(NEXSTAR) — With the NFL Draft just a couple of weeks away, teams are painstakingly scouting the year’s top college players and determining who they think will still be on the board when it’s their turn to pick. But how does the NFL determine who gets to pick first?
Every year, all 32 NFL teams receive one pick in each of the NFL Draft’s seven rounds. The order is determined by the record of every team with every round starting with the team that finished with the worst record and ending with the Super Bowl champions, barring any trades.
Where things do get a little strange though is when assigning picks to playoff teams. For reference, 14 NFL teams make the playoffs, meaning that the first 18 picks are determined solely on record. Picks 19-32 however are determined based on which round of the playoffs the teams are eliminated in …