The Los Angeles Rams will have less time on the clock during the 2026 NFL draft thanks to the new time limit. This new change only benefits fans and puts the league’s 32 general managers under more pressure to make the correct pick.
Beginning with this year’s draft in Pittsburgh, teams will have only eight minutes to make their first round selections, down from 10 minutes the previous year. According to NFL Football Operations, it’s the first timing adjustment since 2008, when the allotment dropped
from 15 minutes to 10. Rounds 2-7 will not be impacted by the change.
Honestly, it’s stunning that the NFL will not milk the first night of the draft for all that it’s worth. Round one is typically the night that fans care about the most. The allotment changed to create a faster pace and maximize its primetime slot.
Front Office Sports shared that last year’s first round averaged 13.6 million viewers. Attracting more fans to watch the round is all the NFL cares about, not making the lives of the GMs of the teams those fans care so deeply about easier. Some GMs, including the Steelers’ Omar Khan, wish they had the extra time back.
On one hand, it’s understandable why the NFL made the change. Sometimes, teams can really drag things out, especially when they know exactly who they would like to pick. Do you think the Raiders will need the full allotment of time to select Fernando Mendoza? Besides the die-hard fans, who in their right mind wants to sit through a televised board meeting for hours on end?
Then on the other hand, teams with multiple first-rounders are getting screwed. General managers of the Jets, Giants, Browns, Chiefs, Dolphins and Cowboys will feel extra pressure given the additional draft capital at their disposal. The Rams were nearly one of those teams until Les Snead traded one of the team’s first round picks in the Trent McDuffie trade with KC.
Even then, Snead has a pick in the top 15 and has two fewer minutes to decide whether to get a wide receiver, offensive tackle, a luxury pick and now possibly a quarterback at No. 13. Ah, so many choices, yet so little time.
Los Angeles and the 25 other teams picking in the first round on Thursday will have less time because of the NFL’s insistence on putting everything else above its product. The NFL draft limit time only puts more pressure on the league’s general managers at a time when they need all the help they can get.
