After first round, teams will now be able to re-evaluate position, make pitches to other clubs

When a 7-month-old all-sports TV network asked NFL commissioner Pete Rozelle in 1980 for permission to broadcast the draft, the request drew the famed response: "Why would you want to do that?"

Thirty years later, ESPN is still televising the draft, and it has become quite clear why the network wanted to do that.

Moreover, the NFL Network has gotten in on the action. The league-owned cable channel will provide live coverage this week for the fifth consecutive year.

And, as if that's not enough, the draft is going prime-time — and being extended by one day.

Instead of the Saturday-Sunday affair of the past, the NFL draft will take place Thursday, Friday and Saturday. The first two days of the draft will be televised during prime time on the East Coast.

"I like the format," 49ers draft chief Trent Baalke said. "It stretches it out and makes it a little more nerve-wracking from that standpoint. But at the same time, I think the format will work good. And it'll certainly work good for the fans."

The first round of the draft will commence at 4:30 p.m. Thursday. There will be a 10-minute time limit between picks, beginning with the St. Louis Rams' expected choice of Oklahoma quarterback Sam Bradford with the No. 1 overall selection.

The Raiders own the No. 8 pick, while the 49ers have selections at Nos. 13 and 17 of the first round. The first round is expected to conclude at approximately 8p.m.

In a significant departure from the past, the teams will then have 19 hours to reconfigure their draft boards and discuss trade options with clubs around the league before the beginning of the second round at 3 p.m Friday.

"It's going to create more evaluation of the board, how it's coming down," Raiders coach Tom Cable said. "But what it may do is create more action, in terms of teams working with each other, trading with each other, moving up, moving down — all those sort of things.

"I think that when there's an opportunity of more time here, guys may tend to get a little more fidgety. But on the good side of it, I think the time will allow you to really adjust your board and re-evaluate where you're at."

While a lot of teams might want to move back to avoid paying huge guaranteed money to unproven players, the New York Jets have been one of the few teams willing to routinely trade up to get players. The Jets packaged draft picks to move up to select quarterback Mark Sanchez, cornerback Darrelle Revis and tight end Dustin Keller in recent years.

"When you trade up, you trade away valuable resources and there is no guarantee on any of these guys," Jets general manager Mike Tannenbaum said. "But you'd better be as close to pretty darn sure as you can."

There is a seven-minute time limit between picks in the second round. Beginning in the third round, there will be a maximum of five minutes between selections through the end of the seven-round draft.

The third round is expected to conclude Friday around 7:30 p.m. The fourth round is scheduled to begin at 7a.m. Saturday. The draft is expected to wrap up around 2:30 p.m. with the Detroit Lions' selection of the 255th and final player.

"It gives you a chance to not just re-evaluate yourself once, but twice," Baalke said. "In the past, you get through the first three rounds, and you'd have a chance that evening or the next morning — depending on whether you're an East Coast team or a West Coast team — to take another look and re-evaluate what you're going to do. You could position yourself to possibly move up or trade back.

"Now you get two opportunities to do that. You get through the first round and recalculate and reorganize your thoughts, reorganize exactly what you want to do, and then you get to do that again after the second and third round."

After putting the first round behind them, the Raiders will have nearly a full day to gear up for the seventh pick in the second round.

It will almost be as if the first round begins again — just with the top 32 choices unavailable.

"I think we're all kind of feeling that way about it," Cable said. "It gives you a chance to really get through Day 1 and then you start again. And I think there's a lot of depth in this draft, in the second, third and fourth round, even. It's a good thing. It's a good thing."

For more on the 49ers, go to Instant 49ers at blog.pressdemocrat.com/49ers. You can reach Staff Writer Matt Maiocco at matt.maiocco@pressdemocrat.com.