2018 NFL draft

The 2018 NFL draft was the 83rd annual meeting of National Football League (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 southwest of Dallas; 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 amount (along with the 1999 and 2021 drafts) after the six selected in 1983 and 2024. As of 2024, only Allen and Jackson have remained with their original teams. 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 during the calendar year, as the Dallas Stars hosted the 2018 NHL Draft in June.

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:

First-round quarterbacks Baker Mayfield (top) and Sam Darnold (bottom), drafted 1st and 3rd overall, saw initial success with the teams that picked them, but were both traded away after struggles before experiencing late-career revivals with subsequent teams.

Two other first-round quarterbacks, Josh Allen (top, 7th overall) and Lamar Jackson (bottom, 32nd overall), became franchise quarterbacks for the teams that drafted them. Both have broken franchise passing records, led their teams to multiple playoff appearances, and combined for several Pro Bowl and All-Pro nods, in addition to three NFL MVP Awards.

Notable linebackers include (from top to bottom) Fred Warner, 2018 Defensive Rookie of the Year Shaquille Leonard, Tremaine Edmunds, and Leighton Vander Esch

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 for the following season.

(PD) indicates trades completed prior to the start of the draft (i.e. Pre-Draft), while (D) denotes trades which took place during the 2018 draft.

Round one

Round two

Round three

Round four

Round five

Round six

Round seven

Coverage of the draft was broadcast by ESPN and NFL Network, with Fox 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. 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. 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).

Trade references

General references