Draft by conference, team: SEC dominates, sets record with 64 players selected . CBS Sports . CBS Interactive . April 27, 2019.
  11. Web site: 242 HIGH SCHOOLS HAVE PLAYERS SELECTED IN 2019 NFL DRAFT. NFL.com. NFL. 5 October 2020.