2001 NFL draft

The 2001 NFL draft was the National Football League's (NFL) 66th annual draft of newly eligible professional football players. The draft, which is officially referred to as the "NFL Player Selection Meeting", was held at the Theater at Madison Square Garden in New York City, New York, on April 21–22, 2001. Each team is assigned one pick per round with the order based generally on the reverse order of finish in the previous season with the team with the worst record receiving the first draft slot. Exceptions to this are the Super Bowl participants from the previous season—the champion Baltimore Ravens were assigned the final draft slot and the runner-up New York Giants assigned the 30th slot in each round. The draft was broadcast on ESPN and ESPN2. Due to previous trades, the Dallas Cowboys and Tennessee Titans did not have selections in the first round. More than half of the players selected in the draft's first round (17 of 31) would eventually be elected to at least one Pro Bowl. The first player selected in the draft was quarterback Michael Vick from Virginia Tech, who was selected by the Atlanta Falcons after they acquired the first pick in a trade with the San Diego Chargers. Vick spent six seasons with the Falcons before being sentenced to 21 months in prison for his involvement in an illegal interstate dog fighting ring, eventually rebounding his career with the Philadelphia Eagles after being released from prison and winning the NFL's Comeback Player of the Year Award in 2010. Florida State quarterback Chris Weinke, the 2000 winner of the Heisman Trophy, awarded to the player deemed most outstanding in college football, was selected in the fourth round by the Carolina Panthers. After being a regular starter for the Panthers in his first season,...