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(NEXSTAR) – In an effort to captivate more viewers, the NFL is set to inject a burst of energy into this year’s draft by making the 2026 event the swiftest in its history.
The 91st edition of the NFL Draft kicks off on Thursday, April 23, at 8 p.m. ET with the first round. Traditionally, teams had 10 minutes to make their selections—a timeframe that was extended from 15 minutes in 2008.
However, a recent change approved by the league will now reduce the decision time to a mere 8 minutes per team.
This decrease in lag time aims to maintain a brisk pace, potentially wrapping up the first round faster than ever before.
During last year’s 2025 NFL Draft, the first round ended around 11:30 p.m. ET, having started at 8 p.m. ET.
But with less time on the clock, will teams potentially miss getting their pick in time?
That hasn’t happened since the 2003 NFL Draft, when the Minnesota Vikings failed to get their pick in on time, and they had 15 minutes to decide.
When a team doesn’t get their pick off in time, they don’t lose their pick; it just allows the team picking next to also make their pick, turning the draft into a race of sorts. Whichever team gets its pick in first gets the player.
In 2003, the Vikings were so slow, due to a miscommunication about a trade, that two teams (the Jaguars and the Panthers) were able to get picks off before the Vikings finally made their selection.
We’ll see if history repeats itself at the 2026 NFL Draft set to begin Thursday, April 23.