The 2008 NFL draft was the 73rd annual meeting of

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a Professional gridiron football, professional American football league in the United States. Composed of 32 teams, it is divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National ...

(NFL) franchises to select newly eligible

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players. The draft took place at

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, on April 26 and April 27, 2008. For the 29th consecutive year,

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televised the draft; the

NFL Network NFL Network (occasionally abbreviated on-air as NFLN) is an American sports-oriented pay television network owned by the National Football League NTP and is part of NFL Media, which also includes NFL.com, NFL Films, NFL Mobile, NFL Now and N ...

also broadcast the event, its third year doing so. Of the 252 selections, 220 were regular selections in rounds one through seven, and 32 were compensatory selections, distributed among rounds three through seven. As of the end of the 2018 season, 27 players have been selected to the Pro Bowl. For the first time since the common draft began, no

wide receiver A wide receiver (WR), also referred to as a wideout, and historically known as a split end (SE) or flanker (FL), is an eligible receiver in gridiron football. A key skill position of the offense (American football), offense, WR gets its name ...

was selected in the first round. For the first time ever, the first two picks had the same last name (Jake and Chris Long; they were unrelated). Also, a then-record 34 trades were made during the draft itself. The number of trades was later broken in

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. As of 2024, there are only 4 remaining active players in the NFL from the 2008 draft class: Duane Brown, Calais Campbell, Joe Flacco, and Josh Johnson, although Johnson was absent from 2014 to 2017, from 2019 to 2020, and again in 2023.

Changes for 2008

The schedule for the draft was changed: day one began at 3:00 PM. EDT (1900

UTC Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) is the primary time standard globally used to regulate clocks and time. It establishes a reference for the current time, forming the basis for civil time and time zones. UTC facilitates international communica ...

), instead of noon, and consisted of just two rounds. Day two began with round three at 10:00 AM EDT (1400 UTC), instead of 11:00 AM. Moreover, the time limits for day one selections were reduced, from 15 minutes to ten for first-round picks and from ten minutes to seven in the second. The limit remained five minutes for all picks in rounds three through seven. The draft also marked the official debut of a new NFL shield logo, replacing the old shield logo which had been used since 1970, featuring eight white stars to represent each of the league's eight divisions, and a football rotated to the same angle as the one on the top of the

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given to the Super Bowl champion.

Player breakdown

The following is the breakdown of the 252 players by position:

Player selections

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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 2008 draft. ;Round one ;Round two ;Round three ;Round four ;Round five ;Round six ;Round seven

Draft day trades

;Fifth round *Redskins to Rams. Washington traded fifth-round and seventh-round selections (#157 and #228 overall) to St. Louis for its two sixth-round selections (#168 and #180 overall). ;Sixth round *Ravens to Texans. ''See first-round trade above.'' *Steelers to Giants. ''See fourth-round trade above.'' *Eagles to Browns. Philadelphia traded to Cleveland the 6th round selection they had previously received from the Browns for Hank Fraley (#191 overall). ''(see Pre-Draft Trades above)'' In return, the Browns gave the Eagles their 5th round pick in the 2009 draft. ;Seventh round *Cowboys to Seahawks. ''See first-round trade above.'' *Raiders to Cowboys. ''See fourth-round trade above.'' *Cowboys to Jaguars. ''See fifth-round trade above.'' *Packers to Vikings. ''See fifth-round trade above.'' *Patriots to Buccaneers. ''See fifth-round trade above.''

Notable undrafted players

Draft breakdown

By conference

Selection totals by college conference:

By position

References

;Trade references ;Specific references

External links

NFL Draft at NFL.com

ESPN NFL Draft Central 2008
{{DEFAULTSORT:2008 Nfl Draft NFL draft D Radio City Music Hall

NFL draft The NFL draft, officially known as the Annual Player Selection Meeting, is an annual event which serves as the most common source of player recruitment in the National Football League. Each team is given a position in the drafting order in reve ...

NFL Draft The NFL draft, officially known as the Annual Player Selection Meeting, is an annual event which serves as the most common source of player recruitment in the National Football League. Each team is given a position in the drafting order in reve ...

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