What time will the Buffalo Bills make their first 2020 NFL Draft pick?

The Buffalo Bills don’t have a first-round draft choice in the 2020 NFL Draft, having traded that pick to the Minnesota Vikings to acquire wide receiver Stefon Diggs. As a result, the Bills aren’t slated to make their first pick until near the end of the second round at No. 54 overall.

When, then, will Buffalo make its first draft choice? Assuming the Bills stay at pick 54, which is no guarantee given general manager Brandon Beane’s history of trading up in the draft, it will be a long time until Buffalo calls its first draft selection on the phone. The second round of the NFL Draft is set to begin at 7 pm Eastern on Friday, April 24th. Each team has a maximum of seven minutes to make a pick or trade that opportunity.

If all 21 selections prior to Buffalo’s pick take the maximum of seven minutes each, that means the Bills won’t even be on the clock until at least 9:27 pm EDT—a full 2:27 after the second round commences. Of course, not every pick will take the full amount of time, and with this year’s draft being conducted from a distance due to the COVID-19 pandemic, no one really knows exactly how the standard timing of the draft will be affected.

Given the uncertainties in timing and Beane’s penchant for wheeling-and-dealing, the safe time to plan on parking in front of whatever device you’ll be watching the draft from is no later than 8:30 pm EDT. Given the lack of live sports in everyone’s lives, though, you may want to make reservations on your couch starting at 7 pm anyway, if only to feel some sort of normal while watching what is sure to be a decidedly abnormal draft process.