The First Round of the NFL Draft Is a Movie-Length Event in and of Itself

Although the football season only occupies roughly a third of the calendar year, die-hard NFL fans always find something new to look forward to. Recently, those fans have been looking forward to the NFL draft, which kicks off at 8 p.m. on Thursday, April 25.

Before that draft commences, though, and we discover who each team is going to take with their picks, some are wondering exactly how long the first round of the draft usually takes. Read on for everything we know.

The first round of the NFL draft is the only round that takes place on April 25. That means that the first 32 picks will all happen after the draft kicks off.

Thirty-two picks is a decent number, which is why the first round usually takes about four hours to complete. Now, that number can vary based on what exactly happens in each particular draft, but the first round is scheduled to run until midnight EST.

For those wondering, each team gets 10 minutes per pick in the NFL draft. That means after a pick is made, the next organization has 10 minutes to select their prospect and make their selection official.

Professional sports drafts also involve a fair amount of backroom dealing and trading, so it's entirely possible that the draft order heading into the night will not be the order in which players are actually picked. That's especially true this year, as players have seemed to rise and fall on many draft boards based on additional analysis and scrutiny.

Although the first round of the draft is confined to April 25, subsequent rounds sprawl out over the following few days, and the draft doesn't conclude until April 27.

Rounds 2-3 will kick off at 7 p.m. EST on Friday, April 26, with Rounds 4-7 commencing at 12 p.m. EST on Saturday, April 27.

While the most attention is often paid to the picks that are made early on in the night and throughout the first round, it's important to remember that a number of great players have been selected later on in the draft.

Jalen Hurts, who is now one the highest paid players in the league, was not drafted by the Eagles until the second round. The G.O.A.T, Tom Brady, was taken even later than that!

The picks that get made on draft night can be wildly unpredictable, but what's even more unpredictable is the future of each of these players inside the NFL. Draft day is certainly exciting, but it's just the beginning of the road for all of these players as they make the leap into professional sports.