HISTORY OF THE NFL DRAFT:

The NFL draft was instituted in 1935, by then Commissioner Bert Bell. Since then the draft has gained popularity making the venue much larger and has been moved to accommodate football enthusiasts.

The Theater at Madison Square Garden hosted the event until 2005 until it was relocated for one time only at the Javits Convention Center. Since 2006, Radio City Music Hall has remained the host of the annual NFL draft.

Since the NFL Draft is one of the key events for the functionality of professional football, it has become one of the main attractions by many followers and is broadcast live nationally.

For the first time, the 2010 draft was spread out over three days by dividing up the seven rounds. The first round of the 2010 NFL Draft was on Thursday, April 22 at 7:30 p.m. ET, the second and third rounds on Friday, April 23 at 6 p.m. ET, followed by the last 3 rounds, 4-7 finishing up on Saturday, April 24 at 10 a.m. ET.

*Tentative 2011 NFL Draft schedule link is at the bottom of the page

DRAFT OVERVIEW:

Each team can have seven selections, but draft positions are never set in this football cattle driven industry. It is not uncommon for teams to trade positions or barter with their teams existing players to move up in the draft. Teams may receive extra picks under some circumstances, which results in some teams having fewer than seven selections and others with more.

The NFL requires that players be three years removed from high school so players are almost exclusively drafted from National Collegiate Athletic Association college football programs. However, if players are ineligible or missed the filing deadline they can enter the Supplementary Draft.

DRAFT ORDER:

The first round automatically awarded to any expansion team, not relocated or renamed teams, and is given the first pick. The draft order is determined in a reverse-record order. The previous seasons last placed, number 32 ranking will pick first and the 1st place or the Super Bowl winner picking last.

TIE BREAKERS RULES:

1. Any expansion team automatically gets the first pick; if there are two expansion teams, a coin toss determines who picks first; the other team will pick second in the expansion draft.
2. The winners of the Super Bowl are given the last selection, and the losers the penultimate selection.
3. Teams that made the playoffs are then ordered by which round of the playoffs they are eliminated.
4. Teams that did not make the playoffs are ordered by their regular-season record.
5. Remaining ties are broken by strength of schedule. For draft order, a lower strength of schedule results in an earlier pick. If strength of schedule does not resolve a tie, division and/or conference tiebreakers may be used. If the tie still cannot be broken, a coin toss at the NFL Combine is used to determine draft order. (Note: Strength of schedule is the combined records of a team’s 16 opponents, including games played against the team in question, and counting divisional opponents twice. Because of this, each team’s opponents’ combined wins and losses—counting a tie as a half-win, half-loss—will add up to 256, so a team whose opponents had more combined wins has a better strength of schedule.)

Once the order for the first round is determined, teams with the same record “cycle” picks rotating the remaining 6 rounds. However, previous Super Bowl contenders will always pick last in every round.

Example:

In the 2008 draft, Arizona, Minnesota, Houston, and Philadelphia all finished 8-8, and picked in that order in the first round. In the second round, the order became Minnesota, Houston, Philadelphia, and Arizona. That cycling continues through all seven rounds.

Referenced Example: www.NFL.com

^{“ON THE CLOCK”}

When watching the draft you will notice that one team is always “on the clock”. When a team is on the clock they have an allotted time to make their choice, and the time frame is different depending on the round.

In Round 1, teams have 10 minutes to make their selection, 7 minutes in round two and 5 minutes in rounds 3-7. However, if team “A” doesn’t make their decision within the allotted time, the next team in succession is given the floor to make their selection before team “A” can submit their pick.

Example:

This occurred in the 2003 draft, when the Minnesota Vikings, with the 7th overall pick, were late with their selection. The Jacksonville Jaguars drafted quarterback Byron Leftwich and the Carolina Panthers drafted offensive tackle Jordan Gross before the Vikings were able to submit their selection of defensive tackle Kevin Williams.

*Referenced Example: www.NFL.com/Rulebook