This is an incomplete list of first overall Canadian Football League draft picks. The CFL Draft is an annual sports draft in which the teams of the Canadian Football League (CFL) select eligible Canadian/non-import players, typically from the ranks of CIS football or NCAA college football. The first draft took place in 1953, with Doug McNichol becoming the first player to be drafted and was therefore drafted first overall. While only the eastern teams participated for the first three years, in 1956 all nine teams began participating in the draft. From 1960 to 1962, however, due to a dispute over talent from western universities and a reluctance of eastern draftees to move west, BC, Edmonton, Saskatchewan, and Winnipeg were awarded territorial rights to players from their city's university.