2016 NFL draft

The 2016 NFL draft will be the 81st annual meeting of National Football League (NFL) franchises to select newly eligible football players. As in 2015, the draft will be take place at the Auditorium Theatre in Chicago, Illinois.^[1] On July 15, 2015, commissioner Roger Goodell announced that the draft will be held on Thursday, April 28, and will end on Saturday, April 30. The Tennessee Titans, statistically the worst team in the NFL for the 2015 season, has the right to the top pick in the draft.

Selection order

The selection order for the first round is as follows.^[2] The selection order for subsequent rounds will follow the order of the first round, except that teams with the same record and same playoff result will rotate among their respective groups (these groups are indicated by the bold gray lines in the table below). Three picks were forfeited – one in the first round, and two in the fifth round. Also, 32 additional compensatory picks will be allocated between the ends of round 3 through 7 for a total of 253 picks. The New England Patriots will forfeit their first round selection due to their role in the Deflategate scandal, but they are included in this table to indicate where they fall in the draft order for later rounds. Barring a trade, the Patriots will make their first selection in the second round (60th overall).

See the rules for determining draft order for more details.^[3]

Early entrants

Ninety-six underclassmen announced their intention to enter the 2016 NFL Draft as underclassmen, which primarily include juniors and redshirt sophomores that are forgoing future years of college eligibility.^[4] In order to be eligible to enter the draft, players must be at least 3 years removed from high school. The deadline for underclassmen to declare was January 18, 2016.

Player selections

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 2016 draft.

Round two

1. ↑ No. 43: Philadelphia → Los Angeles (PD). Philadelphia traded their second-round selection in this year's draft, a 2015 fourth-round selection and quarterback Nick Foles to Los Angeles in exchange for Los Angeles' 2015 fifth-round selection and quarterback Sam Bradford. The trade also included a possible conditional fourth-round selection in this year's draft that Philadelphia would have received if Bradford took less than 50 percent of the snaps in 2015. Bradford took the majority of snaps for Philadelphia in 2015, so the fourth-round pick was returned to Los Angeles.^{[source 2]}

Round three

1. ↑ No. 77: Detroit → Philadelphia (PD). Detroit traded their third-round selection in this year's draft to Philadelphia in exchange for a fourth-round selection in the 2015 NFL draft (113th used to draft defensive tackle Gabe Wright).^{[source 3]}

Round four

1. ↑ No. TBD: Denver → Baltimore (PD). Denver traded this selection to Baltimore in exchange for their fifth-round selection (No. TBD) and center Gino Gradkowski.^{[source 4]}

Round five

1. ↑ No. TBD: San Diego → San Francisco (PD). San Diego traded this selection, and their 2015 first- and fourth-round selections, to San Francisco in exchange for San Francisco's 2015 first-round selection.^{[source 5]}
2. ↑ No. TBD: Dallas → Oakland (PD). Dallas conditionally traded this selection to Oakland for wide receiver Brice Butler and Oakland's 2016 sixth-round selection. The pick occurred because Butler was on the Cowboys' 53-man roster for at least six games.^{[source 6]}
3. ↑ No. TBD: Baltimore → Denver (PD). see No. TBD: Denver → Baltimore.^{[source 4]}
4. ↑ No. TBD: Seattle → Kansas City (PD). Seattle traded this selection to Kansas City in exchange for safety Kelcie McCray.^{[source 9]}
5. ↑ No. TBD: Pittsburgh → Philadelphia (PD). Pittsburgh traded this conditional selection to Philadelphia in exchange for cornerback Brandon Boykin. The selection could have become a fourth round selection if Boykin played 60% of the snaps during the season.^{[source 10]}
6. ↑ No. TBD: New England → Houston (PD). New England traded this selection to Houston in exchange for wide receiver Keshawn Martin and Houston's 2016 sixth-round selection.^{[source 11]}
7. ↑ No. TBD: Denver → Detroit (PD). Denver traded this selection, their 2015 first- and fifth-round selections (28th & 143rd) and guard/center Manny Ramirez to Detroit in exchange for Detroit's 2015 first-round selection (23rd).^{[source 12]}

Round six

1. ↑ No. TBD: Dallas → San Francisco (PD). Dallas traded this selection to San Francisco in exchange for San Francisco's 2015 seventh-round selection (246th).^{[source 3]}
2. ↑ No. TBD: San Francisco → Minnesota (PD). San Francisco traded this selection and center Nick Easton to Minnesota in exchange for linebacker Gerald Hodges.^{[source 13]}
3. ↑ No. TBD: New Orleans → Washington (PD). New Orleans traded this selection along with their sixth-round selection in the 2015 NFL draft (187th) to Washington in exchange for Washington's fifth-round selection.^{[source 3]}
4. ↑ No. TBD: Oakland → Dallas (PD). see No. TBD: Dallas → Oakland.^{[source 6]}
5. ↑ No. TBD: Atlanta → Tennessee (PD). Atlanta traded this selection to Tennessee in exchange for guard Andy Levitre and a future conditional selection.^{[source 14]}
6. ↑ No. TBD: Indianapolis → Oakland (PD). Indianapolis traded this selection to Oakland in exchange for linebacker Sio Moore.^{[source 15]}
7. ↑ No. TBD: New York Jets → Houston (PD). The Jets traded a conditional seventh-round selection in the 2016 draft to Houston in exchange for quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick. The pick can become a sixth-round selection based on Fitzpatrick's playing time.^{[source 16]}
8. ↑ No. TBD: Houston → New England (PD). see No. TBD: New England → Houston.^{[source 11]}
9. ↑ No. TBD: Washington → Tampa Bay (PD). Washington traded this selection to Tampa Bay in exchange for Tampa Bay's seventh-round selection and safety Dashon Goldson.^{[source 17]}
10. ↑ No. TBD: Minnesota → San Diego (PD). Minnesota traded this selection to San Diego in exchange for offensive lineman Jeremiah Sirles.^{[source 18]}
11. ↑ No. TBD: Pittsburgh → Jacksonville (PD). Pittsburgh traded this selection to Jacksonville in exchange for kicker Josh Scobee.^{[source 19]}
12. ↑ No. TBD: Seattle → Detroit (PD). Seattle traded this selection to Detroit in exchange for cornerback Mohammed Seisay.^{[source 20]}
13. ↑ No. TBD: New England → Chicago (PD). New England traded this selection to Chicago in exchange for linebacker Jon Bostic.^{[source 21]}
14. ↑ No. TBD: Carolina → Chicago (PD). Carolina traded this selection to Chicago in exchange for defensive end Jared Allen.^{[source 22]}
15. ↑ No. TBD: Denver → San Francisco (PD). Denver traded this selection, along with their sixth-round selection in the 2017 NFL draft to San Francisco in exchange for San Francisco's seventh-round selection and tight end Vernon Davis.^{[source 23]}

Round seven

1. ↑ No. TBD: Dallas → Seattle (PD). Dallas traded this selection to Seattle in exchange for running back Christine Michael.^{[source 24]}
2. ↑ No. TBD: Baltimore → Miami (PD). Baltimore traded this selection to Miami in exchange for cornerback Will Davis.^{[source 25]}
3. ↑ No. TBD: San Francisco → Denver (PD). see No. TBD: Denver → San Francisco.^{[source 23]}
4. ↑ No. TBD: New York Giants → Pittsburgh (PD). The Giants traded a conditional seventh-round selection in the 2016 draft to Pittsburgh in exchange for punter Brad Wing.^{[source 26]}
5. ↑ No. TBD: Tampa Bay → Washington (PD). see No. TBD: Washington → Tampa Bay.^{[source 17]}
6. ↑ No. TBD: multiple trades:
          No. TBD: Los Angeles → Houston (PD). Los Angeles traded this selection to Houston in exchange for quarterback Case Keenum.^{[source 27]}
          No. TBD: Houston → Denver (PD). Houston traded this selection to Denver in exchange for offensive tackle Chris Clark.^{[source 28]}
7. ↑ No. TBD: Buffalo → Minnesota (PD). Buffalo traded this selection and a 2015 fifth-round selection (137th) to Minnesota in exchange for quarterback Matt Cassel and Minnesota's 2015 sixth-round selection (187th).^{[source 29]}
8. ↑ No. TBD: Houston → New England (PD). Houston traded their seventh–round selection in the 2016 draft to New England in exchange for quarterback Ryan Mallett. The pick could have been a sixth–round selection but Mallett did not play 40% of the snaps in 2014.^{[source 30]}
9. ↑ No. TBD: Arizona → Philadelphia (PD). Arizona traded this selection to Philadelphia in exchange for quarterback Matt Barkley on the condition that Barkley was on the roster for six games.^{[source 31]}

Forfeited picks

1. ↑ New England forfeited its first-round selection as the punishment for the team's Deflategate scandal. The team will also forfeit a 2017 fourth-round selection.^{[source 1]}
2. ↑ Los Angeles forfeited their fifth-round selection after selecting offensive tackle Isaiah Battle in the 2015 Supplemental draft.^{[source 7]}
3. ↑ Atlanta forfeited their fifth-round selection as punishment for piping artificial crowd noise into the Georgia Dome during the 2013 and 2014 seasons.^{[source 8]}

References

Trade references

General references