Guide To The NFL Draft
When it comes to selection shows, no one can compete with the NFL. But the NFL Draft can be as confusing as it is fun. So, CBSMiami.com has put together your guide to the NFL Draft. Let's dive in to learn about the draft.
What Is The NFL Draft?
The draft affords teams the opportunity to select players who have either graduated from college, or are at least three years removed from high school.
The draft is seven rounds and each team gets one pick in each round automatically. It's held annually at Radio City Music Hall.
But, teams can trade a draft pick for other draft picks or another player. That means a team can have more than one pick in a round, if they have acquired another team's pick. There's also compensatory selections given in later rounds to help teams recover from losing players in free agency. Those picks are awarded by the league. So, in the sixth round of the draft, a team could have four or five picks in the round.
Teams are slotted based on their record from the previous year. So, the worst team has the top pick and the best chance to get the best player. Conversely, the best team has the last pick in the round because they have the top talent and have just won the Super Bowl.
Essentially, the NFL Draft affords teams the opportunity to get much better in a hurry and keeps the competitive balance in place through the league.
How Does the Draft Work When It Starts?
The team with the first round selection will be placed "on the clock." Each team is given 10 minutes to either make a selection, trade the selection, or pass on the pick. If the team making the selection passes, the teams following them in the draft can immediately start turning in their picks.
That means a team picking 5th that passes on its pick, or lets time run out, allows the teams further down the line to jump ahead of them. The team that passed can then turn in its pick at any time and the pick will count.
The selection is made by a group of team executives and the head coach. The executives meet in what's affectionately known as the "war room." Once the group in the war room makes their selection, they pick up a phone and call a team representative in New York. The team representative then turns in a card with the name of the pick to the league and the pick is announced.
Usually, the player who is getting selected is called by his new team during this period and informed they are the pick.
The commissioner then walks to the podium and announces the selection.
If a trade is made between a team currently on the clock, the team trading into the spot is put on the clock immediately when the league is informed of the trade. The second team can then make their selection and the first team will not go back on the clock until the second team was originally scheduled to go on the clock.
A similar pattern is repeated during the second through seventh rounds of the draft. In the second round, teams only get 7 minutes to make the pick. After the second round, the time limit is dropped to just 5 minutes.
What Do The Players Do During The Draft?
Essentially, they sit and wait by the phone for the team that selects them to make the phone call. If the player was invited to New York by the league, it can often become uncomfortable to watch the player sit there in the green room awaiting their name to be called.
The league instituted a policy a few years ago to allow a player who is falling down the draft board to be in a private room.
If the player is in New York, when his name is called, he emerges on stage at Radio City Music Hall to shake hands with the NFL commissioner and hold up either a jersey with the number 1 on it or to just pose with the commissioner in a hat from his new team.
What Happens To The Players Not Drafted?
In a typical year, the players not selected automatically become unrestricted free agents. A player can then sign a free agent contract with any team he wants. Typically, teams will tell certain players that they are interested in, but not drafting, they will sign them as a free agent.
Sometimes, the best players can come from the undrafted free agent class. The Miami Dolphins hit gold when they signed wide receiver Davone Bess as an undrafted rookie. The NFL's rushing leader in 2010, Arian Foster, was also an undrafted free agent out of college.
