After a busy offseason and an intense free agency period, NFL teams turn their attention to the next crop of prospects who will find their homes in the league. The 2025 draft is set to take place Thursday through Saturday in Green Bay, the home of the Packers. The event blends strategy, scouting and spectacle into a weekend that can shape franchises for years to come.

Each team has one pick in each of the seven rounds by default unless they agree to trades. The draft order is primarily determined by regular season standings, but playoff performance is also factored in. The bottom five teams in the regular season pick first, and the top four teams in the playoffs pick last.

Teams have ten minutes to make their selection in the first round, then seven minutes in rounds two through six and four minutes for the final round. If a team doesn’t make its selection in the allotted time, it relinquishes the pick and it becomes available to the next team.

Once a team makes its selection, the player’s name is read out in the arena and the draft clock resets to zero for the next team’s pick. The team’s representatives at the table then write the player’s name, position and school on a card that is given to a member of the NFL’s staff known as a runner. The runner immediately radios the information to an official at the head table, who enters it into a database and notifies other clubs of the pick.