What Happens When NFL Teams Don’t Make Their Draft Pick in Time?

The 2026 NFL Draft kicked off on Thursday, April 23, and it was no surprise when former Indiana QB Fernando Mendoza was announced at the No. 1 overall pick, going to the Las Vegas Raiders. 

Only two quarterbacks – Alabama’s Ty Simpson was the other – were drafted in Round 1. There is still more to come as the 2026 NFL Draft moves into Day 2 on April 24 and closes on Day 3, April 25.

When fans watch the draft, they will hear a common phrase. “The (insert NFL team) are now on the clock.” Teams only have a certain amount of time to submit their pick to the league. Once submitted, then it is presented to the rest of the league and any fans that are watching.

But, how much time do teams have to make a pick and what happens if a team misses its time limit? These are interesting questions and we will answer both. First, we’ll point out that missing the time limit has only happened twice in NFL history.

The NFL Draft & Time Limits

Beginning just this year, the NFL set the time limit for making a first-round pick at 8 minutes. From the time a team is declared “on the clock,” they have 8 minutes to submit their pick. In year’s past, the time limit was 10 minutes. In order to speed up the first round, which is now broadcast in prime time, the new time limit was instituted.

The time limits then decrease in each successive round. In Round 2, teams have 7 minutes to make their selections. In Rounds 3 through 6, NFL teams have 5 minutes to choose and in the final round, Round 7, of the draft, teams are limited to just 4 minutes. 

So, what happens if a team runs out of time? Great question!

Red McCombs & 1998

In 1998, McCombs, a Texas businessman, purchased the Minnesota Vikings for $250 million. By 2002, McCombs realized his team was hemorrhaging money. In an effort to cut costs, he fired head coach Dennis Green and replaced him with Mike Tice, making Tice the lowest paid head coach in the NFL.

McCombs also fired his general manager and then didn’t replace him in an effort to save even more on front office salaries. The move would prove to place the Vikings into the NFL history books…and not for good reasons.

Minnesota & the 2002 NFL Draft

The 2001 Vikings finished 5-11 and, as a result, were awarded the 7th pick in the 2002 NFL Draft. Back then, teams had a full 15 minutes to make their first-round pick. The Vikings, for some reason, did not get their first pick into the league within the 15-minute time limit.

When an NFL team misses the time limit, the next team is put on the clock. In 2002, that team was the Dallas Cowboys. The Cowboys selected Oklahoma SS Roy Williams, who would go on to be a Pro Bowl caliber player.

Missing the time limit does not forfeit a team’s pick in the NFL draft. A team can still make its pick after the time has expired. The only issue is when a team that missed its pick – like the Vikings in this case – wants to draft the same player of a team currently on the clock.

For example, the Vikings miss the time limit on their pick. The Cowboys select Roy Williams. The Vikings turn in their pick and it is also for Roy Williams. Dallas is granted the rights to Williams since Minnesota missed its pick.

Now, the Vikings were in such disarray that they actually allowed the Jacksonville Jaguars to make their first-round pick – DT John Henderson of Tennessee – before finally submitting their pick roughly a half-hour after their time had expired.

The Vikings took OT Bryant McKinnie out of Miami. He would go to one Pro Bowl and play nine seasons with Minnesota. 

Oops I Did It Again!

Missing a draft pick has only happened twice in NFL history and wouldn’t you know but the Minnesota Vikings are the owners of both mishaps. If 2002 wasn’t enough, the Vikings came back in 2003 and did it again. This time, missing the pick had a huge impact.

McCombs wanted to trade down in the draft to save money. The lower the pick in Round 1, the less McCombs would have to pay him. The problem was that teams weren’t looking to trade into the Vikings’ No. 7 spot. 

The bigger problem was that the Vikings thought they had pulled off a trade with Baltimore for that 7th pick. In the end, the time expired allowing the Jaguars to pick QB Byron Leftwich and the Panthers to take OT Jordan Gross out of Utah before Minnesota even knew that they had missed their selection.

Baltimore would wind up LB Terrell Suggs who would become the NFL’s Defensive Rookie of the Year, an eventual NFL Defensive Player of the Year, and a two-time Super Bowl champion. 

The Vikings finally did get their first-round pick in, a DT named Kevin Williams. He was actually the guy Minnesota wanted and he would go on to be a five-time All-Pro, but Minnesota’s mishap would have an interesting butterfly effect.

Baltimore made the trade (or at least thought it had) in order to select Leftwich at No. 7. With Leftwich gone, the Ravens would draft QB Kyle Boller at No. 19. Boller didn’t pan out, so in 2008 the Ravens went out looking for another quarterback. They got him. It was Joe Flacco.