If you’re a professional football fan, tomorrow will likely be a very exciting day for you. If you have a football fan in your life, you might be wondering what all the excitement is about.
Tomorrow, April 23, the 2026 NFL Draft will begin. The NFL Draft is the three-day, televised process by which NFL teams choose eligible rookie players to join their team for the upcoming NFL season, which begins in the fall.
Here’s a quick introduction to the NFL draft, for those who don’t keep up with the sport, which team has the first pick and how to watch the first round of the draft tomorrow.
How does the NFL Draft work?
The NFL draft is a three-day process that happens over one weekend every spring. The first round of the draft, which is the most exciting, always happens on a Thursday night. All 32 NFL teams each get one pick per round, giving each team a total of seven draft picks, as there are seven rounds total.
“The NFL draft takes place over three days (Thursday through Saturday) each spring,” the NFL’s website says. “Only the first round is held on Thursday… The second and third rounds are on Friday; rounds 4-7 are on Saturday.”
Since 2008, each team has had 10 minutes to make its first-round pick, but this year, that time will drop to eight minutes.
“The time between first-round selections has been shortened from 10 minutes to eight minutes. It’s the first timing adjustment since 2008, when the allotment dropped from 15 minutes to 10 minutes. The timing for Rounds 2-7 remains unchanged from last year,” the 2026 NFL Draft web page says.
As each round passes, teams get less and less time to make their pick: seven minutes in the second round, five minutes in rounds three through six and four minutes in round seven.
“If a team lets its time expire without making a choice, it can make a selection later — but it runs the risk of letting the next team on the clock take the player it was considering,” according to the NFL’s draft rules.
Teams are also allowed to trade picks with each other. Trading is often a strategic move to help the team secure a player that they really want or increase the chances of finding a good player in later rounds.
“It’s up to the club’s executives to either select a player or trade the pick to another team to improve its position in the current or future drafts,” according to the NFL.
“Teams may negotiate trades at any time before and during the draft and can swap draft picks or current NFL players to whom they hold the rights.”
When is the 2026 NFL Draft?
The 2026 NFL Draft will begin at 8 p.m. ET tomorrow, Thursday, April 23. The last rounds of the draft will be on Saturday, April 25.
Where is the 2026 NFL Draft?
This year’s draft will be held near the home of the Pittsburgh Steelers, at Acrisure Stadium in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The draft theater and stage will be along the north bank of the Ohio River, outside of the stadium.
Although Florida has strong NFL ties and three professional teams, the Sunshine State has never hosted an NFL Draft.
Who has the first pick in the NFL draft?
If you’re new to the draft, you might be wondering how they choose which team goes first. The answer is pretty simple. The teams draft in reverse order, meaning that the team with the worst record from last season goes first and the Super Bowl champions go last.
“Barring any trades between clubs, each round starts with the team that finished with the worst record and ends with the Super Bowl champions,” the NFL website says.
“Teams that didn’t qualify for the playoffs are assigned draft slots 1-20. The order is determined by the standings at the end of the regular season: The club with the worst record will pick first, and the one with the best record will pick 20th.”
This year, the Las Vegas Raiders will take the first pick.
Here’s where Florida’s NFL teams land in the first round of the 2026 draft
Will the NFL Draft be streamed on Hulu? Where to stream the draft
Watch the 2026 NFL Draft with the Disney Bundle
The 2026 NFL Draft will begin on April 23 at 8 p.m. ET and be broadcast on the NFL Network, ABC, ESPN, ESPN2 and ESPN Deportes.
If you don’t have a live TV provider, you can stream the draft on Disney+, Hulu and NFL+.
Lianna Norman is a trending reporter for the USA TODAY NETWORK-Florida, covering pop culture, lotteries, rocket launches, Florida wildlife, breaking news and more. You can get all of Florida’s best content directly in your inbox each weekday by signing up for the free newsletter, Florida TODAY, at https://floridatoday.com/newsletters.
This article originally appeared on Sarasota Herald-Tribune: The NFL Draft is almost here. How it works, for non-football fans
Reporting by Lianna Norman, USA TODAY NETWORK – Florida / Sarasota Herald-Tribune
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
