The 1996NFL 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 20–21, 1996, at the Paramount Theatre at Madison Square Garden in New York City, New York. No teams chose to claim any players in the supplemental draft that year. This draft is considered one of the best draft classes ever for the position of wide receiver. Keyshawn Johnson, Terry Glenn, Eddie Kennison, Marvin Harrison, Eric Moulds, Bobby Engram, Terrell Owens, Muhsin Muhammad, Amani Toomer, Jermaine Lewis, and Joe Horn have all achieved success in the pros, with all except Kennison, Engram, and Toomer having reached the Pro Bowl at least once, and a total of 26 Pro Bowl appearances for the group. In addition to the class having had several successful receivers, none of the five wide receivers drafted in the first round have been busts, as all of them spent at least a reasonable amount of time as starters in the NFL. Combined, 1996 wide receivers have totalled 7,646 receptions for 105,866 yards, eclipsing any other class by more than 1,000 receptions and 10,000 yards. It was also one of the best draft years for middle linebackers, with Hall of FamerRay Lewis and Hall candidate Zach Thomas selected. Lewis won Super Bowl XXXV and was selected MVP of that game. Lewis also won Super Bowl XLVII in the final game of his career, and made 13 career Pro Bowls while Thomas has made 7. Other linebackers who made at least one Pro Bowl from this draft are Tedy Bruschi, Kevin Hardy, Simeon Rice, John Mobley, and Donnie Edwards. Randall Godfrey, Earl Holmes, and Carlos Emmons also had solid careers in the league. In contrast to its successes at wide receiver and linebacker, the 1996 draft had often been rated as the worst ever for quarterbacks. None of the eight drafted quarterbacks made the Pro Bowl or an All-Pro team. Half of the drafted quarterbacks never threw one pass in the NFL., this remains the last draft without a quarterback selected in the first round. Previously, the 1988 draft had been the last with no quarterback selected in the first round. On draft day, the St. Louis Rams traded running backJerome Bettis and a third round draft pick to the Pittsburgh Steelers in exchange for a second round pick for that year, as well as a fourth round pick the following year. The trade was made immediately after the Rams drafted Nebraska running back Lawrence Phillips. Bettis went on to have a successful career with the Steelers as well as being one of the team's most popular players, while the Rams wouldn't have another feature back until they traded for Marshall Faulk three years later due to Phillips' off-field problems.
Ray Lewis, linebacker from Miami, taken 1st round 26th overall by the Baltimore Ravens.
Brian Dawkins, safety from Clemson, taken 2nd round 61st overall by the Philadelphia Eagles.
Terrell Owens, wide receiver from Chattanooga, taken 3rd round 89th overall by the San Francisco 49ers.
Trades
In the explanations below, ' denotes trades that took place during the 1994 Draft, while ' indicates trades completed pre-draft. ;Round one ;Round two ;Round three ;Round four ;Round five ;Round six ;Round seven
