1944 Boston Yanks season

The 1944 Boston Yanks season was its inaugural season in the National Football League. The team won two games and failed to qualify for the playoffs.

Roster
The NFL used an active roster of just 28 players during the wartime seasons of 1943 and 1944. According to the league's preseason guidebook, the 1944 roster for the Boston Yanks consisted of the following:

Quarterbacks

• 11 - George Cafego

• 18 - Scott Gudmundson

• 27 - Frank Santora

Halfbacks

• 10 - Bob Davis

• 17 - Bob McRoberts

• 22 - Ted Williams

• 25 - Paul Sanders

• 32 - Leo Stasica

• 33 - Johnny Martin

Fullbacks

• 21 - Ken Steinmetz

• 23 - Milton Crane

• 33 - Dave Smukler

Ends

• 14 - Keith Ranspot

• 15 - Joe Crowley

• 26 - Freeman Rexer

• 29 - Harry Wynne

• 34 - Richard Harrison

Tackles

• 19 - Ed Franco

• 36 - Thron Riggs

• 37 - Art Albrecht

• 40 - Edward McGee

• 43 - Hershel Giddens

Guards

• 16 - John Morelli

• 24 - Gordon Wilson

• 38 - Frank Gaziano

• 41 - Augie Lio

• 44 - Bill Walker

Centers

• 20 - Jim Magee

• 30 - Ed Korisky

• 39 - Walter Dubzinski

NFL Draft
The 1944 NFL draft was held on April 19, 1944, at the Warwick Hotel in Philadelphia. By agreement of league owners, the new Yanks franchise received the first pick of the first round and then dropped to 11th in the order of draft selection, making their next choice at 27.

Although there were 32 rounds in the 1944 draft, each of the league's 11 teams selected 30 players, for a total of 330 players picked. The five worst-finishing teams of the 1943 season picked alone in rounds 2 and 4, while the five best-finishing teams plus the expansion Yanks picked alone in rounds 31 and 32.

Boston's top draft pick, Heisman Trophy-winning Notre Dame quarterback Angelo Bertelli, had enlisted in the United States Marine Corps in 1943 and never played in the NFL, instead making his professional debut with the Los Angeles Dons of the rival All-America Football Conference (AAFC) in 1946.

The complete list of players drafted by the Boston Yanks in 1944 follows. Due to the demands of World War II, none of these players actually played for the Yanks during the 1944 season.