How Many Rounds Are in the NFL Draft?

The modern NFL Draft is seven rounds, unchanged since 1994.

It was not always so short. Classes in this database run as deep as 17 rounds, and through the 1970s and 1980s clubs routinely made a dozen or more selections each.

Why It Shrank

As free agency matured, late-round picks became less valuable than the flexibility of signing undrafted free agents, and the league trimmed the draft accordingly. Compensatory selections, awarded at the end of rounds three through seven, push the modern total above 250 picks in a typical year.