How the NFL Draft Works: Draft Order, Rounds, Trades and Compensatory Picks

Every spring, the NFL Draft turns college stars into professional football players and hands struggling teams their best chance to rebuild. It is one of the most-watched events on the sports calendar. Here is how the draft works, from the draft order to the final pick.

When Is the NFL Draft?

The NFL Draft is held each year in late April, over three days:

• Day 1: Round 1, in prime time
• Day 2: Rounds 2 and 3
• Day 3: Rounds 4 through 7

The host city rotates, and the event has become a giant fan festival, with hundreds of thousands of fans attending in recent years.

How Many Rounds Are in the Draft?

There are seven rounds. Each of the 32 teams starts with one pick in every round, which makes 224 regular picks. Compensatory picks push the total to roughly 250 to 260 selections every year.

How the Draft Order Is Set

The draft order rewards the teams that struggled the most:

1. Non-playoff teams pick first, from the worst regular-season record to the best.
2. Playoff teams follow, ordered by the round in which they were eliminated: Wild Card losers, then Divisional round losers, then the conference championship losers.
3. The Super Bowl runner-up picks 31st, and the Super Bowl champion picks 32nd.

When teams finish with the same record, tiebreakers such as strength of schedule decide who picks first. The same order repeats in every round.

Trading Draft Picks

Draft picks are one of the most valuable currencies in the NFL. Teams can trade picks:

• For other picks: moving up to grab a quarterback or moving down to collect extra selections
• For players: a star wide receiver might cost a first-round pick
• For future picks: teams can trade picks from future drafts too

Trades can happen right up until a team's pick is made, which is why the draft is famous for surprise moves when the clock is ticking.

How Much Time Does Each Team Get?

Teams are on the clock for a set time with each pick: the longest in Round 1, then shorter in later rounds. If a team runs out of time, it can still make its pick, but the next team in line may jump ahead.

What Are Compensatory Picks?

Compensatory picks are extra selections the NFL awards to teams that lost more good free agents than they signed the previous year. They:

• Are added at the end of rounds 3 through 7
• Are capped at 32 per draft, across the whole league
• Are based on a formula that weighs players' salaries, playing time and honors

Compensatory picks reward teams that build through the draft and lose players to bigger contracts elsewhere.

Who Is Eligible for the Draft?

To enter the draft, a player must be at least three years removed from high school graduation. Most prospects are college players. Underclassmen who still have college eligibility must declare for the draft by the league's January deadline.

Before the draft, top prospects attend the NFL Scouting Combine in Indianapolis, where teams measure the 40-yard dash, the bench press and the vertical jump, and interview players.

What Happens to Undrafted Players?

Not every good player is drafted. As soon as the draft ends, teams race to sign undrafted free agents, and plenty of NFL starters began their careers this way.

Mr. Irrelevant

The very last pick of the draft is nicknamed Mr. Irrelevant, a tradition that dates back to 1976. The player gets a trip, a trophy and a celebration in the team's honor, and some have gone on to strong careers.

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