About NFL Draft Rules

Every year, the National Football League (NFL) conducts its college draft. For most of the existence of the NFL draft, it was conducted away from the prying eyes of the public, but in recent decades the draft has actually become a spectator event in itself that airs on ESPN and receives the attention of millions of viewers over its full two days. Certain rules apply during the draft, some of which actually serve to make watching it a thing of some suspense and excitement.

Number One Pick

The privilege of the number one pick in the draft comes at a heavy price for NFL teams. The team that finished with the worst record the previous year is awarded the right to choose first, unless that team had previously made a trade that gave up their first draft pick. Under this rule, it is actually possible for the team that won the Super Bowl to also get the first pick in the NFL draft via a trade.

Time Frame

Each team has ten minutes to decide on their draft choice in the first round. Previously, the time was fifteen minutes; the change was made in compliance with the televising of the event and the desire to speed the process. In the second round, the time limit is cut from ten minutes to seven minutes. For rounds three through seven, teams get five minutes for each pick.

Forfeiture

The NFL has the discretion to penalize a team for breaking a rule or regulation by stripping them of a draft pick. Although rare, it has happened. The most famous forfeiture occurred in 2008 when the New England Patriots lost their first round draft pick as punishment for illegally videotaping practices of the rival New York Jets.

Player Eligibility

A college player becomes eligible to enter the NFL draft upon completion of four years of play. In recent decades, more and more players have chosen to enter the draft as underclassmen, but in order to do this they must have been out of high school for three years. The application to enter the draft must be completed by January 15 of the year of the draft.

Compensatory Picks

Each team in the NFL gets one pick per round, unless they have lost or traded it away, but there are also 32 compensatory picks added to rounds three through seven. A team is eligible to receive one of these compensatory draft picks if they lost more free agents than they gained. These picks cannot be traded like regular draft picks.

Supplemental Draft

College players who fail to register for the NFL draft by the January 15 deadline can choose to declare for a supplemental draft that takes place during the summer. This is an extraordinarily rare thing, however, as less than 50 players as of 2009 have been chosen in the supplemental draft in the past thirty years.

Salary Cap

Each team receives an allotment from its salary cap to sign rookies chosen in the NFL draft. The actual formula for assigning this allotment is based on how many picks a team has in the draft. The players who are drafted receive a salary that is based primarily upon their position; a quarterback receives a much higher salary than an offensive lineman.