NFL draft 2017: How the clock works

“The Cleveland Browns are on the clock.”

Once Roger Goodell utters those words, the 2017 NFL draft will officially be underway. The Browns will then have 10 minutes to decide if they want Myles Garrett or swerve everybody by selecting someone else.

Being “on the clock” means exactly what the term applies — when it’s one team’s turn to draft, it has a certain amount of time to select a player or trade away the pick. If time expires, the team doesn’t necessarily miss its draft pick, but other teams are allowed to draft ahead of it until it makes its decision.

Here’s a quick rundown of how the clock deadline works in the draft these days:

Back in the good old days when the draft was just two days long, the first round went 15 minutes per pick, while the second round had 10 minutes. When the NFL made the first round its own primetime TV event, it shortened the clock to 10 minutes apiece.

The draft clock can be confusing at times, especially when you’re watching it on TV. Often, the clock will run down to zero but teams aren’t penalized, mostly because they had their pick in well before the actual deadline. ESPN and NFL Network usually cover for this by putting a giant “PICK IS IN” graphic on screen to inform viewers that, yes, a pick has been made, but they want to draw out the drama before Goodell marches out to the podium and announces it.

It’s weird, but we’ve mostly grown accustomed to this by now.

Having said that, there have been a few times when a team legitimately missed the clock and had to wait to submit its pick. The most famous example happened in the 2003 draft. The Minnesota Vikings held the No. 7 overall pick and reportedly tried to trade down, but the clock ran out before they could finalize their decision. The Jacksonville Jaguars and Carolina Panthers jumped up a spot apiece and went ahead with their picks, while the Vikings were bumped back to No. 9 before selecting defensive tackle Kevin Williams.

Another draft clock gaffe happened in 2011, when the Baltimore Ravens failed to complete a trade in time to beat the clock. The Kansas City Chiefs moved up one spot to No. 26 to make their pick, and the Ravens had to drop down to No. 27.

So despite the drawn-out nature and apparent fudging, the draft clock is legitimate, and teams do have a hard deadline by which to make a decision before that time runs out. Remember that when you’re watching the draft this year and wondering why it goes way longer than 10 minutes to announce a first-round pick.

Even when the league and networks try to drag this thing out as long as possible, we can be ensured that, indeed, the pick is in.