Pittsburgh is set to host the 2026 NFL Draft this week, marking its first time hosting the event since 1948. The draft will begin on April 23 with the first round, continue on April 24 with the second and third rounds, and conclude on April 25 with rounds four through seven.

And just hours before one of the biggest offseason events, the NFL announced the legends and current players who will represent all 32 teams by announcing picks in the second and third rounds in Pittsburgh, including former Indianapolis Colts punter Pat McAfee and former Pittsburgh Steelers running back Jerome Bettis. Take a look at all the legends and active players who will announce the selections this week:

Among the 32 players, nine have already been inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame. That group includes Ronde Barber, Jerome Bettis, Dan Covert, Tony Dorsett, Dermontti Dawson, Dan Marino, Drew Pearson, John Stallworth, and Dwight Stephenson. On top of that, Marcus O’Neill, Joey Porter Jr., Jeffery Simmons, and James Conner are the four active players set to announce selections.

Meanwhile, Dorsett, Conner, Covert, Lee, Maas, Martin, and O’Neill all attended the University of Pittsburgh. Last but not least, ten of the presenters were born in the state of Pennsylvania: Marques Colston (Harrisburg), James Conner (Erie), Covert (Conway), Dorsett (Rochester), John Kuhn (York), Kevin Maas (Philadelphia), Mark Martin (Pittsburgh), Pat McAfee (Plum), Matt Millen (Hokendauqua), and Paul Posluszny (Butler).

For McAfee, meanwhile, this draft carries added significance, as it marks the second time the former Colts punter will announce a selection. Back in 2019, McAfee called the Colts’ third-round pick of Bobby Okereke. This week, he’s back again. Which player he’ll announce remains uncertain, with Day 2 of the draft still a couple of days away.

Day 1, meanwhile, is expected to bring its own level of unpredictability, especially with the NFL introducing a major change to the first round of the 2026 draft.

The NFL reduced the first-round pick window by two minutes

Starting with the 2026 NFL Draft, Roger Goodell’s NFL has introduced a new rule for the first round. Under the change, teams will now have just eight minutes to make their selection on Day 1. It marks the first adjustment in over 15 years, dating back to when the league reduced the pick window from 15 minutes to 10 ahead of the 2008 draft.

The goal behind the eight-minute window is to bring the total duration of the opening round down to around two hours and 30 minutes. That’s a noticeable reduction from last year’s draft, cutting roughly an hour from the overall timeline.

As for the later rounds, there are no changes. Teams will still have seven minutes per pick in Round 2, five minutes from Rounds 3 through 6, and four minutes in Round 7. Not everyone, though, is fully on board with the adjustment. Omar Khan is one of them. The Steelers general manager said:

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

On paper, it’s only a small reduction. In practice, those two minutes can impact how a general manager approaches trade scenarios, especially when considering moving up or down in the first round. How that change plays out will become clearer soon, with the first round just hours away.