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The NFL Draft kicks off tonight from Radio City Music Hall in New York City at 7:00 pm central time. In this evening's first round, each team will have 10 minutes to make their selection. The Chicago Bears are currently slotted at number 20, but anything can happen.
Last year there were a record 19 first round trades, to put that into perspective, that's more than the previous three years combined.
Make sure you keep it locked in at Windy City Gridiron, as we'll have our Pre-Draft Open Thread go live about 3 pm central, and our NFL Draft Open Thread will kick off at 6:45 central time. We'll be updating our post as the picks happen so if you need a recap, refresh the thread on WCG.
Since we expect a lot of traffic for our open thread, we'll do an overflow thread around the midway point of the first round. Then of course as soon as the Bears pick, we'll have that for you as well. After the 1st round ends, we'll have a recap thread for your commenting pleasure.
Rounds two and three will take place on Friday beginning at 5:30 pm central time. There will be 7 minutes between each 2nd round pick, and 5 minutes between each 3rd rounder. The Bears currently hold the 18th pick in the 2nd round (50th overall) and they have no selections in the 3rd round.
On Friday WCG will take a look at some day 2 options for the Bears, have our pre-party open thread up about 3pm, and then go live with the NFL Draft Open Thread at 5:15 Chicago time. We'll have a post dedicated to the Bears picks, then finish up the night with a recap thread.
The fourth round will start on Saturday morning at 11 am central time, followed by the fifth, sixth, and seventh rounds. Each team will have 5 minutes to make their picks. The Chicago Bears hold the 20th pick in the 4th round (117 overall), the 20th pick in the 5th round (153 overall), and the 20th pick in the 6th round (188 overall). They currently do not have a 7th round selection.
Saturday we'll bring you a special edition weekend Den, before getting right at it with our NFL Draft Open Thread. Then whenever the draft ends we'll recap it.
Next week we'll have some Q&As with the SB Nation sites that covered the colleges that of the Bears new players.