Major changes are coming to the NFL Draft this April that have been in place since the 2011 annual selection meeting
The NFL Draft is shrinking the first round pick clock from 10 minutes to 8 minutes, the first such changes since 2011.
The NFL is making a significant change to the NFL Draft this upcoming April. The first round will see the time for each pick shrink from 10 minutes to eight minutes, according to ESPN’s Adam Schefter.
As Schefter mentioned in the embedded tweet, it’s to make the first round go a little bit faster since it usually ends close to midnight eastern time. With two less minutes per pick, that will take upward of an hour off of the draft, with 32 picks equating to 64 minutes.
NFL Draft is shrinking first round clock by two minutes per pick
This is a major change to the NFL Draft process, as it’s been 10 minutes since the 2011 NFL Draft. That change was made with the rookie wage scale being introduced to avoid a lockout. It used to be 15 minutes, and the first round would often go six or seven hours on a Saturday morning/afternoon.
The 10 minute clock has been good for the process. It gives teams enough time to both decide who they want to pick, along with speaking with other teams about trades. We still see teams go to the end of the clock trying to get a deal finalized. While a lot of trades are pre-negotiated, they are sometimes done in the spur of the moment due to the unpredictability of the NFL Draft.
This also raises the question: is eight minutes enough? We saw multiple instances in 2002 and 2003 with the 15-minute clock where picks expired, and it became mass chaos. Will we see it happen now with an eight-minute clock?
This year will be the first season with the change, and it will be fascinating to see how it goes.
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