How many rounds are there in the NFL draft?

The NFL draft is one of the grandest sporting events. The three-day spectacle will see college stars fulfilling their dream of making it to the NFL when the teams select them.

The players will be transitioning from the amateur level to the pros. The fans are eagerly waiting to see which player will be picked by their favorite franchise. And similarly the teams, after having done a lot of preparation and analysis, will be hoping to make the right selections and strike it big.

In the past, these selections were made in a span of over 20 rounds. But that’s not the case now. This page will explain everything you need to know about the NFL draft rounds, the history and how many rounds are currently there.

How Many Rounds Are in the NFL Draft?

The NFL Draft consists of 7 rounds. The first round of the 2024 NFL Draft will happen on Thursday, April 25. Rounds 2 and 3 will take place the following day, on Friday, April 26. The final rounds of the draft, i.e, from rounds 4 through round 7, will be taking place on Saturday, April 27.

Each round of the NFL draft will feature all the 32 teams making one selection based on the draft order and the spot they’re assigned. Teams have 10 minutes to make a selection in Round 1. This is followed by seven minutes and five minutes for Round 2 and 3 respectively. The final four rounds, from 4 to 7, will have four minutes for each selection.

Read more about How does NFL Draft works?

NFL Draft and rounds: A brief history

The first ever NFL Draft took place in the year 1936. Before that, the process of players singing with the teams was that any player could choose any club. What happened as a result of this is that there was power parity, i.e. the strong teams became even stronger. And the bad teams got even worse.

So Bert Bell, the former commissioner of the NFL, proposed this plan where teams picked based on the reverse order of their previous year’s standings.

Hence the first ever NFL draft in 1937 had a total of nine rounds. Couple of years later, in 1930, the number of rounds increased to 20. There was new spin to this process which meant only the bottom 5 teams were allowed to draft in the 2nd and 4th rounds.

In 1947, the NFL then introduced the concept of a bonus draft selection - the first pick overall. It was later abandoned in 1958. The number of rounds in the NFL draft peaked up to 32 rounds in the 1940s

The number of rounds in the NFL Draft reduced from 17 to 12 in the year 1970, after both AFL and NFL merged and started competing for the Super Bowl. The significance of the draft started to increase over the course of the years.

The current concept of seven-round NFL Draft was adopted in 1994, after the league dabbled with eight-round draft in 1993.

Read more about NFL Draft Simulator 2024

When did the NFL draft change to seven rounds?

Draft is one of the most important days for the NFL teams. The players they pick will decide the future of the team. These talents help the team achieve the collective goal of lifting the Lombardi Trophy.

In 1993, there was a turning point in the NFL. The league adopted its current free-agency structure. The following year led to the birth of the salary cap in the NFL.

What this means is that, when there's a salary cap, the teams cannot now spend lavishly on players. Instead they will have to operatie within limits on their salaries.

So in 1994, the seven draft rounds were finalized. This means that there will be less players getting into the NFL. This has opened up space to the UDFAs, the Undrafted Free Agents.

Any team could now sign these UDFAs if they are impressed by their potential and the team feels they could help them win. This has given rise to how free agency has become crucial to winning in the modern landscape of the game. The NFL teams have the cushion of picking players from the free agency and not solely relying on the draft.

Read more about NFL Playoff Predictor.