The 1966 NFL expansion draft was a

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)

draft Draft, the draft, or draught may refer to: Watercraft dimensions * Draft (hull), the distance from waterline to keel of a vessel * Draft (sail), degree of curvature in a sail * Air draft, distance from waterline to the highest point on a v ...

in which a new

expansion team An expansion team is a new team in a sports league, usually from a city that has not hosted a team in that league before, formed with the intention of satisfying the demand for a local team from a population in a new area. Sporting leagues also ...

, named the

Atlanta Falcons The Atlanta Falcons are a professional American football team based in Atlanta. The Falcons compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC South, South division. The Falcons were founded o ...

, selected its first players. On June 30,

1965 Events January–February * January 14 – The First Minister of Northern Ireland and the Taoiseach of the Republic of Ireland meet for the first time in 43 years. * January 20 ** Lyndon B. Johnson is Second inauguration of Lynd ...

, NFL Commissioner

Pete Rozelle Alvin Ray "Pete" Rozelle (; March 1, 1926 – December 6, 1996) was an American professional football executive. Rozelle served as the commissioner of the National Football League (NFL) for nearly thirty years, from January 1960 until his retire ...

awarded the first NFL franchise in the

Deep South The Deep South or the Lower South is a cultural and geographic subregion of the Southern United States. The term is used to describe the states which were most economically dependent on Plantation complexes in the Southern United States, plant ...

to the city of

Atlanta Atlanta ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Georgia (U.S. state), most populous city in the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia. It is the county seat, seat of Fulton County, Georg ...

and granted ownership to Rankin Smith Sr. So that the Falcons could become competitive with existing teams, the league awarded the Falcons the first pick in the

1966 NFL draft The 1966 NFL draft was held at the 569 Lexington Avenue, Summit Hotel in New York City on Saturday, November 27, 1965. The expansion 1966 Atlanta Falcons season, Atlanta Falcons were awarded the first pick in each round as well as the final pick ...

, supplemented with the final pick in the first five rounds. The NFL also gave the new team the opportunity to select current players from existing teams. That selection was provided by the expansion draft, held on February 15,

1966 Events January * January 1 – In a coup, Colonel Jean-Bédel Bokassa takes over as military ruler of the Central African Republic, ousting President David Dacko. * January 3 – 1966 Upper Voltan coup d'état: President Maurice Yaméogo i ...

. In this draft, held six weeks after the regular draft, the existing franchises listed players from which the Falcons could select to switch to the new team. Each of the 14 established teams froze 29 players on their 40-man rosters that opened the 1965 season (That made 154 players available.). Atlanta picked one of the 11 and then each team froze two more. Atlanta was able to select two more for a total of 42 players chosen. The Falcons paid $8.5 million for the franchise. (February 17, 1966 ''St. Petersburg Times''.)

Player selections

References

{{Atlanta Falcons NFL expansion draft Expansion Atlanta Falcons lists

Player selections

See also

References