Round one of the 2025 NFL Draft is in the books with round two kicking off at 7 p.m. EST on Friday. The first round on Thursday night lasted over three total hours, which for some is way too long to announce which college prospects will play in the league. On Friday morning, Commissioner Roger Goodell floated one idea to potentially shorten the length of the draft.
During a guest appearance on “The Pat McAfee Show,” Goodell mentioned that during the first round, he had the idea that it needed to be shorter. The 66-year-old Commissioner pondered potentially cutting the time each team has to pick in the first round from 10 minutes to seven. He also added that each team would have a chance to extend the clock by two minutes if they desire.
“I started thinking last night that we’ve got to shorten it”, said the NFL Commissioner. “Should we have time that you could save? I’m making it up, but seven minutes first round, but you could get two minutes extra if you need it. You could call it, but then you don't get it again the rest of the draft.”
"I started thinking last night that we gotta shorten the draft..
What if we did a 7 minute first round but you can get 2 minutes extra if you need it..
You get one extension but then you don't get it again for the rest of the draft" ~ @nflcommish #PMSLive pic.twitter.com/xMgAfAV1HP
— Pat McAfee (@PatMcAfeeShow) April 25, 2025
One of the biggest complaints about the NFL Draft is typically about how long it takes the team with the No. 1 pick to make a selection. For example, the Tennessee Titans used the entire 10-minute clock before announcing Miami Hurricanes quarterback Cam Ward as the pick.
Last offseason, fans had to sit through the Chicago Bears use up the entire 10 minutes before taking USC Trojans quarterback Caleb Williams. Either way, the team with the No. 1 pick has had the entire offseason to make a decision. So, fans tend to wonder why they take up the entire 10 minutes to take the player they likely knew they were drafting all along?
At the end of the day, Goodell could opt to make a change to the NFL Draft by next offseason. However, it may have to be put up to a vote by the 32 teams in the league.