It is currently the dead zone between week 17 and the Wildcard Weekend of the NFL Playoff schedule, and that means one thing: the 2010 NFL Rookie Draft selection order has been determined… well, almost. The last two spots are always reserved for the Superbowl Champion and the team they defeated in the big contest. The other 10 of the last 12 spots are all determined by the playoff results. Read on for all of the draft scenarios.
The NFL Draft will kick off in prime time for the first time in 2010. The first round will be held on Thursday, April 22 at 7:30 PM ET at Radio City Music Hall in New York. The second and third rounds are set for Friday, April 23 at 6:30 PM ET. Rounds 4-7 will be held on Saturday, April 24 at 10:00 AM ET.
The “lucky” team choosing first this year will be the 1-15 St. Louis Rams. The Rams’ choice will be followed by the Detroit Lions picking second and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers third.
Below is the tentative order of the first round of the 2010 Draft, subject to the results of the playoffs. The draft order is determined by the following procedures:
(A) The winner of the Super Bowl will select last and the other Super Bowl participant next-to-last, regardless of their regular-season record.
(B) The Championship Game participants not advancing to the Super Bowl will select 29th and 30th, according to the reverse order of their regular-season record.
(C) The Divisional Playoff participants not advancing to the Championship Games will select 25th through 28th, according to the reverse order of their regular-season record.
(D) The Wild Card participants not advancing to the Divisional Playoffs will select 21st through 24th, according to the reverse order of their regular-season record.
(E) Non-playoff clubs will select first through 20th, according to the reverse order of their regular-season record.
If ties exist in any grouping except (A) above, they will be broken by strength of schedule (i.e., figuring the aggregate won-lost-tied percentage of each involved club’s regular season opponents and awarding preferential selection order to the club which faced the schedule of teams with the lowest aggregate won-lost-tied percentage).
If ties still exist after applying the strength of schedule tiebreaker, the divisional or conference tiebreakers are applied, if applicable. If the divisional or conference tiebreakers are not applicable, ties will be broken by a coin flip.
If you don’t know the 2010 NFL first round playoff schedule yet, get out from under that rock and click here. Tune back in to the TMR Zoo tomorrow to enter our NFL Playoff pool for a chance to win some great prizes!
