NFL Draft 2026 Will Reduce Time for 1st-Round Picks After Rule Change

The NFL draft will be moving a bit faster in 2026.

Per ESPN's Adam Schefter, the league notified teams on Wednesday that it will shorten the time between picks in the first round from 10 minutes to eight minutes, starting with the 2026 draft in Pittsburgh.

Schefter added that NFL teams "were on board" with shortening the length of the first round, which typically ended close to midnight. NFL commissioner Roger Goodell had first floated the idea of reducing the time between picks during Day 2 of the 2025 draft in Green Bay.

"I started thinking last night, we've got to shorten it," Goodell said on The Pat McAfee Show. "Should we have time that you can save? I'm making it up, seven minutes first round, but you can get two minutes extra if you need it, you can call it, but then you don't get it again the rest of the draft. You get one extension."

Of course, speeding up the first round of the NFL draft could be a detriment to teams looking to make draft-day trades. The extra time was surely beneficial in negotiations, so teams will have to adjust to the new framework of the event.

Still, fans will undoubtedly enjoy an uptick in the speed of the NFL draft, as the viewing experience should be more efficient following the changes.

The 2026 NFL draft will officially commence on April 23, so there's a lot of time for teams to practice with the new time limits.