NFL Draft Set to Kick Off at Lambeau Field and Command the TV Spotlight

The 2025 NFL Draft kicks off Thursday night in Green Bay, and all eyes are on the Titans, who currently hold the No. 1 overall pick.

What’s that pick really worth? That’s up to Tennessee to decide, but whoever hears their name called first will sign a rookie deal worth around $43 million. Thanks to the rookie wage scale implemented in 2011, contract values are largely locked in based on draft position—meaning where a player is picked determines how much they make, down to the dollar.

First-Round Money

Here’s a look at the projected contract values for the top five first-round selections, per Spotrac:

• Pick 1 (Titans): $43.01 million
• Pick 2 (Browns): $41 million
• Pick 3 (Giants): $39 million
• Pick 4 (Patriots): $37 million
• Pick 5 (Jaguars): $35 million

There’s a steep dropoff from the top of the board to the bottom of the first round—pick No. 32 will make $11.86 million—but a Day 1 selection still guarantees a solid payday. The first pick of the second round will make one million less ($10.85 million) than the last pick of the first round.

The smallest contract for a draft pick is $4.29 million, which will go to the final nine picks (Nos. 249 to 257), which are all compensatory picks. Given the contracts are for four years, that means that every NFL draftee will have a contract with a seven-figure average annual value, though contracts are rarely fully guaranteed.

NBA and NHL Competition?

The NBA and NHL playoffs are in the middle of their opening rounds, but the NFL Draft, particularly its first day, is expected to be the biggest ratings draw this week.

Last year’s draft drew 12.1 million viewers across ESPN and NFL platforms. That would be on the high end compared to the average NBA Finals, World Series, and Stanley Cup ratings over the last five years.

The draft does see viewership dip in years where there is no high-profile quarterback expected to be drafted No. 1. The first day of the 2022 draft, when the first quarterback selected was at pick No. 20, averaged just 10 million viewers, the lowest viewership since ABC started airing the draft in 2019.

Draft evaluators don’t project this draft to have the same quarterback talent as last year’s, which saw Caleb Williams, Jayden Daniels, and Drake Maye selected with the first three picks. However, Miami quarterback Cam Ward is a potential No. 1 overall pick, and Colorado’s Shedeur Sanders is projected by many draft pundits to be one of the first few names off the board.

Packing Lambeau Field

Most cold-weather markets don’t get the luxury of hosting the Super Bowl, but the NFL Draft has become a coveted consolation prize. Green Bay, despite owning one of the league’s legacy franchises, has never hosted a Super Bowl. This year’s draft will be the first hosted at iconic Lambeau Field.

Green Bay is not expected to draw the same crowd as Detroit, which hosted more than 700,000 fans last year, including approximately 275,000 on Day 1—the biggest crowd in NFL draft history. But the Packers are still expecting about 250,000 visitors for the annual event.