The 2024 NFL season is officially over with the Philadelphia Eagles getting crowned as the NFL champions. After signing UFAs and adding players through free agency in March, teams look for young players out of college to fill the holes on the team through the NFL draft process. The 2025 NFL draft is the 90th edition of the grand annual event and it will be taking place in Green Bay, the home of the Packers.
NFL Draft: How does it work? Rules Explained
The NFL draft consists of seven rounds. In each round, every NFL team is given one pick to make their selection from the available list of players. The three-day event usually begins on Thursday when Round 1 takes place. Rounds 2 and 3 take place on Friday. Rounds 4 through round 7 take place on Saturday. All 32 teams will be invited to the draft location where the selection happens and each team’s representatives will be given a table at the venue. The team executives from the headquarters will be connected with the representatives at the location for communication on various matters including the selection of the draft pick. These representatives will then communicate about their selection to the NFL runner, who acts as the bridge between the league and the representatives (via NFL Football Operations).
During the process of the three-day draft, one NFL team is always on the clock. What this means is a team is always making a selection. These teams will receive a set of time limits for each round to make their pick. If the team that is on the clock takes a longer time to make the selection, the next team in line will be allowed to draft ahead of them, as reported by NFL Football Operations.
| Also Read: What is an Auction Draft |
How is the draft order assigned?
The performance of the team in the previous NFL season will determine the NFL draft order. The NFL teams will be making a selection based on the final standings from the previous season. The team with the poorest record will make the first selection and the Super Bowl winners, the best team in the NFL, will make the last selection.
The first 18 selections in the NFL draft will be made by the teams that did not qualify for the NFL playoffs. The draft order for the remaining 14 teams that did make the playoffs will be based on how deep their playoff run was and also their win-loss record in the regular season.
The teams eliminated in the wildcard round will pick from 19-24. The picks 25-28 are the teams eliminated in the divisional round. The teams losing in the conference championships will have the 29 and 30 pick. The runners-up of the Super Bowl will have the 31st pick and the Super Bowl winners will pick last, i.e. 32nd.
| Read More: What time is the 2025 NFL Draft? |
| Status | Draft picks |
| Non-playoff teams | 1–18 |
| Eliminated in the Wild Card round | 19–24 |
| Eliminated in the Divisional round | 25–28 |
| Conference runners-up | 29–30 |
| Super Bowl runner-up | 31 |
| Super Bowl champion | 32 |
If there are trades that happen during the draft, teams can move up and down in the order. But these are the given basics of the NFL draft.
| Must Read: Where is NFL Draft Taking Place. |
FAQs on NFL Draft
A. The free agency period for the 2025 league year begins on 12th March 2025, as per NFL Operations.
A. Jacksonville Jaguars have the most draft picks (10) in the 2025 NFL draft as per CBS Sports.
A. There are seven rounds in the NFL draft. Round 1 takes place on day 1. Rounds 2 and 3 take place on day 2. Rounds 4 through round 7 will take place on day 3 of the NFL draft.
