How to Understand the NFL Draft

Draft Basics

• 1

  The NFL Draft consists of 7 rounds where each team selects one player per round. Often times, however, some teams have more than 1 draft pick per round as a result of having acquired them in previous trades.

• 2

  The teams' overall records from the previous season determine the draft order. The team with the worst record gets the first pick of each round and the team with the best record chooses last in each round.

• 3

  Teams that end up with the same record are slotted in consideration to strength of schedule and playoff teams pick accordingly to when they were eliminated from the postseason.

• 4

  In the first round each team has 10 minutes to choose the player they want. In the second round the time is reduced to 7 minutes and in rounds 3 to 7 it drops to 5 minutes. In the 2008 draft the time per round dropped to what it is now in an attempt to speed up the draft, which used to seem to go on forever. Previously each team had 15 minutes per pick in round one and 10 minutes per pick in round two.

• 5

  Should a team fail to make a selection while they are on the clock, they can still submit their pick after it, but they have to wait until the team that is after them in the draft order make their selection, which could cost them the player they targeted.

• 6

  There are also a number of extra draft picks available at the end of rounds 3 to 7. These are called compensatory picks and are awarded to teams that lost more qualifying free agents than they gained the previous year during free agency. A total of up to 32 picks are available, one for every team.

• 7

  If a team loses the same amount of players that they gain in free agency, but the ones they gained are not considered as valuable as the players they lost, then they can also get a compensatory pick in the seventh round. The compensatory picks cannot be traded.

• 8

  If fewer than 32 compensatory picks are awarded, the rest will be distributed as if there was an eighth round.

The Prospects

• 9

  Players who have been out of high school for at least 3 years are eligible to enter the draft. The majority of them are college juniors or seniors.

• 10

  The draft prospects are put under heavy scrutiny by pro scouts, who leave nothing for chance. Every game the athletes played in college is evaluated, interviews are conducted and a myriad of tests are administered in the months leading up to the draft.

• 11

  The NFL Combine is where draft hopefuls can make or break their aspirations of a lucrative first round contract. The combine is a three-day invitation-only event held in Indianapolis at the end of February. Here players perform physical tests as well as mental tests.

• 12

  Some tests are considered more important than others, depending on what position the athlete is playing, but the ones most positions need to do well in are the 40-yard sprint, bench press and the Wonderlic test, which is an intelligence test. Poor performances in any of these 3 will almost guarantee a player to plummet down the draft board.

• 13

  Character is also important, but some teams will occasionally take a chance on a gifted athlete in the early rounds even if he at some point has had off-field problems. This, however, can be risky because if the player is going to spend more time in jail or being suspended than actually playing, the team will have wasted a valuable draft pick.

• 14

  Players who are believed to already be top prospects before the combine usually do not participate in most of the physical activities in Indianapolis, but show up for the interviews and measurements. They do this to not jeopardize their status as top tier players by performing poorly in drills because of various reasons. Quarterbacks, for instance, sometimes don't participate in the throwing drills because they are not familiar with the way the receivers at the combine run the routes. Occasionally the skill players (receivers, running backs and defensive backs) don't run the 40-yard dash at the combine if they don't feel 100 percent healthy, because as little as 0.3 seconds can push them out of the first round and maybe even the second round.

• 15

  Those who don't participate in all the drills at the combine usually make it up during their school's Pro Day where NFL scouts come to study the prospects some more. The Pro Day workouts can give injured players some extra time to heal up because they are held after the combine. It also benefits quarterbacks and receivers, who get to work with their own teammates in drills.

The Franchises

• 16

  The most important selection a team will make is their first round pick because here is where they are more likely to find a player who will be able to start right away or be a solid cornerstone of the franchise for many years.

• 17

  Teams do not only draft players after how highly they are ranked. A player who is considered to be the fifth best player available in the draft will not necessarily be picked by the team with the fifth selection. Team needs are equally important. So, if your favorite team drafts a good tackle instead of a great running back it's probably because they are in bigger need of a tackle than a running back.

• 18

  Each franchise has to strategize who they are going to go after by guessing who the teams picking ahead of them are going to draft. They do this by creating their own draft boards with a few players they think will be available in each round.

• 19

  If a team is really sold on a specific player and believe there's a big risk he will be gone by the time it's their turn to pick, they usually trade up some spots to get that player. Most of the time that means they have to give up several draft picks in return, a veteran player or a combination of both, depending on how many spots they are trying to move up.

• 20

  Sometimes your favorite team will infuriate you beyond imagination on draft day, but for the most part they know more about what they're doing than the fans. However, there will be times when you really earn the right to say "I told you so!"