1979 NFL draft
National Football League draft
The 1979 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, 1979, at the Waldorf Astoria Hotel in New York City, New York. The league also held a supplemental draft after the regular draft and before the regular season.
The Buffalo Bills held the first overall pick in the draft, acquired from the San Francisco 49ers in the trade which sent O. J. Simpson to his hometown team. The Bills' selection at No. 1, Ohio State linebacker Tom Cousineau, refused to sign with the Bills and instead signed a lucrative deal with the Montreal Alouettes of the Canadian Football League.
Player selections
Supplemental draft
Hall of Famers
Kellen Winslow, tight end from Missouri, taken 1st round 13th overall by San Diego Chargers
Inducted: Professional Football Hall of Fame class of 1995.
Joe Montana, quarterback from Notre Dame, taken 3rd round 82nd overall by San Francisco 49ers
Inducted: Professional Football Hall of Fame class of 2000.
Dan Hampton, defensive tackle from Arkansas, taken 1st round 4th overall by Chicago Bears
Inducted: Professional Football Hall of Fame class of 2002.
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This entry incorporates text from “1979 NFL draft” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.