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It seems like yesterday that the New England Patriots have lifted the Lombardi Trophy toward the Arizona sky after winning their fourth Super Bowl in dramatic fashion. Yet, here we are almost exactly three months removed from that memorable day.
Welcome to the 2015 NFL College Player Draft.
The first of three days full of analysis, reaches and steals is today and this is the article aimed to inform you about the event.
General Information
Time:
Day One (Round 1): April 30, 8 p.m. ET
Day Two (Rounds 2-3): May 1, 7 p.m. ET
Day Three (Round 4-7): May 2, 12 p.m. ET
Venue: Auditorium Theatre, Chicago IL
Broadcast: NFL Network, ESPN (ESPN2 broadcasts all three days)
Online: NFL.com Live Stream, WatchESPN
Draft Rules
Today, the first round of the 2015 draft takes place, this means that 32 players will get selected today. Each team has 10 minutes to make or trade its selection. In general, the allotted times look as follows:
Day 1:
Round 1: 10 minutes per pick
Day 2:
Round 2: 7 minutes
Round 3: 5 minutes (compensatory picks: 4 minutes)
Day 3:
Rounds 4-6: 5 minutes (compensatory picks: 4 minutes)
Round 7: 4 minutes (compensatory picks: 4 minutes)
When a team fails to submit its pick during the allotted time, the selection will defer to the next team. The initial team can pick at any point after, but lower ranked teams might draft players before the initial team is able to hand in its pick.
Draft Order
Teams pick in the reversed order of their 2014 season. The worst team -- the 2-14 Tampa Bay Buccaneers -- picks first, the Super Bowl Champion Patriots pick last. Teams that made the playoffs last year are ordered by which round they are eliminated, while teams that did not make the playoffs are ordered by their regular season record.
If two teams happen to have the same 2014 record and elimination point, strength of schedule becomes the tiebreaker. The team with the lower strength of schedule picks first. If two teams' strength of schedule is the same, the order will be decided by division tiebreakers, conference tiebreakers or, if everything else is identical, by coin flip.
Due to trades, the Buffalo Bills and Seattle Seahawks are not scheduled to pick today, while the Cleveland Browns and New Orleans Saints are scheduled to pick to twice.
The first round order looks as follows:
19 Cleveland Browns (from the Buffalo Bills)
31 New Orleans Saints (from the Seattle Seahawks)
Patriots-related Information
New England's 2015 draft selections look, as of now, as follows:
| Round | Overall Pick | How Acquired |
| 1 | 32 | Assigned Selection |
| 2 | 64 | Assigned Selection |
| 3 | 96 | Assigned Selection |
| 97 | Compensatory Selection | |
| 4 | 101 | Obtained from Tampa Bay |
| 131 | Assigned Selection | |
| 6 | 178 | Obtained from Tampa Bay |
| 7 | 219 | Obtained from Tennessee |
| 253 | Compensatory Selection |
The Patriots have traded their fifth round selection to the Buccaneers for linebacker Jonathan Casillas and Tampa Bay's sixth round pick (#178). The team has also traded its original sixth round pick to the Tennessee Titans for linebacker Akeem Ayers and the Titans' seventh round selection. New England has also traded its original seventh round pick to the St. Louis Rams in 2012 for wide receiver Greg Salas.
The Patriots are familiar with the position they are in, having held each round's last pick three prior times. In 2002, the team traded up in the first round to select tight end Daniel Graham, while in 2004 and 2005, New England selected tight end Benjamin Watson and offensive tackle Logan Mankins, respectively, with the 32nd overall pick.
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With all the information, one question still remains: what will the Patriots do today?