Tonight at 8:00 p.m. ET, the 2026 NFL Draft kicks off and runs over the next three days. Here’s a guide to how many picks and rounds you can expect to watch on each night of the NFL Draft.
What Rounds Are on Day 1 of the NFL Draft?
The first round of the NFL Draft will start tonight at 8:00 p.m. ET, as previously mentioned, and last anywhere from three to four hours. Unlike Day 2 and Day 3, Day 1 only includes the first round of the Draft.
32 players will have their dreams come true tonight, and for a select few teams, they’ll pick more than once as of right now. These teams are the New York Jets (Nos. 2 and 16), the New York Giants (Nos. 5 and 10), the Kansas City Chiefs (Nos. 9 and 29), the Dallas Cowboys (Nos. 12 and 20), the Cleveland Browns (Nos. 6 and 24), and the Miami Dolphins (Nos. 11 and 30).
Since there are multiple teams with multiple first-rounders, there are also multiple teams without a first-round pick.
The most notable team without a first-round pick is the Cincinnati Bengals, who just traded the No. 10 pick to the Giants for defensive lineman Dexter Lawrence.
Next is the Indianapolis Colts, who traded their pick last season to the Jets for cornerback Sauce Gardner, but at the time they traded it, they didn’t know it would be a top-half pick.
Last year, the Atlanta Falcons traded their first-round pick this year to the Los Angeles Rams in order to draft edge rusher James Pearce.
One of the biggest moves of last year was the Green Bay Packers trading for edge rusher Micah Parsons from the Cowboys. In order to do so, part of the compensation they included was their 2026 first-round pick.
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In order to draft Travis Hunter in the 2025 Draft, the Jacksonville Jaguars traded their 2026 first-round pick to the Browns. Now, they’ll wait until Day 2 to make their first pick, barring another potential trade.
Adding offensive firepower to their team, the Denver Broncos traded the No. 30 pick to the Dolphins for speedy wide receiver Jaylen Waddle.
What Rounds are on Day 2?
Day 2 of the NFL Draft will start at 7:00 p.m ET on Friday night and cover rounds two and three. It will cover pick No. 33 (Jets) to No. 100 (Jaguars).
The Chicago Bears are slated to pick at No. 57, and it’s special because Heinz announced it will give the drafted player free ketchup for life, a custom “Mr. 57” jacket, and the opportunity to partner with them on future promotions.
What Rounds are on Day 3?
The final day of the NFL Draft will start on Saturday at 12:00 p.m. ET and cover rounds four to seven.
As Hall of Fame Executive Bill Polian once said, “Rounds 1-3 are the easy picks to make. Rounds 4-7 are the picks that make Super Bowl champions.”
