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For those who actually take part in the draft, the dynamics have changed because there is now a break between the first and second rounds. Teams always have valued high picks on the second day of the draft because they have time to re-evaluate their draft boards overnight and take stock of players they thought might not be there.
With just one round on the first day, everyone will have a chance to sit back, review their boards and then decide what they're going to do when it's their turn in the second round the next day.
"It certainly changes your routine and I'm a person of routine," Green Bay Packers general manager Ted Thompson said. "The first pick in each of the days are always valuable a little bit more because after the dust rises, there's normally a player where you say, 'Why is he still up there?' It becomes something of value."
Bill Belichick, who has three picks in the second round, couldn't ask for a better time for the format to change. When the first day is complete, the Patriots will be preparing to select 12th, 15th and 21st in the second round. That is, if they don't use those picks to trade up into the first round or for first-round picks in future drafts.
"I kind of think the second round will now be like the first round," Belichick said. "Take those 32 players out of there, whoever they are, now you're starting all over again for that second round. And I can see it being approached more as that first round.”
Thompson figures there will be a lot of teams using the time between rounds to go after specific draft positions in order to get the players they want. "I think there will be," he said of movement. "There will be more time. People will be more anxious, 'Oh my gosh,' as opposed to just getting through it."
"I'd love to have that first pick of the second day," Philadelphia coach Andy Reid "You can sleep on it, re-gather your thoughts, which you normally don't get to do."
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