Part of what makes the NFL so great is that self-improvement is always a goal, and Commissioner Roger Goodell confessed to Pat McAfee that he has ideas for improving the NFL Draft.
The NFL Draft is a two and a half day event that football fans look forward to each year. In recent years, its location has moved around. In 2025, it is in Green Bay, and at least 200,000 fans attended Thursday night’s opening festivities in person.
Goodell’s Suggestion To Speed Up The NFL Draft
NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell shared an off-the-cuff idea of having teams on the clock for 7 minutes in the first round (instead of 10 minutes). If a team needed more time, it could ask and receive a two-minute extension once.
Roger Goodell said he started thinking last night that the NFL needs to speed up the draft. One idea he floated: shorten the 1st-round clock to 7 minutes, with the option to add 2 minutes — but a team only once gets that option.
(via @PatMcAfeeShow)
pic.twitter.com/SPGVoDdT1m— Ari Meirov (@MySportsUpdate) April 25, 2025
Taking it a step further, it is not clear why the team with the first overall pick needs even seven minutes. Barring some last-minute bizarre trade, which historically does not happen for the first pick, the team should have five minutes or less.
The other baffling part of the NFL Draft is why the players are so far away from the stage. Those present at the draft are kept backstage, but last night, they had to walk through a long and winding tunnel that seemingly never ended. Then, they need to stop and get the team hat. I am not trying to be a Grinch, but all of that can be sped up, too. The only acceptable delay is for those backstage wizards to affix the names of the first-round picks on their new teams’ jerseys.
