WHAT: 81st Annual National Football League Player Selection Meeting.
WHERE: Auditorium Theatre of Roosevelt University, Chicago, Illinois.
WHEN: 8:00 p.m. ET, Thursday, April 28 (Round 1), 7:00 p.m. ET, Friday, April 29 (Rounds 2-3), noon ET, Saturday, April 30 (Rounds 4-7).
The first round will conclude on Thursday by approximately 11:15 p.m. ET. In 2015, the first round consumed three hours and nine minutes. The second and third rounds will conclude on Friday by approximately 11:00 p.m. ET. The second and third rounds took four hours and 10 minutes in 2015. The draft will conclude by approximately 6:30 p.m. ET on Saturday with the final four rounds. Rounds 4 through 7 took six hours and 26 minutes in 2015.
DRAFTING: Representatives of the 32 NFL clubs by telephone communication with their general managers, coaches and scouts.
ROUNDS: Seven Rounds – Round 1 on Thursday, April 28; Rounds 2 and 3 on Friday, April 29; and Rounds 4 through 7 on Saturday, April 30.
There will be 253 selections, including 33 compensatory choices that have been awarded to 13 teams that suffered a net loss of certain quality unrestricted free agents last year.
The following 33 compensatory choices will supplement the 220 regular choices in the seven rounds: Round 3: Detroit, 33; New England, 34; Seattle, 35; Denver, 36. Round 4: Green Bay, 33; Baltimore, 34; San Francisco, 35; Baltimore, 36; Dallas, 37; Denver, 38; Green Bay, 39; Cleveland, 40; Buffalo, 41. Round 5: Arizona, 33; Seattle, 34; Cleveland 35; Cleveland, 36; San Francisco, 37; San Diego, 38. Round 6: New England, 33; Baltimore, 34; Detroit, 35; San Francisco, 36; Dallas, 37; San Francisco, 38; New England, 39; Seattle, 40; Dallas, 41; Dallas, 42; Buffalo, 43; Denver, 44; Pittsburgh, 45; New England, 46.
Compensatory picks may not be traded this year. A rule change approved by clubs in 2015 will permit compensatory draft picks to be traded beginning in 2017.
TIME LIMITS: Round 1: 10 minutes per selection. Round 2: Seven minutes per selection. Rounds 3 through 6: Five minutes per selection. Round 7 and All Compensatory Picks: Four minutes per selection.
TELEVISION & RADIO: The 2016 NFL Draft will be televised nationally by NFL Network and ESPN/ESPN 2 and can be heard nationwide on Westwood One Radio, SiriusXM NFL Radio and TuneIn Radio.
