1986 NFL draft

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title: "1986 NFL draft" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["nfl-draft", "1986-in-american-football", "1986-nfl-season", "1986-in-sports-in-new-york-city", "april-1986-sports-events-in-the-united-states", "american-football-in-new-york-city", "1980s-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/1986_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	1986 NFL draft
image	New York Marriott Marquis (54077363060).jpg
caption	New York Marriott Marquis (draft venue), photographed in 2024
date	April 29–30, 1986
location	New York Marriott Marquis
in New York City, NY
network	ESPN
league	NFL
mr_irrelevant	Mike Travis, DB
San Diego Chargers
first	Bo Jackson, RB
Tampa Bay Buccaneers
fewnum	8
fewest	Cleveland Browns
mostnum	17
most	Cincinnati Bengals
San Diego Chargers
overall	333
rounds	12
hofnum	{{ Collapsible list
title	1
1	DE Charles Haley
prev	1985
next	1987
::

| name = 1986 NFL draft | logo = | logosize = | logoalt = | image = New York Marriott Marquis (54077363060).jpg | imagesize = | alt = | caption = New York Marriott Marquis (draft venue), photographed in 2024 | date = April 29–30, 1986 | time = | location = New York Marriott Marquis in New York City, NY | network = ESPN | sponsor = | league = NFL | mr_irrelevant = Mike Travis, DB San Diego Chargers | first = Bo Jackson, RB Tampa Bay Buccaneers | first_round = | fewnum = 8 | fewest = Cleveland Browns | mostnum = 17 | most = Cincinnati Bengals San Diego Chargers | overall = 333 | rounds = 12 | hofnum = {{ Collapsible list | title = 1 | 1 = DE Charles Haley | prev = 1985 | next = 1987 The 1986 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 April 29–30, 1986, at the Marriott Marquis in New York City, New York. The league also held a supplemental draft after the regular draft and before the regular season.

The first overall selection of the draft, Bo Jackson, had told the Tampa Bay Buccaneers prior to the draft that he would refuse to sign with the team. Disputes with team owner Hugh Culverhouse intensified after Jackson was ruled ineligible to play college baseball due to a trip he took on Culverhouse's jet. This angered Jackson, as the Buccaneers had assured him that the visit would not cause any NCAA violations. It was said that Jackson, who was having what he called his best year playing baseball in school, made the Buccaneers nervous and that by getting him ruled ineligible to play baseball, he would be forced to focus on football. Prior to the 1987 NFL draft, the Buccaneers forfeited their rights to Jackson.

Player selections

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	= Pro Bowler		Hall of Fame]]r
::

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‡	Hall of Fame]]r
::

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Round 1

Round 2

Round 3

Round 4

Round 5

Round 6

Round 7

Round 8

Round 9

Round 10

Round 11

Round 12

Supplemental draft

Hall of Famers

• Charles Haley, linebacker from James Madison, taken 4th round 96th overall by San Francisco 49ers :Inducted: Professional Football Hall of Fame class of 2015.

Notable undrafted players

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†	= Pro Bowler
::

Trades

In the explanations below, (D) denotes trades that took place during the 1986 Draft, while (PD) indicates trades completed pre-draft.

Round one

Round two

Round three

Round four

Round five

Round six

Round seven

References

References

1. . (October 2, 2014). ["NFL Draft Locations"](http://www.footballgeography.com/nfl-draft-sites/).
2. (October 2, 2014). "NFL Draft headed to Chicago in 2015". [[New York Giants]].
3. Auman, Greg. (April 25, 2015). "When Bucs blew it by drafting Bo Jackson".
4. Players are identified as a Pro Bowler if they were selected for the Pro Bowl at any time in their career.
5. Players are identified as a Hall of Famer if they have been inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
6. "1985 Heisman Trophy winner".

::callout[type=info title="Wikipedia Source"] This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page. ::