2015 NFL Draft Schedule: Dates, start times, and TV broadcast details

The 2015 NFL Draft is finally here! The draft kicks off Thursday evening at 5 p.m. PT, and we get to see how the future of the San Francisco 49ers might start to unfold. The 49ers currently have nine draft picks, with seven regular picks and two compensatory picks. We know Trent Baalke likes to wheel and deal, so it should make for an interesting few days of action.

Once again, the NFL Draft will feature two options for televised coverage. ESPN and NFL Network are back for another year of coverage. ESPN will feature their usual crew of Chris Berman, Mel Kiper and others (full details here). NFL Network is anchored by Rich Eisen, and features plenty of Mike Mayock.

Here is a full rundown of the broadcast schedule for the next three days. The entire draft can be streamed online at NFL.com/Live.

Round 1: Thursday, April 30th

5:00 PM PT, ESPN/NFL Network

The first round kicks off at 5 p.m. PT, televised on both ESPN and NFL Network. Teams will have 10 minutes on the clock for each pick in the first round. ESPN and NFL Network have said they will not tip off picks on Twitter, but Jason LaCanfora and Jay Glazer will likely have plenty of picks ahead of time.

Rounds 2, 3 - Friday, May 1st

4:00 PM PT, ESPN2/NFL Network

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 7 minutes per pick, and the third round 5 minutes. The one exception to this is the three compensatory picks after the third round, which get 4 minutes each). ESPN's coverage switches to ESPN2 on Friday.

Rounds 4-7 - Saturday, May 2nd

9:00 AM PT, ESPN/NFL Network

The draft wraps up on Saturday with the final four rounds. Picks in rounds four through six are five minutes each, while the seventh round and all compensatory picks are four minutes apiece. ESPN has the coverage instead of ESPN2.

49ers draft picks

1 (15). No. 15 overall - Own pick
2 (14). No. 46 overall - Own pick
3 (15). No. 79 overall - Own pick
4 (27). No. 126 overall - Denver Broncos (2014 draft trade)
4 (33). No. 132 overall - Compensatory pick (Donte Whitner)
5 (15). No. 151 overall - Own pick
6 (14). No. 189 overall - Own pick
7 (29). No. 246 overall - Indianapolis Colts (2013 Cam Johnson trade) 
7 (37). No. 254 overall - Compensatory pick (Anthony Dixon)

Players Attending Draft

The NFL has extended invitations to numerous players to attend the draft in Chicago, and 26 players will be in attendance. Here's the list of players who will be in attendance, as announced by the NFL.

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 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 Danny Shelton, Washington
DL Leonard Williams, USC