How Many Rounds Are in the NFL Draft? – Number of Round and Pick

The NFL Draft is a playground for aspiring college football players to begin their careers. The 2024 NFL Draft includes processes and rigorous standards for selecting the best potential.

So, how many rounds in NFL draft? There are seven rounds and 259 picks in the 2024 NFL Draft. However, the NFL will not distribute them equally among all 32 teams.

Scott Fujita will give a specific number of picks in NFL draft in this article. 

Check it out for more information!

There are 7 rounds in the 2024 NFL Draft process.

How Many Rounds Are in the NFL Draft?

NFL Draft is an annual player selection contest organized by the NFL. It consists of seven rounds throughout the process.

According to information from the NFL, the starting time of the first round is on Thu, 29th April. The second and third rounds start on Fri, 30th April. And the rest of the four rounds take place on Sat, 1st May.

Mr. Roger Goodell – National Football League Commissioner, will speak every pick of the first round live on the Cleveland stage, Ohio. The event was “attended” by NFL executives, former NFL players as well as VIP guests.

You can refer to this video about how NFL Draft operates to know the number of rounds.

View more:

• How many games in NFL season
• NFL playoff schedule

How Many Picks Are in the NFL Draft?

According to the 2024 NFL Draft, the club with the worst record in the previous season will have the No.1 overall pick. Meanwhile, the defending Super Bowl champion will be the last to make the selection.

In this 2024 NFL Draft, the Jacksonville Jaguars team is the first pick one kicking off the process. The reigning Super Bowl champion – Tampa Bay Buccaneers, will have the final pick.

How many rounds are in the NFL draft? There are a total of 259 picks in the NFL Draft.

At first, each club will receive a draft selection for each round. However, there are a few trades that have taken place. Finally, the league gives more compensatory picks. As a result, some rounds are 32 picks more than initially calculated (except the first round & second round).

The hypothesis is: If the NFL Draft goes smoothly, a total of 259 new players will officially join the 2024 NFL Draft.

Meaning of Compensatory Picks in 2024 NFL Draft?

The NFL will offer compensatory picks to impressive clubs, usually towards the end of the third round. Compensatory picks are “based” on each club’s free agency activity in the former year.

This year is 2024. So, the NFL will base on the free agency time in the previous season of 2020. From the data, they will decide which team and how many compensatory picks to award in the 2024 season.

According to NFL draft rules, they will add up the total value of the compensatory free agents got or lost. Each club will be “awarded” the number of picks equivalent to the net dropping of compensatory free agents (4 maximum). The NFL Management Council is the organization that came up with this formula.

The NFL will decide the number of compensatory free agents based on the free agency time in the previous year.

Along with that, the NFL will also punish offending teams by removing picks from their draft. For example, we can refer to the case of the New England Patriots and the Minnesota Vikings.

The Patriots had to give up the right to pick in the third round. Besides, the Vikings had to give up the right to choose in the 7th round.

How Much Time to Pick Compensatory Free Agents?

The time for each team to make decisions to pick compensatory free agents will steadily decrease as the NFL Draft progresses. It means that towards the end of the NFL’s Draft, teams have less time to pick.

There are 10 minutes for each franchise to decide on compensatory free agents in the first-round pick. In the next round, each club has only seven minutes to make a pick. 

Time is shorter in Rounds 3, 4, 5, and 6. In these rounds, teams have only five minutes for their pick. The time to pick in the last round is the shortest. Each club has precisely 4 minutes to decide.

The time for each team to pick will steadily decrease as the NFL Draft progresses.

Frequently Asked Questions

How many picks in the NFL draft? Scott Fujita collected some related questions as below:

1. How many days did NFL Draft 2024 take?

It took place over three days (from Thursday to Saturday).

2. When is the first round in the NFL’s Draft 2024?

The first round starts on Thursday, 29th April.

Final Thoughts

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Thank you for reading!