While it’s easy to picture the pressure a head coach or a coordinator feels while calling plays with under a minute left, general managers deal with a similar kind of urgency during the NFL Draft. This year, Pittsburgh Steelers general manager Omar Khan is already feeling that, with the league reducing the time allotted for each pick in the first round of this week’s draft.

“I’d love to have 10 minutes, but it’s the same for everybody else,” Khan said. “Eight minutes is what it is, but two minutes, it feels like an eternity sometimes.”

Those comments come after the NFL, led by Roger Goodell, reduced the first-round pick window from 10 minutes to eight minutes in the 2026 NFL draft. The goal is to bring the total duration of the opening round down to around two hours and 30 minutes.

That’s a notable shift from last year’s draft in Green Bay, cutting roughly an hour from the overall timeline. It also marks the first change to first-round timing since 2008, when teams previously had 15 minutes per pick on Day 1.

With less time on the clock, Khan has already started adjusting his approach. He’s been in contact with other general managers, setting up trade parameters in advance, knowing there will be less room to negotiate in real time.

“They moved the first round from 10 minutes to eight minutes, so naturally we’ve been having more conversations to set parameters of what the value is if you move up to this spot or trade back,” Khan added. “There’s more conversation, but until we get there, I’m not sure how that’s going to go.”

The Steelers currently hold the No. 21 pick, which leaves multiple paths open. They could trade up for a top prospect, move back to accumulate value, or simply stay put and pick at their slot. Beyond Round 1, the timing structure remains unchanged.

Teams will have seven minutes per pick in Round 2, five minutes from Rounds 3 through 6, and four minutes in Round 7. And while two minutes might not sound like much on paper, teams already understand how much can hinge on even a few seconds during the draft.

When the Ravens and the Vikings ran out of time in the first round

There aren’t many instances where an NFL team actually uses the full 10 minutes, or 15 if you go back to drafts before 2008, to make a first-round pick. But that doesn’t mean it hasn’t happened during one of the league’s biggest offseason events.

Back in the 2011 NFL Draft, the Baltimore Ravens were on the clock at No. 26. Seeing multiple prospects still available, the team explored trading down into the late first or early second round.

Then-general manager Ozzie Newsome believed he had a deal in place and contacted the league. The problem was that the other team never confirmed it.

By the time that became clear, Baltimore had run out of time, and the Kansas City Chiefs stepped in to make the pick. Later reports indicated that Jerry Angelo of the Chicago Bears had instructed two staff members to call the league, but each assumed the other had already done it.

And that wasn’t the only case.

Rewind to the 2003 NFL Draft, where the Minnesota Vikings held the No. 7 pick. They were in discussions with multiple teams, including the Jacksonville Jaguars, Ravens, and New England Patriots.

Eventually, they believed they had agreed to a deal with Baltimore. But after notifying the league about moving down, they found out the Ravens had not confirmed anything with league official Joel Bussert.

Time expired, and the Jaguars selected Byron Leftwich, followed by the Carolina Panthers taking Jordan Gross, before Minnesota finally picked Kevin Williams at No. 9.

So when Omar Khan talks about the challenge of working within eight minutes, it doesn’t sound like an exaggeration. We’ll see how the Steelers’ GM would tackle the No.21 overall pick on April 23 with just eight minutes on clock.