The NFL is the world's most valuable sports league. It comprises 32 teams.
The NFL first held a draft in 1936, though the first pick forsook a career in football to become a rubber salesman. The draft is the sport's annual trading bonanza, in which 257 of the brightest prospects find out which team will become their home. There are seven rounds in which each team picks players, starting with the worst teams from last season and ending with the best. Teams can trade slots to move further up the order.
The draft was an afterthought until 1980, when ESPN, a new cable network, began broadcasting it. The league's commissioner was sceptical it would draw an audience, but it did. Around 12m viewers watched the first round in 2024. Hosted for many years at Radio City Music Hall in New York, the event now rotates through different cities. In 2024, 775,000 people attended the draft in Detroit, delivering a boost of almost $215m to the local economy. In 2025 the draft was held in Green Bay, Wisconsin.
The first pick in 2025 was expected to earn around $43m. Tom Brady was the 199th selection in the draft of 2000; he went on to win seven Super Bowls and is considered one of the greatest players ever. Brock Purdy—the very last player chosen in 2022, earning the moniker "Mr Irrelevant"—became the starting quarterback for the San Francisco 49ers.
Drafts provide a better competitive balance than highest-bidder recruitment systems. In the past 30 NFL seasons there have been 14 different champions; by contrast, only six teams have won the English Premier League in the same span.
No position in team sports carries as much pressure and responsibility as the quarterback. Most of the highest-paid players in the NFL are quarterbacks; often 20-25% of a team's wages go to their quarterback. Around 16,000 boys play quarterback in American high schools, but just 860 start in college. Most of the 69 quarterbacks chosen in the draft's first round since 2000 have been failures, according to Seth Wickersham, a journalist at ESPN.
The Green Bay Packers have won the NFL 13 times—more than any other team—despite the city having barely 100,000 residents.
Of course you can't flap your arms and fly to the moon. After a while you'd run out of air to push against.