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 2026, only Allen and Jackson have remained with their original teams, while Mayfield and Darnold had greater success on other teams. Darnold is the only quarterback to have led his team to a Super Bowl title. 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.

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.

Player selections The following is the breakdown of the 256 players selected by position:

39 linebackers 33 wide receivers 29 cornerbacks 23 defensive ends 20 running backs 20 defensive tackles 21 offensive tackles 18 safeties 14 tight ends 13 quarterbacks 9 guards 8 centers 4 punters 2 placekickers 2 fullbacks 1 long snapper

+ * Compensatory selection † Pro BowlerPlayers are identified as Pro Bowlers if they were selected for the Pro Bowl at any time in their career.

Notable undrafted players † Pro Bowler

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 for the following season.

Trades

(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 1

Round 2

Round 3

Round 4

Round 5

Round 6

Round 7

Media coverage 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 a 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 million and 2.005 million individually).

Summary Selections by college athletic conference

ConferenceRound 1Round 2Round 3Round 4Round 5Round 6Round 7Total NCAA Division I FBS football conferencesAAC123034518ACC647966745Big 12125343220Big Ten453775233C-USA111212210Ind. (FBS)20110105MAC00102025MW31100139Pac-12444457230SEC10106648953Sun Belt00110204 NCAA Division I FCS football conferencesBig Sky00010001CAA00011103IVY00001102MEAC01100002MVFC01002003NEC00000101OVC00001012Patriot00010001SoCon00000101Southland01010103 NCAA Division II football conferencesCIAA00000101GLIAC00000011GNAC00100001MIAA00100001 Non-college selectionsNRL00000011

Schools with multiple draft selections

SelectionsSchools12Alabama7LSU, NC State, Ohio State6Florida State, Georgia, Miami (FL), Penn State5Florida, UCLA, Virginia Tech, Washington, Wisconsin4Auburn, Louisville, Mississippi State, Notre Dame, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, Ole Miss, Stanford, Texas, UCF, USC3Arizona State, Boston College, Clemson, Iowa, North Carolina, Pittsburgh, SMU, Southern Miss, TCU, Tennessee, Texas A&M2Arkansas, Boise State, California, Indiana, Louisiana, Maryland, Memphis, Michigan, Oregon, Rutgers, San Diego State, South Florida, Temple, Texas Tech, Tulane, Virginia, Wake Forest, Washington State, Western Kentucky, Western Michigan

Selections by position PositionRound 1Round 2Round 3Round 4Round 5Round 6Round 7TotalCenter21111118Cornerback362456329Defensive end224714323Defensive tackle316043320Fullback00001012Guard140022110Kicker00001012Linebacker446368839Long snapper00000011Offensive tackle317223220Punter00003014Quarterback501112313Running back341513320Safety314433018Tight end122521114Wide receiver262548633

PositionRound 1Round 2Round 3Round 4Round 5Round 6Round 7TotalOffense17181419142018120Defense15142218192417129Special teams00004037

Notes

References Trade references

General references

External links 2018 NFL Draft Listing at Pro Football Reference