On December 9, 1949, the National Football League absorbed three teams from the All-America Football Conference (Cleveland Browns, San Francisco 49ers, Baltimore Colts).

The NFL held a dispersal draft on June 2, 1950 for players from the All-America Football Conference teams of the New York Yankees, Buffalo Bills, Chicago Hornets, and Los Angeles Dons. Most of the players from the Yankees had already been divided between the New York Giants and New York Yanks (formerly Bulldogs).

The draft order was determined by the order of finish (worst to best) of the 1949 season. Therefore, the draft order was:

1. Baltimore Colts (AAFC)
2. New York Yanks (New York Bulldogs in 1949)
3. Green Bay Packers
4. Detroit Lions
5. Washington Redskins
6. New York Giants
7. Pittsburgh Steelers
8. Chicago Cardinals (tied with the Steelers)
9. Chicago Bears
10. San Francisco 49ers (AAFC) (tied with the Bears)
11. Los Angeles Rams
12. Cleveland Browns (AAFC)
13. Philadelphia Eagles

Since the Colts and the Packers were the weakest teams, they were given a total of five extra draft picks each, divided at the end of rounds: 3 (2 picks), 5 (1 pick), 7 (1 pick) and 9 (1 pick).

Teams chose 140 players during the ten-round selection meeting.