2015 NFL Draft Details
By Dan Durkin--
(CBS) General manager Ryan Pace has maintained that in order for the Bears to sustain success, they must string together successful drafts. Pace gets his first opportunity to call the shots starting this Thursday when the first round of the NFL Draft gets underway in Chicago. The Bears have their highest first-round selection since 2005, and their needs match up well with the strengths of this draft class.
Here are some logistics for the 2015 NFL Draft.
Location
The draft will be held at Roosevelt University's Auditorium Theatre in Chicago. The NFL has also set up a fan area in Grant Park called "Draft Town." More details on it can be found here. For their part, the Bears will still have their draft room at Halas Hall in Lake Forest.
Dates/times
Round 1 – Thursday starting at 7 p.m. CT
Rounds 2-3 – Friday starting at 6 p.m. CT
Rounds 4-7 – Saturday starting at 11 a.m. CT
TV
The NFL Draft will be televised on ESPN/ESPN2 and NFL Network.
Bears selections
Round 1: No. 7 overall
Round 2: No. 39
Round 3: No. 71
Round 4: No. 106
Round 5: No. 142 (acquired from New York Jets as part of the Brandon Marshall deal)
Round 6: No. 182
Round 7: Pick traded to the New York Jets as part of the Brandon Marshall deal.
Selection time to make a pick
Round 1: 10 minutes
Round 2: 7 minutes
Rounds 3-6: 5 minutes
Round 7: 4 minutes
All compensatory picks (rounds 3-7) will have four minutes each. Compensatory picks can't be traded.
Draft preparation
Here are some helpful links for you last-minute crammers that will get you up to speed on this year's crop of prospects.
* Durkin's Prospect Watch series
* Durkin: Mock Draft 3.0
* Durkin's Big Board
Dan Durkin covers the Bears for CBSChicago.com and is a frequent contributor to 670 The Score. Follow him on Twitter at @djdurkin.