1972 NFL draft

The 1972 NFL draft was the thirty-seventh annual meeting of National Football League (NFL) franchises to select newly eligible football players. The draft was held on February 1 and 2 at the Essex House in New York City, New York.

With the first overall pick of the draft, the Buffalo Bills selected defensive end Walt Patulski. Patulski would become viewed as a draft bust, for the Bills would release him in 1976 — ironically replacing Patuski with second choice Sherman White of California. Twenty-first century NFL historians have frequently described 1972 as one of the league’s worst draft classes ever, especially regarding the failure of the majority of first-round draftees, which has become viewed worse than other notably weak drafts like 2002 and 2009. Only seven of thirty first rounders made even one Pro Bowl, and the whole 1972 draft produced just two Hall of Fame members, one of whom, wide receiver Cliff Branch, was inducted posthumously. This is the fewest of any draft class since 1959 had only Dick LeBeau reach Canton.