2024 NFL Draft: How the clock works

The Chicago Bears will go on the clock shortly after 8 p.m. ET on Thursday night as the first round of the 2024 NFL Draft kicks off in Detroit.

32 college football stars will have their names called on Thursday night throughout the first round, which usually takes around four hours to complete.

How long does each team have to submit their pick? It depends on the round. The broadcast will begin with a short intro from NFL commissioner Roger Goodell, and for the first round, the team with the first pick will then be put on a 10-minute timer.

Here’s a breakdown of how long each team will have to pick throughout the draft:

2024 NFL Draft clock rules:

• First round: Teams have 10 minutes per pick in the first round
• Second round: 7 minutes per pick
• Rounds 3, 4, 5 and 6: 5 minutes per pick
• Round 7: 4 minutes per pick

What happens if a team doesn’t submit an NFL Draft pick in time?

This is rare, but has happened on multiple occasions. If a team goes over its allotted time, it can still submit a pick after the timer expires – but the next team in line will be put on the clock, and will have a chance to submit their pick before the team that ran out of time.

This famously occurred in 2003, when the Minnesota Vikings owned the No. 7 pick in the draft, but actually picked ninth after their time expired and both the Jaguars and Panthers were able to submit picks before the Vikings picked Kevin Williams. How was this possible? The Vikings were negotiating a trade with the Ravens that was submitted to the NFL from Minnesota’s side, but Ravens couldn’t get through to NFL officials. It was a big controversy that led the NFL to alter its draft-night protocol the following year.

Teams used to have a longer timer for first-round picks

The first two rounds of the draft used to take much longer. Teams originally had 15 minutes for each first-round pick and 10 minutes for each second-round pick, but those limits were changed in 2007.