NFL to shorten time between first-round picks to eight minutes

[DarrylS]

The NFL draft has developed a unique infrastructure that employs thousands of sports yakkers who ramble on incessantly about facts and nuances of the chosen player.. it used to be a two day affair and on the second day (Sat.) there was simply a scroll on the bottom of ESPN detailing the picks..
The NFL has an uncanny knack of keeping the fans interested throughout the year, but the length of time between picks in the 1st round is excessive...
I agree with cutting back even more to a 5 minute window in the first round if a team and minimize the drama..

 

[Wozzy]

They should shorten it still and go back to at least two if not three rounds on day one, and finish it up on day two.

It's unwatchable in hit's current format. I just keep an eye on the draft tracker on my phone.

How much blathering by know nothing Mel Kiper can I watch.

 

[Patsfanin Philly]

I attended the draft a few years in a row when it was at Radio City Music hall in 08,09. Took my teen sons up and caught lots of crap ("18-1" ) for wearing Pats gear. Noted that the TV hosts got a 30 second head start on who the selection was- on a monitor in front of them and likely in their ear piece" before it was announced. so they could say, " it might be X, Y or Z" know "Y' was already the choice.
Was really interesting seeing the talking heads when the cameras were off. Some interacted with the crowd and were friendly and some were a level biatches and a-holes.

 

[BennyBledsoe]

Was really interesting seeing the talking heads when the cameras were off. Some interacted with the crowd and were friendly and some were a level biatches and a-holes.

Any choice stories?

 

[aluminum seats]

Good move. This favors organizations that have their **** together,,abd the Patriots clearly have their **** together.

To the extent that’s true I guess I agree, but I think about the draft less like a show than a business process, so in that way I feel like take all the time necessary, I don’t care

 

[Patsfanin Philly]

Any choice stories?

Schwabie was running stats for ESPN and one female anchor who shall not be named just lost it on him, " Tell Schwabie to get his fat f'n a** here now". Sent shivers down everyone's spine, even those without an ex-wife.

 

[Huckleberry1]

To the extent that’s true I guess I agree, but I think about the draft less like a show than a business process, so in that way I feel like take all the time necessary, I don’t care

I always harken back to the Vikings not getting their 1st round pick in time, and I think it happened 2 years in a row.

 

[TinhWoodhead]

They shoulda shorten to 6 or 7 minutes

 

[203Pat]

By the 20th pick on TV Twitter already has the 24th pick.

 

[Uptown]

Great. We won’t even need 8 minutes with the 32nd pick…

 

[VJCPatriot]

The NFL draft has developed a unique infrastructure that employs thousands of sports yakkers who ramble on incessantly about facts and nuances of the chosen player.. it used to be a two day affair and on the second day (Sat.) there was simply a scroll on the bottom of ESPN detailing the picks..
The NFL has an uncanny knack of keeping the fans interested throughout the year, but the length of time between picks in the 1st round is excessive...
I agree with cutting back even more to a 5 minute window in the first round if a team and minimize the drama..

I didn't mind 10 minutes in between picks. That allows time for trade talks and maneuvers that adds to the draft day drama.

8 minutes seems like a sensible compromise to speed it up for a televised event because they want to keep it moving. But I don't think we need to cut it down to 5. It's so much more interesting when there are trades on Day 1.

 

[1960Pats]

That's great to hear. It means that the 5 hour show that I don't watch will now be 4 hours. Enjoy.

 

[fnordcircle]

I feel like there's the potential to both speed up the draft but dramatically increase the drama factor if they made all picks last 3 minutes regardless of round unless the team was actively on the phone with another talking trade in which case they'd get an extra 4 or 6 minutes or something. As a fan watching the clock tick down to 0 on the pick only for there to suddenly be bonus minutes would get everyone all excited about who was talking trade, etc.

 

[patman52]

I actually dont like it. Teams need time to up offers and negotiate.

 

[PatsWickedPissah]

Read fnords post before yours

 

[TommyD4207]

I didn't mind 10 minutes in between picks. That allows time for trade talks and maneuvers that adds to the draft day drama.

8 minutes seems like a sensible compromise to speed it up for a televised event because they want to keep it moving. But I don't think we need to cut it down to 5. It's so much more interesting when there are trades on Day 1.

Trimming from 10 minutes to 8 is simply a ploy to cram an entire extra hour of commercials into the broadcast.
Don't get it twisted.

 

[ctpatsfan77]

I actually dont like it. Teams need time to up offers and negotiate.

They're generally discussing trades a few picks before they're on the clock.

 

[One-If-By-Sea]

Trimming from 10 minutes to 8 is simply a ploy to cram an entire extra hour of commercials into the broadcast.
Don't get it twisted.

How do you cram an extra hour of commercials in when it is 8 minutes between picks? The actual draft has to be shorter. My understanding is that each pick's time on the clock starts directly after the previous pick ended. Therefore 8 times 32 is shorter than 10 times 32.

Maybe using the word cram was unfortunate or you didn't consider the math or you mean extra commercials for the post-analysis hour?

 

[PatsFanInVa]

Should be like 5 minutes. Every single team has an entire dedicated group spending months on this ****. If you don’t know who your guy is based on what’s happened in front of you after 10 seconds then you never will. 5 minutes gives time for trades but I could argue for 3 minutes.

Kinda, but it becomes dynamic very quickly. It's like, your first 15 plays can be scripted, but nobody scripts the whole game; it makes no sense. You can't predict what other teams do, the forking probabilities overwhelm any operation's ability to script the dynamic situation ahead of time as teams show their cards, and, as poet Wallace Stevens didn't say of the NFL draft, "the squirming facts exceed the squamous mind." Seriously, you never know when that point will be... you could quickly go from "okay the whole room agrees the best move is player X" to "holy crap player Y is still available at pick 7, everything's different," to runs on positions and ridiculous falls in players' "stocks" overnight. All you know ahead of time is what talking heads and draft-watchers say to each other, and misinformation from other teams... Long response, but the point is, yeah maybe 8 minutes but 5 is brutal if there's rethinking to be done.

 

[PatsFanInVa]

They should shorten it still and go back to at least two if not three rounds on day one, and finish it up on day two.

It's unwatchable in hit's current format. I just keep an eye on the draft tracker on my phone.

How much blathering by know nothing Mel Kiper can I watch.

holy crap, he's still alive ?