The NFL Draft is an annual event where the best college football players across the nation gather to be selected into the NFL. The NFL Draft is also known as the Player Selection Meeting. The inaugural NFL Draft took place in 1936 and was first televised live in 1980. The Draft extended to a three-day format in 2010 and is held in a different city each year. The NFL Draft has become one of the most exciting footballing events attracting an abundance of audiences across platforms. The Draft is a way for franchises to remain in contention with each other.
The NFL Draft takes place on the last Thursday, Friday, and Saturday in April. The first round is on Thursday, the second and third rounds are on Friday, and rounds four to seven are on Saturday. To be eligible for the NFL Draft, a player must either be redshirt sophomore, junior, or senior. Once you declare for the draft, a player is not allowed to go back and play college football.
The 2024 NFL Draft will be held on the 25th of April 2024 and run till 27th of April 2024. The 2024 NFL Draft class is one of the best in recent years and there might be huge future stars in the group. This will be the 89th NFL Draft meeting to select new players for each team.
The 2024 NFL Draft will be hosted in Detroit, Michigan from April 25th to April 27th, 2024. The venue for the Draft was selected on March 28, 2022.
The Draft is spread across three days:
| Day 1 | ||
| Date | Time | Round |
| 25 April 2024 | 8 p.m. ET | Round 1 |
| Day 2 | ||
| Date | Time | Round |
| 26 April 2024 | 7 p.m. ET | Round 2, Round 3 |
| Day 3 | ||
| Date | Time | Round |
| 27 April 2024 | 12 p.m. ET | Round 4, Round 5, Round 6, Round 7 |
The 2024 NFL Draft will be held at the Campus Martius Park Hart Plaza in Detroit, Michigan. The Motor City will be hosting the NFL Draft for the first time in history which is a great honor for the city.
Coming as a shock to most fans, the tickets to the NFL Draft do not require any cost. Visitors are invited to the three-day event. They can attend the entire three-day NFL Draft this year for free. To be eligible for draft tickets, fans must download the NFL's OnePass app. As the draft approaches, more information is made available on the application. Tickets will be made available one per person and on a first-come first-served basis.
The NFL Draft Experience features an immersive theme park featuring picture opportunities and autograph signings. These experiences will be enjoyed only by those who are fortunate enough to obtain a ticket. At the NFL Draft Theater, where all the on-stage activities take place, there will be free performances at the end of each day.
NFL Network and ESPN both have television coverage of all seven draft rounds. Ensure you sign up for a FuboTV subscription or a free trial if you want streaming choices. Moreover, ESPN+ and the NFL’s official website both offer streaming alternatives.
Although the format of the NFL Draft has seen changes throughout history, the basic ideology is to allow fairness of competition so the teams who performed poorly in the last season get to pick first.
Each of the 32 NFL teams has an automatic pick in each of the seven rounds of the draft. The first round gives each team ten minutes to make their choice, the second round gives them seven minutes, the third to sixth rounds give them five, and the seventh round gives them four minutes. The team may still choose if they haven't made a decision in their allotted time; however, this would allow the following team(s) to submit their picks before them.
The number one pick belongs to the team that had the worst regular season record and the number 18th pick belongs to the team that had the best regular season record in which they missed the playoffs. Picks 19-24 are given to teams eliminated in the first round, i.e., the Wild Card round of the playoffs. Picks 25-28 are given to teams eliminated in the second round, i.e., the Divisional round of the playoffs.
The 29th and 30th picks are given to the teams that were eliminated in the Conference Championship round of the playoffs. Finally, the 31st pick is given to the team which lost the Super Bowl while the 32nd pick is given to the team who won the Super Bowl.
Teams are allowed to make trades and acquire extra picks. Some teams receive compensatory picks. This is based on the salary, playing time, and postseason honors of the free agents each team lost during the previous off-season. No team usually receives a compensatory pick until at least the third round.
The NFL Draft order is assigned based on the performances of teams in the previous season. Since the Carolina Panthers had the least impressive NFL season out of all teams in the 2023 NFL season, they received the Number 1 pick. However, this pick currently belongs to the Chicago Bears as the Panthers had given this pick to them in the 2023 NFL Draft to draft quarterback Bryce Young with the number 1 overall pick. The Bears could keep the pick for themselves and draft the number 1 overall player or trade it away if they can get a better value for it.
Here is the first-round order for the 2024 NFL Draft.
| Pick | Team |
| 1 | Chicago Bears (via Carolina Panthers 2-15) |
| 2 | Washington Commanders (4-13) |
| 3 | New England Patriots (4-13) |
| 4 | Arizona Cardinals (4-13) |
| 5 | Los Angeles Chargers (5-12) |
| 6 | New York Giants (6-11) |
| 7 | Tennessee Titans (6-11) |
| 8 | Atlanta Falcons (7-10) |
| 9 | Chicago Bears (7-10) |
| 10 | New York Jets (7-10) |
| 11 | Minnesota Vikings (7-10) |
| 12 | Denver Broncos (8-9) |
| 13 | Las Vegas Raiders (8-9) |
| 14 | New Orleans Saints (9-8) |
| 15 | Indianapolis Colts (9-8) |
| 16 | Seattle Seahawks (9-8) |
| 17 | Jacksonville Jaguars (9-8) |
| 18 | Cincinnati Bengals (9-8) |
| 19 | Los Angeles Rams (10-7) |
| 20 | Pittsburgh Steelers (10-7) |
| 21 | Miami Dolphins (11-6) |
| 22 | Philadelphia Eagles (11-6) |
| 23 | Houston Texans (via Cleveland Browns 11-6) |
| 24 | Dallas Cowboys (12-5) |
| 25 | Green Bay Packers (9-8) |
| 26 | Tampa Bay Buccaneers (9-8) |
| 27 | Arizona Cardinals (via Houston Texans 10-7) |
| 28 | Buffalo Bills (11-6) |
| 29 | Detroit Lions (12-5) |
| 30 | Baltimore Ravens (13-4) |
| 31 | San Francisco 49ers (12-5) |
| 32 | Kansas City Chiefs (11-6) |
The Cleveland Browns (11-6) and the Carolina Panthers (2-15) are both without first-round picks in the 2024 NFL Draft after having traded away their picks to the Houston Texans and the Chicago Bears respectively.
The 2024 NFL Draft class is quite a strong class. As per experts, the upcoming draft is a good one for teams that need a quarterback but it is not a deep quarterback class. The top five or six have separated themselves from the others in that position with the clear-cut number one overall for most experts being quarterback - Caleb Williams. Following Williams, other notable quarterbacks in this class include Drake Maye, Heisman Trophy winner - Jayden Daniels, Bo Nix, Michael Penix Jr., and J.J. McCarthy.
Quality players at other positions include wide receivers - Marvin Harrison Jr., Rome Odunze, and Malik Nabers, tight end - Brock Bowers, offensive tackles - Joe Alt, and Olumuyiwa Fashanu, cornerbacks - Cooper DeJean and Nate Wiggins and many more.
These are only some of the total prospects in the Draft. To have an immersive NFL Draft experience and look at the best prospects for your favorite NFL team, do check out Sportskeeda’s 2024 NFL Mock Draft Simulator. The simulator provides the best prospective options for your NFL team.
A. The 2024 NFL Draft order sees the Chicago Bears with the first pick of the draft via a trade by the Carolina Panthers who finished last in the 2023 NFL season.
A. The 2024 NFL Draft is being held at Campus Martius Park, Hart Plaza in Detroit, Michigan.
A. The Arizona Cardinals and the Chicago Bears each have two first-round draft picks in the 2024 NFL Draft.
A. The NFL Draft order is determined by the standings at the end of the regular season: The franchise with the worst record will pick first, and the one with the best record to not make the playoffs will pick 18th. Teams that did qualify for the playoffs are assigned draft slots 19-32.
