These NFL teams won’t be picking in the first round of the draft
(NEXSTAR) – With NFL teams constantly making trades and moving current and future draft picks, it’s hard to know who has what picks by the time the draft begins on April 25.
Each team is given one of the 32 picks in each round of the NFL Draft that they can either trade away or use to draft a player from the college pool. Teams are also allowed to trade future picks as well with no knowledge of where that pick will be – pick number one or pick 32.
As of right now, there are currently only three teams who do not have a first-round pick in this year’s NFL Draft: the Carolina Panthers, the Cleveland Browns, and the Houston Texans.
The Panthers, despite having the worst record in football last year, will not make a pick in the first round after trading their 2024 first-round pick away in last year’s draft to the Chicago Bears. Carolina, sitting at the ninth pick in the first round of the 2023 draft, traded the Bears their 2023 ninth overall pick, their 2023 second-round pick, their first-round pick in 2024, a second-round pick in 2025, and WR DJ Moore for the first overall pick in the 2023 draft. The Panthers used that pick to select Alabama QB Bryce Young.
Next, the Cleveland Browns don’t have a first-round pick after trading their pick to the Houston Texans back in 2022 when they traded for QB Deshaun Watson. A blockbuster move, the Browns gave up a first and fourth-round pick in the 2022 draft, a first and third-round pick in the 2023 draft, and a first and fourth-round pick in the 2024 draft.
Despite the extra pick from the Browns, the Houston Texans are the final team that does not have a first-round pick in the 2024 draft. The first of their picks that they traded away was last year during the 2023 NFL Draft when they traded the 12th overall pick in the first round, their 2023 second-round pick, and their first and third-round picks in the 2024 draft to the Arizona Cardinals for the third overall pick in the 2023 draft and a 2023 fourth-round pick. The Texans would use that pick to select Alabama DE Will Anderson Jr.
The second first-round pick that the Texans traded away was just a month ago when they made a trade with the Minnesota Vikings. The Texans gave up their 2024 first-round pick and their seventh-round pick for the Vikings’ 2024 second-round pick, their 2024 sixth-round pick, and their 2025 second-round pick.
With just under two weeks to go before the NFL Draft, there’s still plenty of time for teams to trade in and out of the first round.