Crews work to raise the roof of the NFL draft theater on April 9, 2025, in the parking lot of Lambeau Field in Green Bay, Wis.

nfl

How Many Picks Are There in the NFL Draft? Total Number of Draft Picks for the 2025 NFL Draft

The seven round NFL draft will see in excess of 250 selections this year!

Crews work to raise the roof of the NFL draft theater on April 9, 2025, in the parking lot of Lambeau Field in Green Bay, Wis.

The time for the 2025 NFL draft is nearly upon us and there is a lot of excitement around the league as well as the players and their family and friends. Having worked tremendously for the opportunity to be able to play in the biggest professional football league in the world is a dream for any collegiate athlete and now they are just a few days away from seeing that materialize.

Top college players have been scouted, have had their tapes watched over and over again, have given interviews, and performed on-field drills at the NFL Combine as well as at their respective college Pro Days. Some have even visited NFL franchises as teams look to process as much information as they can before the big day. The wait is almost over, so let us take this time to analyze how many picks there are at the NFL draft.

How Many Picks Does the NFL Draft Have?

The standard procedure the league follows contains 7 rounds of draft picks. Each team ideally receives 1 draft pick per round which means 32 teams and 7 rounds of draft picks is a total of 224 selections.

However, the NFL also awards compensatory draft picks to teams who have lost players in free agency so that they can fill their rosters. How the league awards the compensatory picks is based on a complex formula that takes into account the player’s salary, time of play, and postseason honors. Compensatory picks are given at the end of the third to seventh rounds.

How Many Picks Are There in the 2025 NFL Draft?

Considering all the compensatory selections the league has handed out to teams, the 2025 NFL draft will consist of a total of 257 picks. The Tennessee Titans hold the first overall pick this year, while the 257th and final selection will be made by the Kansas City Chiefs. Unless any trades take place, these picks will not undergo any changes.

The Minnesota Vikings have the fewest selections in this draft with only 4 picks from their seven rounds, while the Baltimore Ravens and the San Francisco 49ers each have the most with 11.

Also Read: ‘He Is My Number One, He Won Against the G.O.A.T’- Brandon Graham Praises QB Jalen Hurts for Super Bowl Triumph Over the Chiefs

How Are the Teams Allocated Draft Spots?

Draft picks are allocated to teams in the reverse order of their final standings from the previous season for all teams that did not qualify for the postseason. Thus, the team with the worst record in the previous season receives the first-overall pick and this continues for the team that finished in 18th place.

In the event that multiple teams have similar records, the draft order for those teams is decided by a series of tiebreaker rules such as the strength of schedule with the team having the lowest winning percentage being awarded the higher pick. If the strength of the schedule is also identical, other division and conference tiebreakers such as head-to-head, best win-loss-tie record in common games, and more come into play.

For the fourteen teams that made the postseason in the previous season, their draft pick order is slightly different. These teams are assigned slots from 19-32 with the six teams that bow out in the Wild Card round receiving picks 19 through 24 in the reverse order of their regular season record.

Picks 25, 26, 27, and 28 are assigned to the 4 teams that lose in the Divisional round of the playoffs in the reverse order of their final regular season records, and picks 29 and 30 are assigned to the losers of the Conference Championships rounds. Pick 31 is handed out to the team that finishes as the Super Bowl runner-up and the final pick number 32 is for the previous season’s Super Bowl winner.

2025 nfl draft

NFL

total nfl draft picks

Devavrat Kulkarni

nfl

I am a content writer for the NFL team, and joined The Playoffs after working with Sportskeeda and NFL Analysis as an NFL writer. After starting my professional career as a French-to-English translator, working as a content writer is a new adventure for me. I started out in the sports media field for two main reasons: my love for sports in general, especially the NFL, NBA, and Tennis, as well as my passion for writing. The best part of this job is that I get to write a variety of pieces with the freedom to explore content from various angles. It also enables me to stay up to date with the sporting world, which otherwise can be difficult to do in the day-to-day grind. In a world full of chaos, sports unite and entertain like nothing else!