NFL Draft Night

The 2026 National Football League draft opens Thursday night in Pittsburgh, with Round 1 starting at 8 p.m. Eastern and the board expected to move fast. (nfl.com) The league has Las Vegas holding the No. 1 pick, followed by Cleveland at No. 2, and Round 1 will be held Thursday, April 23, before Rounds 2-3 on Friday and Rounds 4-7 on Saturday. (nfl.com) This year’s event is in the lots around Acrisure Stadium and Point State Park in Pittsburgh, and the league says fans can watch on NFL Network, NFL+, ESPN, ESPN2 and ESPN Deportes. (nfl.com) The first round could turn on quarterbacks before the first card is turned in. NFL Network analyst Daniel Jeremiah’s final mock draft projects the Raiders taking Indiana quarterback Fernando Mendoza at No. 1 overall. (nfl.com) Trades are the other story line. Jeremiah projected four first-round deals in his final mock, and CBS Sports published a separate first-round projection built around four trades reshaping the round. (nfl.com) (cbssports.com) That matters because the draft order is less settled once Las Vegas is on the clock. Jeremiah wrote Thursday that there is “uncertainty once we get beyond the first overall pick,” while CBS Sports reported league intel points to a fluid top 10. (nfl.com) (cbssports.com) The mechanics are different this year, too. NFL Football Operations says teams now get eight minutes per first-round pick, down from 10 minutes, the first cut to that clock since 2008. (operations.nfl.com) A shorter clock can compress trade talks, especially in the top 10, where teams weighing quarterbacks, tackles and edge rushers have less time to negotiate before a pick is due. (operations.nfl.com) (cbssports.com) By the time the draft closes Saturday, the league will have run through all seven rounds. The first clues about how chaotic Thursday becomes will come as soon as Las Vegas decides whether to stay put or move the night’s first domino. (nfl.com)