Every spring, the NFL world gathers in one place to hear a crowd of rowdy fans boo commissioner Roger Goodell as he reads names off index cards, a tradition known as the NFL Draft. This year, the festivities begin on April 28 at 8 p.m. ET with two major sports networks breathlessly covering every beat both on TV and online.
NFL Draft 2016 live stream: How to watch Round 1 online
Two major sports networks have wall-to-wall coverage of the 2016 NFL Draft.
For the majority of the league’s history, the draft took place at a hotel ballroom with little to no attention paid from the media. As the NFL became the most popular sports league in North America, the annual collegiate selection meeting grew into a televised event. In the process, the draft launched the careers of Mel Kiper Jr. and countless other media scouts, turning them into household names.
Still, the draft did not become the monolith it is today until more recently. Once a two-day affair that took place over a late-April weekend, the draft now encompasses three days, mostly during primetime. Day 1 includes solely the first round, which this year contains only 31 picks due to the punishment the league office handed down to the New England Patriots as the result of the still-ongoing DeflateGate scandal.
Each team selecting during the first round has 10 minutes to submit its pick. If the team fails to make a choice during the allotted time, the club slotted next can jump ahead and take a player. This has happened twice over the last 15 years, most famously in 2003 when the Minnesota Vikings allowed two teams behind them to make selections before eventually picking Oklahoma State defensive tackle Kevin Williams.
The first round of the draft could also include numerous trades. Already, two franchises -- the Los Angeles Rams and Philadelphia Eagles -- have made landscape-altering deals to move and acquire the first two selections respectively. The Eagles actually made a separate trade involving first-round picks earlier this offseason, moving from up five spots from No. 13 to eight. Barring a major upset, the draft should kick off with the back-to-back selections of quarterbacks Jared Goff and Carson Wentz in some order. With more teams eyeing signal callers -- most likely Memphis' Paxton Lynch -- another trade could occur as early as the top 10.
Of the draft’s other major storylines, the plights of UCLA linebacker Myles Jack and Florida State’s Jalen Ramsey bear monitoring. Jack, championed by many as the best off-the-ball linebacker in his class, has reportedly received some red flags over concerns with his health. During the medical rechecks, teams reportedly identified a chondral defect in his right knee. Meanwhile, Ramsey, perhaps the best overall prospect in the draft, doesn’t have any such concerns. However, with quarterbacks occupying the top two spots and positional need possibly dictating the next few selections, he could conceivably fall outside the top five.
Both ESPN and the NFL Network have wall-to-wall coverage of the first round as well as the rest of the draft in the subsequent days.
How to watch:
When: 8 p.m. ET
Where: Auditorium Theatre, Chicago
TV: ESPN, NFL Network
Commentators: ESPN - Chris Berman, Mel Kiper Jr., Jon Gruden Louis Riddick | NFLN - Rich Eisen, Mike Mayock, Steve Mariucci, David Shaw
Online: WatchESPN, NFL.com/watch
* * *
Generic but accurate NFL Draft predictions
See More:
