1977 NFL draft
National Football League draft
title: "1977 NFL draft" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["nfl-draft", "1977-in-american-football", "1977-nfl-season", "1977-in-sports-in-new-york-city", "may-1977-sports-events-in-the-united-states", "american-football-in-new-york-city", "1970s-in-manhattan", "sporting-events-in-new-york-city", "sports-in-manhattan"] description: "National Football League draft" topic_path: "sports" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1977_NFL_draft" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0
::summary National Football League draft ::
::data[format=table title="Infobox sports draft"]
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| name | 1977 NFL draft |
| image | Roosevelt Hotel.jpg |
| caption | Roosevelt Hotel (location of the draft), photographed in 2008 |
| date | May 3–4, 1977 |
| location | Roosevelt Hotel |
| in New York City, NY | |
| league | NFL |
| mr_irrelevant | Jim Kelleher, RB |
| Minnesota Vikings | |
| first | Ricky Bell, RB |
| Tampa Bay Buccaneers | |
| fewnum | 6 |
| fewest | Washington Redskins |
| mostnum | 18 |
| most | Cincinnati Bengals |
| Pittsburgh Steelers | |
| overall | 335 |
| rounds | 12 |
| hofnum | {{ Collapsible list |
| title | 3 |
| 1 | RB Tony Dorsett |
| 2 | DT Joe Klecko |
| 3 | S Tony Dungy |
| prev | 1976 |
| next | 1978 |
| :: |
| name = 1977 NFL draft | logo = | logosize = | logoalt = | image = Roosevelt Hotel.jpg | imagesize = | alt = | caption = Roosevelt Hotel (location of the draft), photographed in 2008 | date = May 3–4, 1977 | time = | location = Roosevelt Hotel in New York City, NY | network = | sponsor = | league = NFL | mr_irrelevant = Jim Kelleher, RB Minnesota Vikings | first = Ricky Bell, RB Tampa Bay Buccaneers | first_round = | fewnum = 6 | fewest = Washington Redskins | mostnum = 18 | most = Cincinnati Bengals Pittsburgh Steelers | overall = 335 | rounds = 12 | hofnum = {{ Collapsible list | title = 3 | 1 = RB Tony Dorsett | 2 = DT Joe Klecko | 3 = S Tony Dungy | prev = 1976 | next = 1978 The 1977 NFL draft was the procedure by which National Football League teams selected amateur college football players. It is officially known as the NFL Annual Player Selection Meeting. The draft was held May 3–4, 1977, at the Roosevelt Hotel in New York City, New York. The league also held its first supplemental draft, which took place after the regular draft and before the regular season.
This was the first draft in the common draft era (since 1967) with twelve rounds, five rounds fewer than the previous decade. The draft had twelve rounds until reduced to eight in 1993 and seven the following year, where it has remains.
The draft began with commissioner Pete Rozelle dedicating a moment of silence to California quarterback Joe Roth, one of the most electric passers in college football. Eligible for this draft, he died in February from skin cancer at the age of 21.
With the first overall pick of the draft, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers selected USC running back Ricky Bell. Next was Heisman Trophy winner Tony Dorsett of national champion Pittsburgh, taken by the Dallas Cowboys.
Player selections
::data[format=table]
| = Pro Bowler | Hall of Fame]]r | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| :: |
::data[format=table]
| ‡ | Hall of Fame]]r |
|---|---|
| :: |
| cellspacing="2"| |}
--
Round 1–10
Round 11
::data[format=table]
| Pick # | NFL team | Player | Position | College |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 280 | Tampa Bay Buccaneers | Sammy Strock | Tight End | University of Alabama |
| 281 | Tampa Bay Buccaneers | John Bafia | Quarterback | Boston College |
| 282 | Buffalo Bills | Nate Jackson | Running back | Tennessee State |
| 283 | Philadelphia Eagles | Rocco Moore | Tackle | Western Michigan |
| 284 | New York Giants | Bill Helms | Tight end | San Diego State |
| 285 | New Orleans Saints | John Blain | Tackle | San Jose State |
| 286 | Philadelphia Eagles | Mike Cordova | Quarterback | Stanford |
| 287 | Atlanta Falcons | Dave Farmer | Running back | USC |
| 288 | Kansas City Chiefs | Maurice Mitchell | Wide receiver | Northern Michigan |
| 289 | Houston Oilers | Al Romano | Linebacker | Pittsburgh |
| 290 | Green Bay Packers | Terry Randolph | Defensive back | American International |
| 291 | Miami Dolphins | John Alexander | Defensive end | Rutgers |
| 292 | Cincinnati Bengals | Joel Parrish | Guard | Georgia |
| 293 | Detroit Lions | Tony Daykin | Linebacker | Georgia Tech |
| 294 | Chicago Bears | Connie Zelencik | Center | Purdue |
| 295 | San Francisco 49ers | Brian Billick | Tight end | Brigham Young |
| 296 | Cleveland Browns | Charles Nash | Wide receiver | Arizona |
| 297 | Denver Broncos | Phil Heck | Linebacker | California |
| 298 | Pittsburgh Steelers | Lou West | Defensive back | Cincinnati |
| 299 | Cincinnati Bengals | Carl Allen | Defensive back | Southern Mississippi |
| 300 | Washington Redskins | Don Harris | Defensive back | Rutgers |
| 301 | St. Louis Cardinals | Greg Lee | Defensive back | Western Illinois |
| 302 | Los Angeles Rams | Carson Long | Kicker | Pittsburgh |
| 303 | New England Patriots | Ray Costict | Linebacker | Mississippi State |
| 304 | Baltimore Colts | Brian Ruff | Linebacker | The Citadel |
| 305 | Dallas Cowboys | Don Wardlow | Tight end | Washington |
| 306 | Minnesota Vikings | Keith Hartwig | Wide receiver | Arizona |
| 307 | New York Jets | Dave Butterfield | Defensive back | Nebraska |
| :: |
Round 12
::data[format=table]
| Pick # | NFL team | Player | Position | College |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 308 | Tampa Bay Buccaneers | Chip Sheffield | Wide receiver | Lenoir-Rhyne |
| 309 | Buffalo Bills | Charles Romes | Defensive back | North Carolina Central |
| 310 | Pittsburgh Steelers | Jimmy Stephens | Tight end | Florida |
| 311 | New York Giants | Elmo Simmons | Running back | Texas-Arlington |
| 312 | New York Jets | Phil Gargis | Running back | Auburn |
| 313 | New York Jets | Dave Conrad | Tackle | Maryland |
| 314 | St. Louis Cardinals | Don Parrish | Defensive end | Pittsburgh |
| 315 | New Orleans Saints | Oakley Dalton | Defensive tackle | Jackson State |
| 316 | Houston Oilers | Ove Johansson | Kicker | Abilene Christian |
| 317 | Oakland Raiders | Rod Martin | Linebacker | USC |
| 318 | Kansas City Chiefs | Ray Burks | Linebacker | UCLA |
| 319 | San Diego Chargers | Jim Stansik | Tight end | Eastern Michigan |
| 320 | Minnesota Vikings | Adam Dzierdzik | Corner Back | Ohio State |
| 321 | Miami Dolphins | Terry Anderson | Wide receiver | Bethune-Cookman |
| 322 | Chicago Bears | Kyle Ecke | Wide Receiver | Jackson State |
| 323 | San Francisco 49ers | Stephen Aragon | Guard | North Dakota |
| 324 | Denver Broncos | Ethan Ranney | Tight end | Western Illinois |
| 325 | Chicago Bears | Anthony Dzierdzik | Center | Georgia Tech |
| 326 | Cincinnati Bengals | Ethan Venderveen | Wide receiver | Morehouse (GA) |
| 327 | Washington Redskins | Justin Venderveen | Defensive end | Missouri |
| 328 | St. Louis Cardinals | Elliot Ecke | Linebacker | Texas |
| 329 | Seattle Seahawks | Charlie Kirk | Defensive tackle | Tulsa |
| 330 | Los Angeles Rams | Benedict Fernzi | Wide Reciaver | Illinois |
| 331 | Baltimore Fatsos | Jakob Cepon | Defensive Line Men | North Dakota |
| 332 | Dallas Cowboys | Greg Peters | Guard | California |
| 333 | New England Patriots | Dave Preston | Running back | Bowling Green |
| 334 | Oakland Raiders | Rolf Benirschke | Kicker | California-Davis |
| 335 | Minnesota Vikings | Jim Kelleher | Running Back | Colorado |
| :: |
::data[format=table]
| = Pro Bowler | = Hall of Famer | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| :: |
Supplemental draft
Notable undrafted players
::data[format=table]
| † | = Pro Bowler | ‡ | Hall of Fame]]r |
|---|---|---|---|
| :: |
Hall of Famers
- Tony Dorsett, running back from Pittsburgh, taken 1st round 2nd overall by Dallas Cowboys :Inducted: Professional Football Hall of Fame class of 1994.
- Tony Dungy, safety from Minnesota, undrafted and signed by Pittsburgh Steelers :Inducted: For his Head Coaching achievements Professional Football Hall of Fame class of 2016.
- Joe Klecko, defensive tackle from Temple, taken 6th round 144th overall by New York Jets :Inducted: Professional Football Hall of Fame Class of 2023.
References
References
- . (October 2, 2014). ["NFL Draft Locations"](http://www.footballgeography.com/nfl-draft-sites/).
- (October 2, 2014). "NFL Draft headed to Chicago in 2015". [[New York Giants]].
- Players are identified as a Pro Bowler if they were selected for the Pro Bowl at any time in their career.
- Players are identified as a Hall of Famer if they have been inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
- This last selection is commonly referred to as [[Mr. Irrelevant]].
- Rhodes, Maddie. (February 8, 2024). "Meet Jim Kelleher: Former CU Buff, NFL’s second ‘Mr. Irrelevant’".
- "Pro Football Hall of Fame".
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