Roger Goodell offers potentially polarizing twist to offset NFL draft being too long

It’s not often that anything Roger Goodell says is met with acclamation.Speaking Friday on “The Pat McAfee Show”, however, Goodell might have found an exception.“I started thinking last night we gotta shorten [the draft],” Goodell said.“… I’m making it up, seven-minute first round, but you can get two minutes extra if you need it.

You could call it but then you don’t get it again the rest of the draft.”Given how the first round in particular can drag on for hours, it’s hard to believe this wouldn’t be universally popular amongst fans.The first round on Thursday ran nearly four hours, from 8 pm to 11:43, when the Chiefs made the 32nd pick.There is some precedent for the NFL changing the draft format.

In 2007, the timer was shortened from 15 minutes in the first round to 10, and three years after that, there was an extra day added, with the draft going from a weekend affair to Thursday-Saturday.Teams might object to a change, as it would give them less time to consider picks or make trades.An obvious counterargument, though, is that plenty of trades happen when the clock is shortened in later rounds.The time Goodell is proposing to be taken off would likely prove superfluous given that.Dropping three minutes per pick off the first round would equate to 96 minutes in total saved.

So this year’s first round, for example, would have ended at 10:07, a far more palatable time for viewers, especially on the East Coast and on a weeknight to boot.Of course, that might also equate to less ad revenue, so ESPN may not be lining up behind the idea.For fans, though, one would imagine this would be one of the most popular ideas Goodell has ever put forth, if he can bring it from McAfee to the podium next year in Pittsburgh....