NFL Draft kicks off

The 2026 National Football League Draft opens Thursday night in Pittsburgh, with Las Vegas on the clock at No. 1. (cbssports.com) Round 1 starts at 8 p.m. Eastern on April 23, with Rounds 2 and 3 set for Friday, April 24, and Rounds 4 through 7 on Saturday, April 25. The league is staging this year’s draft on Pittsburgh’s North Shore, including Acrisure Stadium and Point State Park. (cbssports.com) The first round will air on ESPN, ABC and NFL Network, with additional streaming and studio coverage across NFL+ and CBS Sports HQ. The National Football League also cut the first-round clock from 10 minutes to eight minutes this year, the first such change since 2008. (cbssports.com, operations.nfl.com) Las Vegas owns the first pick, followed by the New York Jets, Arizona Cardinals, Tennessee Titans and New York Giants. The official first-round order runs 32 picks, and the full seven-round draft is scheduled to reach Pick No. 257 by Saturday. (nfl.com, media.nfl.com) The central question entering Thursday is whether the Raiders use that top pick on Indiana quarterback Fernando Mendoza. Daniel Jeremiah’s final mock draft for NFL.com kept Mendoza at No. 1, and Fox News Sports listed the same decision as one of the night’s first big storylines. (nfl.com, foxnews.com) After that first selection, the board looks less settled. Jeremiah projected four first-round trades, with the Philadelphia Eagles and New Orleans Saints among the teams he expects to move up. (nfl.com) That trade chatter fits the way this draft is being framed across league coverage: clear interest at quarterback, less certainty after the top slot, and multiple teams holding extra first-round capital. CBS Sports’ live draft tracker listed the Giants, Jets, Cowboys, Browns, Chiefs and Dolphins among the clubs with more than one first-round pick entering Thursday. (cbssports.com) The draft has also become one of the league’s biggest traveling events, with Pittsburgh hosting all three days after Detroit drew record crowds in 2024 and Green Bay hosted in 2025. This year’s setup puts the television show, the fan festival and the pick announcements in the center of the city’s North Shore district. (cbssports.com, operations.nfl.com) By Thursday night, the wait narrows to eight minutes per pick and one decision at the top: whether Las Vegas turns the draft into a quarterback story from the opening card. (operations.nfl.com, nfl.com)