NFL Draft Time

2019 Timing changes. Shortly before the draft, the NFL shortened the amount of time for certain selections to be made. The time for seventh-round selections was reduced from five minutes to four minutes; similarly, the time for all compensatory selections, which cannot be traded, was reduced from seven minutes to four minutes.

It's finally here. The 2019 NFL Draft finally begins tonight. Over the next three days, the NFL's future stars will take the stage in Chicago, Illinois as they find out the teams they will play for to begin their careers.

As has been the case for the better part of the last decade, fans will have two options for draft coverage on television: ESPN and the NFL Network. The four-letter network will continue to feature Chris Berman, Mel Kiper, and company on its draft telecasts (full details here), while Mike Mayock gets top billing over on the league's channel.

We have compiled the broadcast schedules for you here to get you ready for the event.

Round One: Thursday, April 30th

7:00 PM Central

The first round begins at 7 and will of course be televised on both ESPN and NFL Network. Time on the clock for each pick will be ten minutes. But as one would expect both networks will have coverage leading up to the first round much of the day. Here's what you can expect if you want nothing but NFL coverage all day long:

ESPN

1:30 PM to 2:30 - NFL Insiders

2:30 to 3:30 - NFL Live

6:00 - SportsCenter Special: Draft Countdown

NFL Network

9:00 AM to 12 noon - Path to the Draft

12 noon to 5:00 PM - NFL Draft Kickoff

5:00 to 6:30 - NFL Draft Gold Carpet

6:30 to 7:00 - NFL Draft Kickoff

Rounds Two and Three - Friday, May 1st

6:00 PM Central

Everything gets going an hour earlier on Friday so the league can fit two rounds of the draft into Prime Time. The second round will have seven minutes per pick, and the third round five minutes (with the exception of the three compensatory picks after the third round, which get four minutes each). ESPN's pre-draft coverage is scaled back by an hour (no Draft Countdown show), while the NFL Network is, of course, all draft analysis:

ESPN

1:30 PM to 2:30 - NFL Insiders

2:30 to 3:30 - NFL Live

NOTE: Friday's draft coverage will be televised on ESPN. This article previously indicated that Friday would be shown on ESPN2, but that has been changed back to the primary network.

NFL Network

9:00 AM to 12 noon - Path to the Draft

12 noon to 6:00 PM - NFL Draft Kickoff

Rounds Four through Seven - Saturday, May 2nd

11:00 AM Central

On Saturday, the draft wraps up with the final four rounds. ESPN is showing just the draft itself, as it has other non-NFL-specific programming (read: lots and lots of SportsCenter) planned for the morning. Picks in rounds four through six are five minutes each, while the seventh round and all compensatory picks are four minutes apiece.

NFL Network

9:00 AM to 12 noon - Path to the Draft

Players Attending Draft

The NFL has extended invitations to numerous players to attend the draft in Chicago, and 28 players accepted. Here's the list of players who will be in attendance, as announced by NFL.com.

RB Melvin Gordon, Wisconsin

RB Todd Gurley, Georgia

WR DeVante Parker, Louisville

WR Breshad Perriman, Central Florida

WR Devin Smith, Ohio State

WR Jaelen Strong, Arizona State

WR Kevin White, West Virginia

OL La'el Collins, LSU*

OL Cameron Erving, Florida State

OL D.J. Humphries, Florida

OL Cedric Ogbuehi, Texas A&M

OL Andrus Peat, Stanford

OL Brandon Scherff, Iowa

OL Donovan Smith, Penn State

OL Laken Tomlinson, Duke

S Landon Collins, Alabama

CB Kevin Johnson, Wake Forest

CB Byron Jones, Connecticut

CB Trae Waynes, Michigan State

LB Benardrick McKinney

LB/DE Vic Beasley, Clemson

LB/DE Alvin "Bud" Dupree, Kentucky

LB/DE Dante Fowler, Jr., Florida

LB/DE Randy Gregory, Nebraska

LB/DE Shane Ray, Missouri

DL Arik Armstead, Oregon

DL Danny Shelton, Washington

DL Leonard Williams, USC