NFL Draft

Also knows as the Player Selection Meeting, the NFL Draft is an annual event where eligible college football players are recruited by NFL franchises. The NFL Draft takes place on the last Thursday, Friday, and Saturday in April.

The first round is on Thursday, the second and third rounds are on Friday, and the fourth-seventh rounds are on Saturday. In order to be eligible for the NFL Draft, a player must either be redshirt sophomore, junior, or senior. Once you declare for the draft, a player is not allowed to go back and play college football.

Format

Athough the format of the NFL Draft has seen changes over the course of history, the basic ideology is to allow fairness of competition so the teams who performed poorly in the last season get to pick first.

The number one pick belongs to the team that had the worst regular season record and the number the 20th pick belongs to the team that had the best regular season record in which they missed the playoffs. Picks 21-24 are given to teams which were eliminated in the first round, i.e, the Wild Card round of the playoffs. Picks 25-28 are given to teams which were eliminated in the second round, i.e., the Divisional round of the playoffs.

The 29th and 30th picks are given to the teams which were eliminated in the Conference round of the playoffs. Finally, the 31st pick is given to the team which lost the Super Bowl while the 32nd pick is given to the team who won the Super Bowl.

Teams are allowed to make trades and acquire extra picks. Some teams receive compensatory picks. This is based on salary, playing time, and postseason honors of the free agents each team lost during the previous off season. No team usually receives a compensatory pick until at least the third round.