WHAT: 73rd Annual National Football League Player Selection Meeting.
WHERE: Radio City Music Hall, 1260 Avenue of the Americas, New York City (Between 50th and 51st Streets).
WHEN: 3:00 PM ET, Saturday, April 26 (Rounds 1-2).
10:00 AM ET, Sunday, April 27 (Rounds 3-7).
’08 CHANGES – The NFL Draft has been streamlined. On Saturday, the first two rounds will be conducted, rather than Rounds 1-3 as in the past. Clubs will be allowed 10 minutes to make their selection in Round 1, rather than 15 minutes as in the past. Each pick in Round 2 will be allocated seven minutes, rather than 10. The draft on Saturday will commence at 3:00 PM ET, rather than at noon.
On Sunday, Rounds 3-7 will be conducted, with each selection allocated five minutes. Sunday’s draft will begin at 10:00 AM ET, rather than at 11:00 AM ET.
DRAFTING: Representatives of the 32 NFL clubs by telephone communication with their general managers, coaches and scouts.
ROUNDS: Seven Rounds – Rounds 1 through 2 on Saturday, April 26; and Rounds 3 through 7 on Sunday, April 27.
There will be 252 selections, including 32 compensatory choices that have been awarded to 15 teams which suffered a net loss of certain quality unrestricted free agents last year.
The following 32 compensatory choices will supplement the 220 regular choices in the seven rounds – Round 3: Washington, 33; Cincinnati, 34; Atlanta, 35; Baltimore, 36. Round 4: Philadelphia, 33; Buffalo, 34; Baltimore, 35; Tennessee, 36; Green Bay, 37. Round 5: San Diego, 33. Round 6: New York Giants, 33; Philadelphia, 34; Indianapolis, 35; Indianapolis, 36; Philadelphia, 37; Miami, 38; Indianapolis, 39; Baltimore, 40; Cincinnati, 41. Round 7: Baltimore, 33; Carolina, 34; Washington, 35; Chicago, 36; Cincinnati, 37; Miami, 38; Cincinnati, 39; Chicago, 40; Chicago, 41; Washington, 42; Carolina, 43; Buffalo, 44; St. Louis, 45.
Dallas (Nos. 22 and 28) and Kansas City (Nos. 5 and 17) have two selections in the first round. Cleveland, Indianapolis and Minnesota do not have first-round picks. All other teams have one first-round selection.
TIME LIMITS: Round 1: 10 minutes each team. Round 2: Seven minutes each team. Rounds 3 through 7: Five minutes each team.
PLAYERS AT DRAFT: The following players will be at the draft at Radio City on Saturday: LSU DT GLENN DORSEY, Ohio State DE VERNON GHOLSTON, Virginia DE CHRIS LONG, Michigan T JAKE LONG, Arkansas RB DARREN MC FADDEN and Boston College QB MATT RYAN.
TELEVISION: NFL Network and ESPN will televise the draft on both days.
INTERNET: Exclusive coverage and behind-the-scenes features on NFL.COM and on team websites for draft weekend will include: Streaming video of NFL Network’s draft coverage both Saturday and Sunday on NFL.com/LIVE; “Draft Tracker” with real-time selection information as well as exclusive pick-by-pick analysis from NFL.com’s experts; video-on-demand content featuring the six college players in New York: Glenn Dorsey, Vernon Gholston, Chris Long, Jake Long, Darren McFadden and Matt Ryan; exclusive interactive features, including the “NFL Predict The Pick” game and a “Fan Ballot” that allows fans to grade their team’s picks; and in-depth coverage from each team website.
