The 2018 NFL Draft kicks off day two later this afternoon at 4 p.m. PT, bringing with it the second and third rounds. The San Francisco 49ers have four picks, adding one earlier this afternoon with the Trent Brown trade. The 49ers have the 27th pick in the second round (59th overall), and then picks 6 (70th), 10 (74th), and 31 (95th) of the third round.
The day gets going at 4 p.m. PT, and could last until 8:30 p.m., give or take. ESPN and NFL Network block aside those 4.5 hours for the round. Last night went a little longer than the blocked out time, but it all came down pretty close to the window.
Prior to Thursday’s start, I offered up a window for when the 49ers pick would probably be announced. I did some calculations and came up with sometime between 5:59 and 6:30 p.m. The pick leaked just before then, but the commissioner formally announced the pick at about 6:05 p.m.
I thought we’d come back today with projected times for when the 49ers picks will be announced. A trade is possible, particularly with the additional third round pick from the Patriots, but we can at least guesstimate based on where they currently stand.
Teams get seven minutes per pick in the second round and five minutes per pick in the third round. Using the ESPN/NFL Network window, there would be 270 minutes. Divided out by the 68 picks, we get a shade under 4 minutes per pick.
The first 49ers pick is No. 59 overall, 27th of the second round. If every team uses their maximum allowed time the 49ers would not pick until 189 minutes in, or 7:09 p.m. If we use the average time of 4 minutes (108 minutes total), the 49ers would pick at approximately 5:48 p.m. So, you’ve got yourself an 81 minute window for the pick!
The second 49ers pick is No. 70 overall, sixth in the third round. Maximum time usage would have the pick arriving 8:14 p.m., while average time of 4 minutes would have the pick arriving 6:32 p.m. So, you get a slightly bigger window there.
The third 49ers pick is No. 74 overall, tenth in the third round. Maximum time usage would have the pick arriving 8:34 p.m., while average time of 4 minutes would have the pick arriving 6:48 p.m.
The final 49ers pick of the day is No. 95 overall, 31st in the third round. Maximum time usage would have the pick arriving 10:19 p.m., while average time of 4 minutes would have the pick arriving 8:12 p.m.
Since the average time seems more likely, that gives you the following estimated times:
2 (59). 5:48 p.m.
3 (70). 6:32 p.m.
3 (74). 6:48 p.m.
3 (95). 8:12 p.m.
This is not exactly super useful, particularly given that the 49ers could end up doing some trading. But at the very least you can see just how accurate my massive windows end up being!