1944 NFL draft

1944 NFL draft
General information
Date(s)April 19, 1944
LocationWarwick Hotel
in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Overview
330 total selections in 32 rounds
LeagueNFL
First selectionAngelo Bertelli, QB
Boston Yanks
Most selections (30)each team made 30 picks
Fewest selections (30)each team made 30 picks
Hall of Famers
4
← 1943
1945 →

The 1944 NFL draft was held on April 19, 1944, at the Warwick Hotel in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.[1][2] Perhaps as a tip of the hat to wartime sensibilities, the 1944 draft was officially called the "1943 Preferred Negotiations List" by the league.[3]

With the first overall pick of the draft, the Boston Yanks selected quarterback Angelo Bertelli.

Although there were 32 rounds in the 1944 draft, each of the league's 11 teams selected 30 players, for a total of 330 players picked.[4] The five worst-finishing teams picked alone in rounds 2 and 4, while the five best-finishing teams plus the expansion Yanks picked alone in rounds 31 and 32.

By agreement of league owners, the new Yanks franchise received the first pick of the first round and then dropped to 11th in the order of draft selection, making their next choice at 27.[5] As a mechanism for reestablishing the Philadelphia Eagles and Pittsburgh Steelers as individual entities after their wartime merger-of-convenience as the so-called Phil-Pitt Steagles in 1943, these teams selected fourth and ninth alternately in the 1943 draft.[6] This had the effect of giving Pittsburgh picks 10, 15, 31, and 41 at the top of the draft and Philadelphia picks 5, 20, and 36.

  1. ^ Salomone, Dan (October 2, 2014). "NFL Draft headed to Chicago in 2015". Giants.com. New York Giants. Archived from the original on September 30, 2015. Retrieved June 3, 2015.
  2. ^ "NFL Draft Locations". www.footballgeography.com. October 2, 2014. Archived from the original on September 5, 2015. Retrieved October 23, 2014.
  3. ^ George Strickler (ed.), Record and Rules Manual, 1944. Chicago: National Football League, 1944; p. 77.
  4. ^ Strickler (ed.), Record and Rules Manual, 1944, pp. 77–87, passim.
  5. ^ Strickler (ed.), Record and Rules Manual, 1944, p. 87.
  6. ^ Strickler (ed.), Record and Rules Manual, 1944, pp. 80, 85.