The 2012 NFL Draft will take place over three days this year, and everything kicks off on Thursday with the first round from Radio City Music Hall in New York. Teams will have 10 minutes to make their picks on Thursday, so they'll need an entire night of primetime television just to get through the first round. Things will move a little more quickly on Friday.
Of course, the draft has been broken up this way for television coverage purposes. Thursday's live draft coverage on television starts at 8 p.m. ET, and you can watch the draft on both ESPN and NFL Network.
ESPN's coverage will feature Chris Berman as the host. He'll be joined by reporters Chris Mortensen and Adam Schefter, draft analyst Mel Kiper, and Suzy Kolber, who will conduct interviews. Todd McShay and Bill Polian will not be on site, but will offer their insight from ESPN studios.
NFL Network's coverage will be hosted by Rich Eisen. He'll be joined by NFL Draft expert Mike Mayock, former players Marshall Faulk and Michael Irvin, and former coach Steve Mariucci. Jason La Canfora and Michael Lombardi will be scouring for news, while Deion Sanders and Melissa Stark conduct interviews.
If you want to know exactly what you're in for with both networks' coverage of the draft, check out Richard Deitsch's 2012 NFL Draft TV preview at SI.com. For more on the NFL Draft and the prospects who will soon play on Sundays, check out our NFL Draft blog Mocking The Draft.