1996-97 Football Season: 1997 College Draft

Updated August 28, 2020 | Infoplease Staff

Table of contents

First and second round selections at the 62nd annual NFL College Draft held April 19-20, 1997, in New York City. 16 underclassmen were among the first 60 players chosen and are listed in capital LETTERS.

First Round

No	Team		Pos
1	a-St. Louis	ORLANDO PACE, Ohio St.	OT
2	b-Oakland	DARRELL RUSSELL, USC	DT
3	c-Seattle	SHAWN SPRINGS, Ohio St.	CB
4	Baltimore	PETER BOULWARE, Florida St.	DE
5	Detroit	Bryant Westbrook, Texas	CB
6	d-Seattle	WALTER JONES, Florida St.	OT
7	NY Giants	IKE HILLIARD, Florida	WR
8	e-NY Jets	James Farrior, Virginia	LB
9	Arizona	Tom Knight, Iowa	CB
10	f-New Orleans	Chris Naeole, Colorado	OG
11	g-Atlanta	Michael Booker, Nebraska	CB
12	h-Tampa Bay	Warrick Dunn, Florida St.	RB
13	i-Kansas City	TONY GONZALEZ, California	TE
14	Cincinnati	Reinard Wilson, Florida St.	DE
15	Miami	YATIL GREEN, Miami-FL	WR
16	j-Tampa Bay	REIDEL ANTHONY, Florida	WR
17	Washington	KENARD LANG, Miami-FL	DE
18	k-Houston	Kenny Holmes, Miami-FL	DE
19	Indianapolis	Tarik Glenn, California	OG
20	Minnesota	DWAYNE RUDD, Alabama	LB
21	Jacksonville	Renaldo Wynn, Notre Dame	DE
22	l-Dallas	David LaFleur, LSU	TE
23	Buffalo	Antowain Smith, Houston	RB
24	Pittsburgh	Chad Scott, Maryland	CB
25	m-Philadelphia	John Harris, Virginia	DE
26	San Francisco	Jim Druckenmiller, Virginia Tech	QB
27	Carolina	Rae Carruth, Colorado	WR
28	Denver	TREVOR PRYCE, Clemson	DE
29	New England	CHRIS CANTY, Kansas St.	CB
30	Green Bay	Ross Verba, Iowa	OG

Acquired picks: a—from NY Jets; b— from New Orleans; c—from Atlanta; d—from St. Louis via NY Jets and Tampa Bay; e—from Tampa Bay; f—from Oakland; g—from Chicago via Seattle; h—from Seattle; i—from Houston; j—from San Diego; k—from Kansas City; l—from Philadelphia; m—from Dallas.

Second Round

No	Team		Pos
31	NY Jets	Rick Terry, N. Carolina	DT
32	Atlanta	Nathan Davis, Indiana	DT
33	New Orleans	Rob Kelly, Ohio St.	S
34	Baltimore	Jamie Sharper, Virginia	LB
35	Detroit	Juan Roque, Arizona St.	OG
36	NY Giants	Tiki Barber, Virginia	RB
37	Tampa Bay	Jerry Wunsch, Wisconsin	OT
38	n-Chicago	John Allred, USC	TE
39	o-New Orleans	Jared Tomich, Nebraska	DE
40	p-St. Louis	Dexter McCleon, Clemson	CB
41	q-Atlanta	BYRON HANSPARD, Texas Tech	RB
42	Arizona	Jake Plummer, Azizona St.	QB
43	Cincinnati	COREY DILLON, Washington	RB
44	Miami	Sam Madison, Louisville	CB
45	San Diego	Freddie Jones, N. Carolina	TE
46	Houston	Joey Kent, Tennessee	WR
47	Kansas City	Kevin Lockett, Kansas St.	WR
48	Indianapolis	Adam Meadows, Georgia	OT
49	Minnesota	Torrian Gray, Virginia Tech	S
50	Jacksonville	Mike Logan, W. Virginia	CB
51	Washington	Greg Jones, Colorado	LB
52	Buffalo	Marcellus Wiley, Columbia	DE
53	Pittsburgh	WILL BLACKWELL, San Diego St.	WR
54	r-Detroit	Kevin Abrams, Syracuse	CB
55	s-San Francisco	Marc Edwards, Notre Dame	RB
56	Carolina	Mike Minter, Nebraska	S
57	t-Philadelphia	James Darling, Washington St.	LB
58	u-Baltimore	Kim Herring, Penn St.	S
59	New England	Brandon Mitchell, Texas A&M	DE
60	Green Bay	Darren Sharper, William & Mary	DB

Acquired picks: n—from St. Louis; o—from Oakland; p—from Chicago; q— from Seattle; r—from Dallas; s—from Philadelphia; t—from San Francisco; u—from Denver.

1996 All-NFL Team

1996-97 Season

NFL Head Coaching Changes For 1997

1996 All-NFL Team

1996-97 Football Season

NFL Head Coaching Changes For 1997