What time is the NFL Draft tonight?: What Seahawks fan need to know

The 2024 NFL Draft will be your first look at the next generation of Seattle Seahawks. Will it be business as usual for the Hawks, filled with draft day trades? Tune in and see.

The easy part of this is answering when the draft starts. That would be 5:00 pm Pacific, 8:00 pm Eastern. As to where you'll watch it, that's entirely up to you. Your favorite watering hole, the mancave, the Bat Cave, it's your choice. Ah, as for the options to watch, ESPN and ABC will be the main avenues, but as we've listed before, there are a lot of options available.

For the international 12s - we see you, England, Germany, Sydney, et al - a brief rundown follows. London will be turning in at 1:00 am Friday morning. Should be quite pleasant after a few pints at the local pub. In Munich, you'll have an extra hour to wait, as the draft will begin at 2:00 am your time. Now, you folks in Sydney have it easy. Just call in sick, and watch the draft kick off at 8:00 am Friday morning. Universal Time is 1:00 am, for the 6 billion people I left out.

When will the Seahawks be on the clock?

Well, that's the $15.7 million question. The Hawks currently have the 16th overall selection in the 2024 draft. All draft picks have a pre-determined salary for their first contract, and that's what the 16th overall pick will be signing for. If John Schneider gets freaky and trades up, say to number 9 with Chicago, that salary jumps to $22.2 million. That's the total value in all cases, spread over four years. If Seattle trades back, a move most 12s expect, they may not make a selection until the 29th pick. That currently belongs to the Lions.

As for exactly when the Hawks will make their first pick, that's difficult to say with any certainty. Every team has 10 minutes "on the clock". In NFL parlance, they have 10 minutes to announce their selection. Yes, even then, one team managed to miss their announcement and had to wait until the two following teams made their choices. Minnesota seems a bit more organized these days.

Even though teams have 10 minutes, they rarely take that long. The first few draft picks will certainly go off in rapid succession. So even if the Seahawks stay at number 16, you certainly won't have to wait two and a half hours for their name to be announced. Play it safe, and watch from the beginning. The draft will continue Friday night with rounds two and three, then conclude Saturday with rounds four through seven.

One note: the times allotted for each pick change after the first night's extravaganza. Second-round selections get seven minutes, five minutes for rounds three through six, then four minutes for round seven. Not quite lightning rounds, but as the Hawks GM John Schneider is certain to pull off some trades - I expect several, in fact - keep those bathroom breaks short, 12s.

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