When you play fantasy football, it all starts with a draft. How long are fantasy football drafts? Here’s everything you need to know about how long a fantasy football draft takes and more.
Never Done a Fantasy Draft: Here’s How to Draft
How Long Are Fantasy Football Drafts in a 12-Team League?
If we are talking about a 12-team fantasy draft for the NFL season, it will usually take between 1-2 hours. There are obviously plenty of variables that can extend the draft as owners build their football team by making tough decisions on who to add to their roster.
If you take ESPN Fantasy Football, for example, you draft 16 players. Your team consists of nine starters and seven bench players. You select quarterbacks, running backs, wide receivers, tight ends, team defense/special teams, and kickers.
The league commissioner selects the amount of time per pick. The time per pick can be 30 seconds, 60 seconds, 90 seconds, or 120 seconds. How long does it take to finish a live draft? Just multiply the number of total picks by the time per pick.
16 rounds x 12 picks x 30 seconds = 5760
So it would take 5760 seconds or 96 minutes. So just over an hour and a half.
Max Length of a Fantasy Football Draft
If you are in a league that allows for up to 120 seconds per pick, you might be sitting around for a while. This is why most leagues allow between 30 and 60 seconds to make their way through the draft order before the regular season begins. It will be a rough start to your fantasy football season if the draft goes way longer than it should.
Auto Draft and Speed Impact
The length of a draft can be impacted if a player has an auto-draft set for their fantasy football team. Auto draft instantly picks the top player available. It might speed things up, but fantasy managers should pick their team. If not, they might wind up with an unbalanced team of fantasy players after drafting several top players at the same position.
For example, the auto-draft might select Josh Allen in the first round and then Lamar Jackson in the second. You can only start one quarterback, so that would not make much sense for your team.
More on Fantasy Football
If you are looking for more information on fantasy football, we have you covered. Check out some more of our guides and explanations if you are learning more about how to play.
Fantasy football beginner’s guide Trading in fantasy football Fantasy football scoring systems*This article was originally written in July 2024, it was revised and updated on August 5, 2025.
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