How Many Picks Are in the NFL Draft?
Currently, each of the 32 teams in the NFL get one pick in each of the seven rounds of the NFL draft. The number of teams drafting has transformed over the years, which has led to a change in the picks. SportsBoom explores the order of selection in the NFL draft by considering the number of picks.
Williams and Roger Goodell//Getty Images
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The National Football League is home to over 2,200 players spread out across the 32 franchise teams. Most are recruited through the NFL draft which takes place every year in April. The draft, normally divided into seven rounds, witnesses the selection of a limited bunch of between 250 and 260 players. The selection comes from a pool of thousands of players that are eligible via the US collegiate system and other football leagues such as the Arena Football League (AFL), the Canadian Football League (CFL), the German Football League (GFL) and players who have been out of high school for at least three years. In some instances, a small handful of players who have played sports other than football can be selected. However, a majority of the drafted players encompass players who have played college football in the United States.
The 32 teams are awarded one pick in each round, for the seven rounds available in the NFL draft. These accounts to 224 guaranteed picks across the league. The picks are determined by the reverse order of the final standings of the previous season. It’s important to note that teams can trade picks, which may result in some boasting more or fewer picks than the originally allocated seven picks. Needless to say, all seven rounds bear no resemblance.
Compensatory Picks in the NFL Draft Picks
What normally brings a disparity in the number of picks from year-to-year, is a policy by the NFL known as compensatory picks. These bonus picks are awarded in case a minority front office or coaching candidates are hired by other organizations, or if a team loses more players to other franchises via the free agency than those they eventually sign. A myriad of factors often applies in order to determine the “value" of such players, including playing time, player salary and postseason awards. These extra picks fall at the end of each round, in rounds three all through to seven. Consequently, these rounds are usually longer than the first two.
Indianapolis Colts fans celebrating//Getty Images
In some instances, teams are imposed with harsh penalties by the league, resulting to fewer picks. In the 2023 NFL draft, the first round had 31 picks after the Miami Dolphins were stripped of their first-round pick, for tampering with Tom Brady and Sean Payton between 2019 and 2021. As a result of their punishment, their 2024 third-round pick was also taken away.
How Many Picks were in the 2024 NFL Draft?
Here’s how many picks occurred in each round of the NFL’s 2024 draft:
Picks in the 2024 NFL Draft
| Round | Number of Picks |
| Round 1 | 32 picks |
| Round 2 | 32 picks |
| Round 3 | 37 picks |
| Round 4 | 35 picks |
| Round 5 | 40 picks |
| Round 6 | 43 picks |
| Round 7 | 37 picks |
2024 NFL Draft - Round 1//Getty Images
The 2024 season has 224 guaranteed picks and the NFL awarded 34 compensatory picks. For example, in the 2024 NFL draft, the Chicago Bears were not projected to earn any compensatory pick. This is due to the fact that the two free agents they lost, namely David Montgomery and Riley Reiff, were outweighed by the signings of Tremaine Edmunds, T.J. Edwards, Nate Davis, DeMarcus Walker, Andrew Billings and Robert Tonyan.
The 2024 NFL draft held in Detroit Michigan, saw the Arizona Cardinals have the most selections with 12 picks, while the fewest selections were by the Chicago Bears with five. In total, 258 players were selected within the seven rounds.
Timing is an important factor in the NFL draft. The first round has a ten-minute restriction for teams to make their selections. This then reduces to seven minutes for the second round and five minutes for the third round, through to the sixth round. In the seventh round, clubs receive four minutes. However, if a team fails to beat the clock for a pick or trade proposal, it doesn’t preclude the team from making a pick. The only damage is that the team loses its exclusive right to making a pick. This can be mitigated by submitting their draft card whenever they are prepared. For instance, in the 2011 NFL draft, the Ravens missed their pick at No. 26 overall, before eventually taking Colorado cornerback Jimmy Smith at No. 27.
It is important to note that although players go undrafted, they can still be signed later and go on to achieve fruitful football careers with possibly Hall of Fame inductions.
Ian Mugo Wanyeki is based in Nairobi, Kenya. He is a sports enthusiast with vast knowledge of different sport disciplines. Ian is a graduate with a Bachelor’s of Science degree from Kenyatta University. He is a Kenyan journalist who’s worked as a sports analyst at Covenant Television Network, as a sports reporter at NTV and as a Sports Correspondent/contributor at Quartz Africa.