New NFL rule of eight minutes between first-round picks has some GMs feeling rushed
Steelers GM Omar Khan says he'd prefer to have 10 minutes between picks in the first round.
The NFL changed the rules for this year's draft, limiting teams to eight minutes between first-round picks. Some NFL general managers are not happy about that. Steelers GM Omar Khan said he preferred the old rule of 10 minutes between first-round picks.
"I'd love to have 10 minutes, but it's the same for everybody else," Khan said. "Eight minutes is what it is, but those two minutes, it feels like an eternity sometimes. " After Khan said that at the Steelers' pre-draft press conference, head coach Mike McCarthy joked that if Khan feels rushed during the draft, he should try calling plays on the sideline during a game.
"I only get 40 seconds to call a play," McCarthy said. "We'll be fine. " Khan said he and other GMs have been talking more about trades in the days leading up to the draft because they know they'll have less time to work out trades while they're on the clock.
“They moved the first round from 10 minutes to eight minutes, so naturally we’ve been having more conversations to set parameters of what the value is if you move up to this spot or trade back,” Khan said. “There’s more conversation, but until we get there, I’m not sure how that’s going to go. ” This is the first time the NFL has changed the timing of the first round since 2008, when the time between picks was reduced from 15 minutes to 10 minutes.