The NFL today announced it will streamline its draft process, moving round three to the draft's second day and reducing the amount of time between picks. The draft will also start at 3 p.m. on the first day instead of noon.
It's clear from the NFL's changes that it wants to place a greater importance on the first two rounds and possibly package them better for television. The total possible amount of live draft coverage on the first day, a Saturday, has been reduced from 850 minutes (about 14 hours) to 510 minutes, (about 8 1/2 hours.) That makes it a little more palatable for those fans who want to see their team pick but don't want to waste an entire day. The 3 p.m. start time is also more attractive for television, as more people tend to tune in later in the day. What's more, the later start time will give ESPN and the NFL Network nearly a full day to report and speculate on what teams will do. (ESPN, after all, stands for Everyone Speculates on Possible News.)
Of course, this later start time also makes reporting on the draft a little trickier, deadline-wise. But knowing the NFL, the comfort of reporters was not a number one priority.
