The 1964 National Football League Draft took place on December 2, 1963.

The National Football League Draft is an annual event in which the National Football League (NFL) teams select eligible college football players and it is their most common source of player recruitment. The basic design of the draft is that each team is given a position in the drafting order in reverse order relative its record in the previous year—the last place gets positioned first. With this position, the team can either select a player or trade their position to another team for other positions, a player, or players, or any combination thereof. After each team had utilized its position in the drafting order, whether by trading it or selecting a player, a round would be complete. Certain aspects of the draft, including team positioning and the number of rounds in the draft, have seen revisions since its first creation in 1936, but the fundamental methodology has remained the same. The original rationale in creating the draft was to increase the competitive parity between the teams as the worst team would, idealistically, have chosen the best player available.

Michael Francis Mayock (born August 14, 1958) is a former professional football player, a safety with the New York Giants of the National Football League. Mayock is currently a game analyst and a draft analyst for the NFL Network, as well as an analyst for NBC's coverage of Notre Dame football.

Mayock played high school football at The Haverford School in Haverford, Pennsylvania, and college football (and baseball) at Boston College. He was selected by the Pittsburgh Steelers in the tenth round of the 1981 NFL Draft, as the 265th overall pick. After being cut from the Steelers, Mayock was signed to his first pro contract with the CFL's Toronto Argonauts during the 1981 season. He played in just one game before being released. He returned to the NFL with the New York Giants for the 1982 and 1983 football seasons.

Since 2005, Mayock has worked with the NFL Network, and has served as a college football analyst for ABC Sports. Prior to ABC, he called college football action for Fox Sports Net during the 2000 season, after four years (1996–99) as a member of CBS Sports' broadcast team—during which time he served as both a game analyst (1996, '97 and '99) and lead sideline reporter (1998). Mayock also worked as a reporter for CBS's coverage of the NCAA basketball tournament in 1997, '98 and '99.

Cameron Jerrell Newton (born May 11, 1989) is an American football quarterback for the San Diego Chargers of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football for the Auburn Tigers and was drafted as the first overall pick by the Panthers in the 2011 NFL Draft. He is the third player to be awarded the Heisman Trophy, win a national championship, and be the first overall pick in the NFL draft all in the same one-year span, joining Leon Hart (1950), and Angelo Bertelli (1944).

Newton is the son of Cecil Newton, Sr., who was cut as a safety from the pre-season rosters of the 1983Dallas Cowboys and 1984Buffalo Bills, and he is the younger brother of Cecil Newton, Jr., a center who currently plays for the Baltimore Ravens.

Newton was initially a member of the Florida Gators before transferring to Blinn College, where his team won a national junior college football championship. Newton was then recruited by head coach Gene Chizik of Auburn University and transferred once more. He became just the third player in major college football history to both rush and pass for 20 or more touchdowns in a single season. His performance earned him the Heisman Trophy as the most outstanding college football player, and he led Auburn to their second national championship in school history, despite controversy concerning his eligibility. In his NFL debut, Newton became the first rookie quarterback in NFL history to throw for 400 yards in his NFL regular-season opener, breaking Peyton Manning's rookie record.

Charles Aaron "Bubba" Smith (February 28, 1945 – August 3, 2011) was an American professional football player who became an actor after his retirement from the sport. He first came into prominence at Michigan State University, where he twice earned All-American honors as a defensive end on the Spartans football team. He had a major role in a 10–10 draw with Notre Dame in 1966 that was billed as "The Game of the Century." He was one of only three players to have his jersey number retired by the program. He was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 1988.

He played nine years in the National Football League (NFL) with the Baltimore Colts (1967–1971), Oakland Raiders (1973–1974) and Houston Oilers (1975–1976). The first selection of the 1967 NFL Draft, he was the Colts' starting left defensive end for five seasons who played in Super Bowls III and V, the latter with the winning side. He was named to two Pro Bowls and was a First-Team All-Pro in 1971. Despite being 6 feet 7 inches (2.01 meters) tall and weighing 265 pounds (120.20 kilograms), his tremendous speed and quickness usually caused him to draw two blockers.