What is the NFL Draft?

The NFL Draft is an annual process where the best players in college American football are selected by NFL teams. It is used effectively because it ensures that all the teams are even, ensuring competitive balance.

The draft consists of seven rounds, in which the 32 NFL teams take it in turns to select the top players. The team with the worst record from the previous season goes first and the order is based on how each club performed the previous year.

Most recently in the 2011 NFL Draft the Carolina Panthers selected first overall because they had the worst record in the league in 2010. It then continues all the way down to the Super Bowl champion’s Green Bay Packers, who will pick 32nd and last in the opening round.

The most interesting part of course comes when teams trade up the list to select better players. This can be done by making deals with other teams offering picks, sometimes even for future drafts.

The draft takes place at Radio City Music Hall in New York every year in April. Each team has 10 minutes to select a player in the first round, a sum which is reduced to 7 minutes in the second, and 5 minutes in the remaining rounds. If no player has been selected by the team on the clock, the next team below has the opportunity to effectively jump in.

Most of the time it is widely considered that the first round picks are the best players, but this is not always the case. Some gems have been found in the lower rounds, including New England Patriots Super bowl winning quarterback Tom Brady, picked round 6!