The 2018 NFL Draft was the 83rd annual meeting of
National Football League
The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the ma ...
(NFL) franchises to select newly eligible players for the
2018 NFL season. The draft was held on April 26–28 at
AT&T Stadium in
Arlington, Texas; it was the first draft to take place in an NFL stadium and the first to be held in Texas.
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 15, 2018.
Five quarterbacks were selected in the first round —
Baker Mayfield,
Sam Darnold,
Josh Allen,
Josh Rosen, and
Lamar Jackson — the second highest number of first-round quarterback selections (along with the
1999
File:1999 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The funeral procession of King Hussein of Jordan in Amman; the 1999 İzmit earthquake kills over 17,000 people in Turkey; the Columbine High School massacre, one of the first major school s ...
and
2021 drafts) after the six selected in
1983. The draft was also the first to have siblings — safety
Terrell Edmunds and linebacker
Tremaine Edmunds — selected in its first round.
The 2018 NFL Draft was the first of two professional sports drafts to be held in the
Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex
The Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, officially designated Dallas–Fort Worth–Arlington by the U.S. Office of Management and Budget, is a conurbated metropolitan statistical area in the U.S. state of Texas encompassing 11 counties and ancho ...
during the calendar year, as the
Dallas Stars
The Dallas Stars are a professional ice hockey team based in Dallas. They compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Central Division (NHL), Central Division in the Western Conference (NHL), Western Conference, and were founde ...
hosted the
2018 NHL Entry Draft in June.
Early entrants
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 15, 2018.
The following is the breakdown of the 256 players selected by
position
Position often refers to:
* Position (geometry), the spatial location (rather than orientation) of an entity
* Position, a job or occupation
Position may also refer to:
Games and recreation
* Position (poker), location relative to the dealer
* ...
:
* 39
Linebacker
Linebacker (LB) is a playing position in gridiron football. Linebackers are members of the defensive team, and line up three to five yards behind the line of scrimmage and the defensive linemen. They are the "middle ground" of defenders, pl ...
s
* 33
Wide receivers
* 29
Cornerback
A cornerback (CB) is a member of the defensive backfield or secondary in gridiron football. Cornerbacks cover receivers most of the time, but also blitz and defend against such offensive running plays as sweeps and reverses. They create turnove ...
s
* 23
Defensive end
Defensive end (DE) is a defensive position in the sport of gridiron football.
This position has designated the players at each end of the defensive line, but changes in formations over the years have substantially changed how the position is p ...
s
* 20
Running back
A running back (RB) is a member of the offensive backfield in gridiron football. The primary roles of a running back are to receive handoffs from the quarterback to rush the ball, to line up as a receiver to catch the ball,
and block. The ...
s
* 20
Defensive tackles
* 21
Offensive tackles
* 18
Safeties
* 14
Tight end
The tight end (TE) is a position in American football, arena football, and Canadian football, on the offense (sports), offense. The tight end is often a hybrid position with the characteristics and roles of both an offensive lineman and a wide ...
s
* 13
Quarterback
The quarterback (commonly abbreviated "QB"), colloquially known as the "signal caller", is a position in gridiron football. Quarterbacks are members of the offensive platoon and mostly line up directly behind the offensive line. In modern Ame ...
s
* 9
Offensive guards
* 8
Centers
* 4
Punters
* 2
Placekickers
* 2
Fullbacks
* 1
Long snapper
In American football, the long snapper (or deep snapper) is a center on special teams whose duty is to snap the football over a longer distance, typically around 15 yards during punts, and 7–8 yards during field goals and extra point at ...
Player selections
Notable undrafted players
Supplemental draft
A
supplemental draft was held on July 11, 2018. 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 2018 draft.
;Round one
;Round two
;Round three
;Round four
;Round five
;Round six
;Round seven
Media coverage
Coverage of the draft was broadcast by
ESPN
ESPN (originally an initialism for Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by ESPN Inc., owned jointly by The Walt Disney Company (80%) and Hearst Communications (20%). The ...
and
NFL Network, with
Fox
Foxes are small to medium-sized, omnivorous mammals belonging to several genera of the family Canidae. They have a flattened skull, upright, triangular ears, a pointed, slightly upturned snout, and a long bushy tail (or ''brush'').
Twelv ...
also simulcasting NFL Network's coverage of the first two rounds of broadcast television (serving as a prelude for Fox's acquisition of ''
Thursday Night Football'' for the 2018 season). ESPN aired coverage of the last four rounds on
ABC. ''
College GameDay'' broadcast a special edition from outside AT&T Stadium as a pre-show on ESPN, and its panel hosted a secondary broadcast of the first round on
ESPN2
ESPN2 is an American multinational pay television network owned by ESPN Inc., a joint venture between The Walt Disney Company (which owns a controlling 80% stake) and Hearst Communications (which owns the remaining 20%).
ESPN2 was initially ...
.
ESPN Deportes broadcast coverage in Spanish.
Telecasts of the first round across all three broadcasters (which included the expansion of coverage to broadcast television) drew a combined Nielsen overnight household rating of 8.4, and total viewership of 11.214 million, making it the most-watched opening round since
2014
File:2014 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Stocking up supplies and personal protective equipment (PPE) for the Western African Ebola virus epidemic; Citizens examining the ruins after the Chibok schoolgirls kidnapping; Bundles of wat ...
. ESPN drew the largest single audience, with 5.336 million viewers, while Fox and NFL Network had a combined viewership of 5.74 million across both channels (3.776 and 2.005 million individually).
Summary
Selections by college athletic conference
Schools with multiple draft selections
Selections by position
Notes
References
;Trade references
;General references
{{2018 NFL season by team
National Football League Draft
NFL Draft
The National Football League Draft, also called the NFL Draft or (officially) the Player Selection Meeting, is an annual event which serves as the league's most common source of player recruitment. Each team is given a position in the drafting o ...
Draft
21st century in Arlington, Texas
American football in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex
NFL Draft
The National Football League Draft, also called the NFL Draft or (officially) the Player Selection Meeting, is an annual event which serves as the league's most common source of player recruitment. Each team is given a position in the drafting o ...