The 2015 NFL draft was the 80th annual meeting of National Football League (NFL) franchises to select newly eligible football players. It took place in Chicago at the Auditorium Theatre and in Grant Park, from April 30 to May 2. This was the first NFL draft held outside New York City in fifty years (since the 1965 NFL draft). The 2015 NFL draft was the first to feature a companion outdoor fair, where fans would be able to see the Commissioner during the selection on the Auditorium Theatre stage from across the street in the park; this area was called Draft Town. The Tampa Bay Buccaneers held the right to the first overall pick because they had the league's worst record in the previous season, and used it to select the 2013 Heisman Trophy winning quarterback Jameis Winston out of Florida State. The Arizona Cardinals made the final pick in the draft, commonly called Mr. Irrelevant, by selecting tight end Gerald Christian out of Louisville with the two-hundred and fifty-sixth pick.
One of the major storylines approaching the NFL draft was the competition between the previous two Heisman Trophy winners, Jameis Winston winning the award in 2013 and Marcus Mariota in 2014. Both were considered excellent prospects and had the potential to become the first overall draft selection. Winston was considered to be a more polished pocket passer and pro-style quarterback, but had several off-the-field issues while playing at Florida State, ranging from a sexual assault allegation to shoplifting incidents. Mariota was considered a better athlete, the fastest quarterback in the draft and had a better off-field reputation. However, Mariota ran a spread offense at Oregon which typically had not transitioned well from college to the NFL. Although neither was considered a perfectly safe pick, the two quarterbacks were selected first and second overall. This was only the sixth time in NFL history that this had occurred; it previously happened 1971, 1993, 1998, 1999 and 2012, although it has since occurred in 2016, 2021, 2023 and 2024. It was also the first time that two Heisman Trophy winners were selected with the first two overall picks.
Event logistics
Prior to 2015, despite having become a major annual television event for the NFL, drafts had only been held with a limited and relatively-small in-person attendance, and had been held exclusively in New York City since 1965.
After the management of the event's longtime venue, Radio City Music Hall, had forced the league to postpone their 2014 draft due to a scheduling conflict at the venue, the NFL grew frustrated with the venue and decided to open-up bidding for a new site to host its 2015 draft. The league asked for bids not only to include a venue for the draft itself, but to also present an adjacent venue (either indoor or outdoor) in which the league could host a fan festival. The league received interest from 12 possible host cities, but zeroed in on bids from Chicago, Los Angeles and New York City. New York City was proposing potentially keeping the event at Radio City Music Hall or moving it to another venue such as Madison Square Garden. Radio City Music Hall and Madison Square Garden both shared the same ownership – MSG. The NFL quickly narrowed their selection further to either Chicago or Los Angeles.
Among the venues proposed in Chicago included the Chicago Theatre (owned by MSG), Soldier Field and McCormick Place. Among the venues proposed in the Los Angeles metro area included The Forum (owned by MSG), Nokia Theatre at L.A. Live, Dolby Theatre, TCL Chinese Theatre and the Walt Disney Concert Hall. In October 2014, NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell announced that the city of Chicago would host the draft at the Auditorium Theatre, with parts of Grant Park (including Congress Plaza) to be the location of a fan fest.
In organizing the event, Chicago reimagined the draft into a much larger event than it previously had been and made it accessible for the first time to a large public attendance. Across the street from the Auditorium Theatre in Grant Park, a large free-admission multi-day fan festival dubbed "Draft Town" was erected. The festival that drew 200,000 visitors. Within the grounds of the festival, fans could watch live footage of the first three rounds draft from within the festival. While the first three rounds of the draft still took place inside an indoor venue (the Auditorium Theatre), the final round of the draft were held outdoors before an open-admittance crowd in an area of the festival dubbed "Selection Square". Subsequent drafts have retained the large-scale attendance and festivities pioneered for the 2015 draft.
Timing changes
Shortly before the draft, the NFL shortened the amount of time for certain selections to be made. The time for seventh-round selections was reduced from five minutes to four minutes; similarly, the time for all compensatory selections, which cannot be traded, was reduced from seven minutes to four minutes.
Early entrants
Seventy-four underclassmen announced their intention to forgo their remaining NCAA eligibility and declare themselves available to be selected in the draft. An additional ten players who graduated but were still eligible to play college football chose to enter the draft, bringing to 84 the total number of players who chose to forgo college eligibility to enter the draft.
Overview
The following is the breakdown of the 256 players selected by position:
- 34 linebackers
- 35 wide receivers
- 30 cornerbacks
- 24 offensive tackles
- 23 defensive ends
- 18 running backs
- 4 fullbacks
- 19 tight ends
- 16 guards
- 16 safeties
- 20 defensive tackles
- 7 quarterbacks
- 6 centers
- 1 long snapper
- 1 punter
Selection order
The draft order is based generally on each team's record from the previous season, with teams which qualified for the postseason selecting after those which failed to make the playoffs. The Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Tennessee Titans each finished 2014 with league-worst 2–14 records. The Buccaneers were awarded the first pick in round one due to having a worse strength of schedule. The selection order for subsequent rounds follows the order of the first round, except that teams with the similar records (and the same playoff result for playoff teams) rotate selections round-by-round (e.g. the Titans picked first in the second round).
In addition to the seven picks each team is given (one in each round), the league allocated thirty-two (32) supplemental picks at the ends of round 3 through 7, for a total of 256 picks. The supplemental picks are awarded to teams who had net losses of free agent talent from the previous year.
Player selections
A supplemental draft was held on July 9, 2015. For each player selected in the supplemental draft, the team forfeits its pick in that round in the draft of the following season. Seven players were available, but only one was selected.
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 2015 draft.
Round 1
Round 2
Round 3
Round 4
Round 5
Round 6
Round 7