Washington Commanders draft history
The Washington Commanders are a professional American football franchise based in the Washington metropolitan area . They are members of the East division in the National Football Conference (NFC) of the National Football League (NFL). The Commanders were founded in 1932 as the Boston Braves, named after the local baseball franchise .[ 1] The franchise changed its name the following year to the Redskins and moved to Washington, D.C. in 1937 .[ 1] In 2020 , the team retired the Redskins name after longstanding controversies surrounding it and briefly played as the Washington Football Team before becoming the Commanders in 2022 .[ 1]
Every year during April, each NFL franchise seeks to add new players to its roster through a collegiate draft known as the "NFL Annual Player Selection Meeting", which is more commonly known as the NFL draft. Teams are ranked in inverse order based on the previous season's record, with the worst record picking first, and the second worst picking second and so on. The two exceptions to this order are made for teams that appeared in the previous Super Bowl ; the Super Bowl champion always picks 32nd, and the Super Bowl loser always picks 31st. Teams have the option of trading away their picks to other teams for different picks, players, cash, or a combination thereof. Thus, it is not uncommon for a team's actual draft pick to differ from their assigned draft pick, or for a team to have extra or no draft picks in any round due to these trades.[ 2]
This is a list of the franchise's selections in the NFL draft . The Boston Redskins were one of the nine original franchises that participated in the 1936 NFL draft , which was the first official draft of the National Football League . The first player ever selected in the draft, Heisman Trophy winner Jay Berwanger , chose not to play professional football. Riley Smith , taken second overall by Washington, is the first drafted player to play in the NFL.[ 3] The franchise also holds the distinction of being the only team to draft the same player in two different drafts, Cal Rossi .[a] [ 4] [ 5] [ 6]
Positions
Key
Inducted to the Pro Football Hall of Fame
Inducted to the College Football Hall of Fame
Voted one of the 80 Greatest Redskins [ 7]
Selected to Pro Bowl
1930s
1937 draft
1937 draft
1938 draft
1939 draft
1940s
1940 draft
1941 draft
1942 draft
1943 draft
1944 draft
1945 draft
1946 draft
1947 draft
1948 draft
1949 draft
1950s
1950 draft
The dispersal draft gave NFL teams the league rights to the players from teams in the dissolved All-America Football Conference .[ 8]
1951 draft
1952 draft
1953 draft
1954 draft
1955 draft
1956 draft
1957 draft
1958 draft
1959 draft
1960s
1960 draft
1961 draft
1962 draft
1963 draft
1964 draft
1965 draft
1966 draft
1967 draft
1968 draft
1969 draft
1970s
1970 draft
1971 draft
1972 draft
1973 draft
1974 draft
1975 draft
1976 draft
1977 draft
1978 draft
1979 draft
1980s
1980 draft
1981 draft
Mark May was drafted in the first round of the 1981 draft .[ 9]
1982 draft
1983 draft
Darrell Green , a first-round draft pick in 1983 , was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2008 .[ 10]
1984 draft
The supplemental draft gave NFL teams the league rights to the players who had been eligible to be drafted but were not because they were under contract with teams in the United States Football League or the Canadian Football League .[ 11]
1985 draft
1986 draft
1987 draft
Clarence Vaughn was drafted in the eighth round of the 1987 draft .
1988 draft
Mark Schlereth was drafted in the tenth round of the 1989 draft and won three Super Bowls in his career.[ 12]
1989 draft
1990s
1990 draft
1991 draft
Keenan McCardell was drafted in the twelfth round of the 1991 draft and rejoined the team in 2007 .[ 13]
1992 draft
Desmond Howard was drafted in the first round of the 1992 draft .
1993 draft
Heath Shuler , drafted in the first round of the 1994 draft ,[ 14] is now an American politician in the United States House of Representatives .[ 15]
1994 draft
1995 draft
1996 draft
1997 draft
1998 draft
Champ Bailey was drafted in the first round of the 1999 draft .
1999 draft
2000s
Chris Samuels was drafted third overall in the 2000 draft .[ 16]
2000 draft
Fred Smoot was drafted in the second round of the 2001 draft .
2001 draft
2002 draft
Chris Cooley was drafted in the third round of the 2004 draft .[ 17]
Sean Taylor , a first-round draft pick in 2004 , played safety for the Redskins until he was fatally shot in November 2007.[ 18] [ 19]
2003 draft
2004 draft
Jason Campbell was drafted in the first round of 2005 draft .[ 20]
2005 draft
2006 draft
LaRon Landry was drafted sixth overall in the 2007 draft .
2007 draft
Malcolm Kelly was drafted in the second round of the 2008 draft .
2008 draft
Brian Orakpo was drafted in the first round of the 2009 draft .
2009 draft
For their selection in the supplemental draft, the Redskins forfeited its sixth round pick in the 2010 NFL draft.
2010s
2010 draft
Perry Riley was drafted in the fourth round of the 2010 draft .
2011 draft
Ryan Kerrigan was drafted 16th overall in the 2011 draft .
2012 draft
Alfred Morris was drafted in the sixth round of the 2012 draft .
2013 draft
Jordan Reed was drafted in the third round of the 2013 draft .
2014 draft
Trent Murphy was drafted in the second round of the 2014 draft .
2015 draft
2016 draft
2017 draft
2018 draft
For their selection in the supplemental draft, the Washington Football Team forfeited its sixth round pick in the 2019 NFL draft.
2019 draft
2020s
2020 draft
Chase Young , the team's first-round draft selection in 2020, was named NFL Defensive Rookie of the Year
2021 draft
2022 draft
2023 draft
2024 draft
2023 Heisman Trophy quarterback Jayden Daniels was selected second overall in 2024
See also
References
^ a b c "Washington Commanders Team History" . Pro Football Hall of Fame . Retrieved March 14, 2024 .
^ Alder, James. "NFL Draft Basics:Determining Order of Selection" . football.about.com . Retrieved April 24, 2008 .
^ "Pro Football Draft History: The 1930s" . Pro Football Hall of Fame . Retrieved April 24, 2008 .
^ a b c Richman, Michael (2007). The Redskins Encyclopedia . Temple University Press. p. 399. ISBN 978-1-59213-542-4 .
^ a b c Velin, Bob (April 17, 2002). " 'Heisman jinx' started early: Draft's first pick". USA Today . p. SPORTS; Pg. 7C.
^ a b c Mosley, Matt; Clayton, John; Pasquarelli, Len (April 18, 2007). "NFL draft can take wacky turns" . ESPN.com . Retrieved December 23, 2010 .
^ "History : 80 Greatest Redskins" . Washington Redskins . Retrieved April 30, 2008 .
^ "1950 AAFC Dispersal Draft" (PDF) . Pro Football Researchers . Retrieved May 15, 2011 .
^ "Mark May's Career Statistics" . NFL.com . Retrieved April 30, 2008 .
^ "Darrell Green's Career Statistics" . NFL.com . Retrieved April 30, 2008 .
^ "1984 Supplemental Draft" . Pro Football Hall of Fame . Retrieved December 5, 2009 .
^ "Mark Schlereth's Career Statistics" . NFL.com . Retrieved April 30, 2008 .
^ "Keenan McCardell's Career Statistics" . NFL.com . Retrieved April 30, 2008 .
^ "Heath Shuler's Career Statistics" . NFL.com . Retrieved April 30, 2008 .
^ "Heath Shuler's Political Bio" . Biographical Directory of the US Congress . Retrieved April 30, 2008 .
^ "Chris Samuels' Career Statistics" . NFL.com . Retrieved April 30, 2008 .
^ "Chris Cooley's Career Statistics" . NFL.com . Retrieved April 30, 2008 .
^ "Sean Taylor's Career Statistics" . NFL.com . Retrieved April 30, 2008 .
^ Amy Shipley, Jason La Canfora (November 27, 2007). "Sean Taylor Dies in Miami" . Washington Post . Retrieved April 30, 2008 .
^ "Jason Campbell's Career Statistics" . NFL.com . Retrieved April 30, 2008 .
External links
Alder, James. "NFL Draft Basics:Determining Order of Selection" . football.about.com . Retrieved April 25, 2008 .
"Draft by Year" . DraftHistory.com . Retrieved April 25, 2008 .
"Draft History" . The Football Database . Retrieved April 25, 2008 .
"Draft History: 1936-59" . The-Hogs.net . Retrieved April 25, 2008 .
"Draft History: 1960-89" . The-Hogs.net . Retrieved April 25, 2008 .
"Draft History: 1990-Present" . The-Hogs.net . Retrieved April 25, 2008 .
"Draft History – Washington Redskins" . NFL.com . Retrieved April 25, 2008 .
"Hall of Famers by Franchise" . Pro Football Hall of Fame . Retrieved April 25, 2008 .
"NFL Draft History and AFL Drafts" . Pro Football Reference . Retrieved May 13, 2008 .
"NFL Draft History: Full Draft" . NFL.com . Retrieved April 25, 2008 .
"Professional Football Transactions Archive" . Pro Sports Transactions . Retrieved April 25, 2008 .
"Pro Football Draft History" . Pro Football Hall of Fame . Retrieved April 25, 2008 .
"Washington Redskins Draft History" . Washington Redskins . Retrieved April 25, 2008 .
"Washington Redskins Draft History" . NFL.com . Retrieved January 24, 2012 .
Formerly the Boston Braves (1932), Boston Redskins (1933–1936), Washington Redskins (1937–2019), and Washington Football Team (2020–2021)
Based in Landover, Maryland
Headquartered in Ashburn, Virginia
Franchise Stadiums Key personnel Culture and lore Rivalries Wild Card berths (10) Division championships (15) Conference championships (5) League championships (2) Super Bowl championships (3) Retired numbers Hall of Famers Affiliations